Current Release: April 28th, 2009 | Vol. XXX Iss. 10

Table

By kuong lam

khlam@vwc.edu

We all know that the wants to eat out and try something new almost go hand in hand. Trying something new can be fun, and oftentimes, very rewarding when we enjoy what we try and broaden our horizons.

Now when we think of going to an Asian restaurant, we think of typical Chinese food. You know, the fried rice with fried chicken dipped into sweet and sour sauce. It sounds very cliché, but true.

However, there are different types of Asian restaurants out there. Ones that offer real gourmet food. Ones that offer dishes that taste as good as they look. One of these restaurants is Saigon #1 located on Newtown Road.

Saigon #1 is a Vietnamese restaurant that may seem like a small, even sketchy restaurant from the outside, but upon entrance is a very comforting and exotic restaurant with traditional Vietnamese decors such as pictures and paintings of Vietnamese landscapes, and large oriental fans that hang on the walls. On top of the tables are not the usual salt and pepper, but rather an array of sauces like soy sauce, fish sauce, hoison sauce and chili sauce lined next to a jar containing chopsticks that can be used as the eating utensil if preferred.

Saigon #1 offers Vietnamese dishes made for all tastes. If you are a fan of rice dishes, they offer delicious entrees with either pork, beef, chicken or shrimp made in Vietnamese sauces served on a bed of white rice with fresh picked vegetables. Not a white rice fan? Not a problem. They offer chicken, beef, pork, or combination fried rice that is tossed to perfection in a skillet, unlike the typical greasy fried rice that we are all so used to ordering.

One of the dishes that is definitely worth trying is Pho. Pho is a soup-based dish made with white noodles, meatballs, sliced beef, and basil leaves in a clear onion soup. Pho is truly a traditional Vietnamese classic.

The menu surely does not end there. There are vermicelli dishes, dry white noodles served with your choice of meat, vegetables, and traditional fish sauce dressing, as well as fresh spring rolls, which contain lettuce, shrimp, and mint leaves rolled in thin rice paper.

And if you have ever had Asian food, then you have had egg rolls. Saigon #1 offers delicious egg rolls with a filling of meat and vegetables and fried to perfection that can be ordered as an appetizer or with your main course.

There is also a vegetarian menu for all the vegetarians out there that has a range of vegetable stir frys, soups, and rice plates, as well as any of the dishes mentioned above subsistuted with tofu, or just without meat.

With very house-warming service, traditional ethnic Vietnamese food, and having it be less than two miles away, Saigon #1 is definitely a restaurant worth trying.