Chop Suey #32
In which, as usual, I give shorter reviews of a few random Asian restaurant encounters.
A little Vietnamese, some sushi, and some Asian-inspired cooking. How do they standup to our scrutiny? Read on to find out.
Vietnamese restaurants haven’t, historically, been very popular here in Buenos Aires. I’m not sure why - but the places that offer a range of Southeast Asian cooking seem to do far better than those focused on Vietnamese. The big exceptions have been Green Bamboo, which was the “powerhouse” for Vietnamese cooking until it closed a few months ago after 25 years; and Saigon, which started out about eight years ago on the side of the Mercado de San Telmo. They went on to open Saigon Noodle Bar in the downtown area a couple of years later. In the last year, they’ve opened up two new spots in Palermo - which I’m not going to do individual reviews for - all four spots basically have the same menu, with some minor variations. We did recently try the spot on Soler and thought they overcooked the proteins - prawns and pork - to the point they were a bit dry. Other offerings with Vietnamese mixed in with other cuisines and that done well are Cang Tin, Sudestada, and Asian Cantina.
But back to today, and a couple of blocks north of Barrio Chino. We spotted this on Instagram and headed out for lunch at Ăn Café & Viet Bistro, Blanco Encalada 1402 in Belgrano. You can see pretty much the whole thing there - three tables inside, and two out, uncomfortable metal chairs and tables. Opened about six months ago. A lot of folk dropping in to ask just exactly what the place is. It looks more like a coffee shop, and while we were there, that’s mostly what people were ordering - coffee and pastries (which they specialized in gluten-free ones).
We got an order nem, the deep fried pork springrolls. A bit bland, and the wrapper was really chewy. It’s also missing the usual array of pickled vegetables and fresh cilantro and/or mint to wrap up in the lettuce leaves. The dipping sauce seemed to be just vinegar and sugar, and the housemade hot sauce was… not. Maybe cocktail sauce level of spice.
We got a couple of banh mi sandwiches - one with cold cuts and pate, and the other with roast pork and pate. Both perfectly acceptable, but still missing the complexity of flavors that a good banh mi has - the pickled vegetables (this had vegetables, but not noticeably pickled, and no chilies, just the zestless hot sauce. It was good, just not what one hopes for in this sandwich. I can’t find the receipt, but they were reasonable - the sandwiches just shy of 8000 pesos and the nem I think were 5800.
We finished off with a couple of Vietnamese coffees, dripped into sweetened condensed milk. But the coffee was so weak that it just kind of got lost - you need a really intense, dark roast espresso for this.
All around, cute place, if uncomfortable seating, and very red. Pleasant service, the owner chatted with us and other customers on and off. Food… “fine”, but all pale imitations of the real thing and we won’t be rushing back.
Fairly new Japanese spot that opened up over on the ritzy side of Recoleta. At night, there’s a very elegant basement level bar at Rashomon, Adolfo Bioy Casares 2009, that offers up a menu of Japanese dishes and sushi. At lunch time, only the upstairs entry area, with a sushi bar and a few tables, is open, and the only options are either a 16 or 23 piece “omakase”. It’s more of just a preset combo of dishes and sushi than a real omakase, but it does offer some variety.
Miso soup starts the meal. A nice surprise as I got to the bottom of it, a couple of fresh clams.
An excellent chawanmushi topped with trout roe, and a ponzu macerated oyster.
Some sunomono, pickled vegetables. And not counted in the 23 “pieces” of the combo set.
Sashimi - three varieties, two of each. A little thickly cut for my tastes, but nice and fresh.
And, a mix of nigiri, maki, and tamago. There’s 14 pieces right there, no? All kind of small - the nigiri are about the size of my thumb. This is some of the smaller sushi I’ve seen around.
So, the space is fine, it’s nicely designed. Depending on volume level, I might like the downstairs bar more - from pictures it looks more elegant. Service was… pleasant. Nothing more than that. The sushi is very simple. I’m all for classic, without creative additions, but basic touches, like brushing the fish with a touch of taré are missing, the fish is just on its own (no wasabi) either, except on the side. And the rice is on the gummy side. It’s all fresh, but it’s all kind of lacking… something. I can’t say I’m drawn to go back - the only thing I was really impressed by was the chawanmushi. 55,000 pesos for the 23 piece version, I think the 16 piece was 43,000.
This one’s an odd one. Is it Asian? Not really. But it’s… Asian inspired, or inflected. MN Santa Ines, Ávalos 360 in La Paternal, is an old bakery turned restaurant, with multiple rooms and a backyard area, and a rather unusual menu. The menu changes weekly, and spans the globe, from the best I can tell, looking at past ones. But there’s always Asian ingredients and touches in the dishes, and “spicy” is a commitment. I arranged a Horde lunch there. One of our members had been the previous week and shared the menu, which was all pastas with Asian and spicy elements. Here we were the following week, and the menu’s all over the place with dishes from Indonesia, China, Japan, Italy, Thailand, the Middle East, and, sorta kinda France.
With just four of us there, we split a couple of appetizers - crispy fried pork and eggplant with housemade sriracha on the side; and asparagus with bacon, pea puree, and what was called a béarnaise sauce, which is a tarragon infused bechamel. I don’t think this had tarragon, but maybe it was just subtle. The only dish that wasn’t spicy. 7500 and 5500 pesos, respectively.
A bit of a mashup of spaghetti in bagna cauda, the Italian anchovy and garlic dip, tossed with a mix of cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes. Oddly accompanied by a side “salad” of roasted radishes, beets, and endive. Moderate kick to it, but more just really garlicky. 14500 pesos.
Two people ordered the “crying fish”, which was two fillets of tempura battered crispy fish each topped with a decently spicy jalapeño, vegetable, and mango salad. 15000 pesos.
And, the killer spicy dish, dan dan mian, a classic fiery Sichuan dish that’s one of my personal favorites. Noodles, pork, and an eyewatering level of chili in this dish. The two vegetable garnishes were just odd - I got the root ends of the radishes (which were sliced into the mix of vegetables for the fish), nothing done to them, just raw, sitting there, and a warmed, but otherwise not really cooked couple of leaves of bok choy. 15500 pesos.
Quirky but fun and functional space. Friendly, if slightly harried service - the place gets busy, fast. It’s quite popular. Interesting and unusual selection of wines, nicely picked to accompany spicier food. And, at least for our week, and reportedly from the previous week, quite good food. They don’t post the menu on their social media for the week, so you’re flying blind until you get there and see what the week’s offerings are.