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| Willing workers: The staff at Son Thuy serves you enthusiastically and professionally. — VNS Photos Xuan Hiep |
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| One of the specialties: Grilled "false fox" meat, prepared with pork, served with shrimp paste and lemon and chilli. — VNS Photo |
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| Restaurant: Son Thuy
Add: 159 Vo Van Tan Street, District 3, HCM City
Hours: 10:00am until late at night
Tel: 08 9303864
Prices: From VND30,000 (US$1.5)
Comment: Fresh seafood, excellent service and affordable prices.
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Live, jumping shrimp at your table, fresh from the tank! Xuan Hiep discovers an eating place that has a menu full of specialties, and he’ll be back.
It was a lovely Sunday, HCM City felt breezy and cool, and New Year’s Day was just five days away.
City dwellers were out on their motorbikes along downtown streets, rubber-necking at the colourful Christmas decorations. But my family and I preferred to say good-bye to the old year in a stationary position, sitting at a relaxing restaurant.
After pondering our choice of restaurant, we finally decided on Son Thuy where we enjoyed most of its special offerings.
Located in a garden villa on Vo Van Tan Street in HCM City’s District 3, Son Thuy Restaurant is near the city centre. Opened two years ago, it has become a magnet for diners because of its variety of fresh seafood.
Its lovely bamboo roof is simply designed and strewn with lights. Mellow music played and the cosy atmosphere eased our weary, big-city souls. We decided to eat in the alfresco space, although air-conditioned rooms are available.
There are also 14 special "VIP" air-conditioned rooms that offer more elaborate services, which cost an extra 10 per cent.
We noticed that the staff of 50 waiters and waitresses serve guests enthusiastically and professionally.
When we sat down to eat, my family and I couldn’t wait to order the heo gia chon nuong (grilled "false fox" meat prepared with pork), served with shrimp paste with lemon and chilli, a dish suggested by a friend of mine. Diners eat the meat with a variety of herbs, and have the option of using soy sauce instead of shrimp paste.
But patience is required as it takes half an hour to grill the pork.
"We ensure that the pork is deliciously crispy but not overdone," said the restaurant’s manager Nguyen Chinh Luan.
Priced at VND120,000 (US$6), the dish is one of the restaurant’s specialties, Luan said.
We also ordered pigeon and steamed glutinous rice, priced at VND70,000 ($3.5).
Luan told us that the pigeon was steamed, sliced, covered with a spice mix, and then mixed with the rice. The presentation was interesting, as the chef placed the grilled pigeon’s head and legs around the mound of glutinous rice.
Luan said the pigeon and steamed glutinous rice should be served with sesame salt, but I preferred it with soy sauce.
At Son Thuy, we also found the Mai fish salad especially delicious. The fish has no blood and can be eaten uncooked. To enhance the flavour, we squeezed fresh lemon over the top.
Priced at VND95,000 ($4.8), the Mai fish salad is served with rice paper, rice vermicelli and a variety of herbs. The fish, vermicelli and herbs are rolled up to look like a spring roll. Cheesy soy sauce is a good accompaniment.
Luan guarantees that the freshest seafood is served. This was evident when we saw the staff choose the live shellfish and fish directly from a glass tank.
Most special of all is the Son Thuy mermaid hot pot. All the abalone, scallops, salmon, shrimp and squid are artfully placed in a mermaid-shaped wooden tray. The shrimp are still alive and jump up and down, which whets the appetite.
The seafood is placed in a hotpot broth made with XO sauce, a spicy seafood sauce made of roughly chopped dried seafood such as scallops, dried fish and shrimp cooked with chilli, onion, garlic and oil.
Nguyen Thi Yen Nga, a regular partron, said, "I love the mermaid hotpot here because I feel like we are eating near the ocean!"
The eatery also serves purely traditional Vietnamese dishes, like green bananas, tofu and seafood, an authentic meal cooked in the northern style, with prices ranging from VND145,000 ($13). The dish is widely chosen by diners because of the special taste made by northern chefs.
My family and I ended our weekend pleased with the delicious food and excellent service. The restaurant will be on our list of special places to revisit. — VNS
Written by Sarah84 on January 4th, 2010 with no comments.
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Perfect!
Holly Madison was joined by showgirls from Vegas stage spectacular Jubilee and members of the public for the march.
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