Tuesday, May 18, 2010

A Thai-Viet quickie

My husband introduced me to Saigon Bangkok. It’s around the corner from his office and seemed like a logical place to go before a dance performance at the Cirque Royal. His only warning was that his lunch experiences there did not feature quick service. And my pre-theater dinners are notorious for anxiety and clock-checking every 3 minutes.

So our first question when we sat down was: “we have to leave in 1 hour. Do we have time for a starter and a main course?” Answer: yes. When I then ordered the fried vegetarian rolls, I was helpfully informed by the waitress that the (cold) spring rolls would come out faster, since we were in a rush. Advice most appreciated for its relevance, and accuracy.

On to mains. Diversity in vegetarian fare is not Saigon Bangkok’s strong suit. We both took the tofu with curry – red for me, and the spicier green for Gidon. There’s also a non-spicy option of vegetables and tofu, and basically that’s it for their vegetarian mains. That said, both curries were delicious. The green packed a respectable punch, and even the red was spicy enough.

In, out, fed and happy: 55 minutes. Score!

Saigon Bangkok
Rue de la Pacification 36
1210 Saint-Josse-ten-Noode
Tel. 02 280 0475
http://www.saigon-bangkok.be/
Open lunch and dinner, Mon-Sat (closed for Sat lunch and all day Sunday)

4 comments:

Alison said...

This is right around the corner from my flat! We get take-away from there every now and again and I've always liked it. For what it's worth I prefer the fresh cold spring rolls to the fried ones :) There's a great Lebanese lunch spot just around the corner here as well.

Sharon said...

Tell me about the Lebanese lunch spot! Is it Tasty Corner? My husband eats lunch there almost every day. Wicked good falafel. Then again, in that neighborhood there are probably more Lebanese lunch spots that you can shake a stick at...

Alison said...

Oh yes! Tasty Corner is our weekend home :) I love the falafel. They always make me try the daily specials too and it's always delish. I've heard that the Moroccan place across from Saigon-Bangkok is great too but I haven't made it there. I also want to try the Cosmopolitan on Deux Eglise but haven't made it there yet either. Too many choices!

Sharon said...

Nice! New names for my list of Restaurants-to-Visit.