I don’t know enough about Vietnamese food to know what I want, or even what I like, when confronted with the menu. I’ve eaten plenty of it, but that doesn’t help because, uncultured slob that I am, I just can’t remember the names of things. I order by animal or vegetable and leave it at that. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. Last night at Vy-Da, I won. I didn’t win big, but it was a win all the same.
We were four at dinner, Bill, Nia, Julius, and myself. We started with tofu rolls, always good if they’re fresh. These were a little on the plain side, but fine for a starter. If you flip the Vy Da menu over to the back side, there’s a list of items, all in Vietnamese. Nia asked our waitress what they were. “Lots of things, beef, shrimp, frog, served with rice crackers. Also raw shrimp and beef, served with wasabi. It’s good with beer.” “Vietnamese tapas!” said Nia, and suggested they translate the menu for the rest of us. A good idea. I like to see what I’m not getting to, just to be sure.
Julius had the stir-fry chicken with rice. It came with broccoli, bamboo sprouts, onions… “pretty good” he says, today, the day after. Bill had a the lemon grass tofu with rice. I had the “bun” version of the same dish, with chicken instead of tofu. “Bun” comes in a bowl with skinny rice noodles, greens and some veggies, and a sweet spicy sauce to pour over the whole lot. I enjoyed my dish, rather a lot, possibly more than my dinner companions enjoyed theirs. Nia had the beef and pork skewer version of the same dish. It was all fine, just fine. Nothing spectacular, but really, perfectly fine.
Bill also ordered a salty preserved lemon lemonade. Collectively we agreed that it tasted like salty kool-aid. After dinner, our waitress brought us small bowls of dessert – tapiocca and mung bean in coconut milk, sweet, tasting of coconut and bean paste. I liked it well enough to eat all of mine, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to have it again.
There not much atmosphere to speak of at this place. Our waitress was nice and very willing to answer questions about the menu. The service was fine and we all enjoyed the high heeled ankle strap white pumps our waitress was wearing. On the other side of a planter box divider in this small place, there was a table of Vietnamese guys, watching something on the television and smoking. We fled right after dessert because the place isn’t really big enough to separate the smokers from the non-smokers. The total bill, before tip, was about 11.00 each. I’m unlikely to rush back there, but if you don’t know Vietnamese food this might be a good place to start because they were so helpful with the menu.
Vy Da is at 1200 Jackson.