Impressionist Taste of Vietnam

That's what the coupon in the mail said of a new Vietnamese restaurant not too far from home and a $20 off coupon, so that's where Bear and I went for dinner.
It was a beautifully decorated restaurant, although I have no photos to share of the interior. I felt dorky enough taking pictures of our food with Bear's cell phone.


So Bear and I each ordered a cocktail. Vanilla sky was the name of one that had vanilla vodka with peachy orange, coconut-y flavors. Mine was a take on the mojito but with a hint of peach - both very yummy.


We started with some fresh spring rolls as appetizers, which I love. With all the local pho restaurants around, Bear and I are quite particular with these and have our favorites where we feel have the best ones around. These were pretty close, but no cigar (although I will give them props for their peanut dipping sauce).


Then on to our entrees. Bear had the chicken pho and I decided to try their pork and shrimp Vietnamese crepe. I've never had these before, but they were delicious. The crepes were made with a coconut milk batter and the inside was filled with slices of pork, shrimp and bean sprouts. A separate platter accompanied the crepe loaded with spearmint, mint, basil and cilantro to layer in with the crepe then you wrap it in a lettuce leaf and devour it taco style, if you will. Although very good, I don't recommend eating this on a first date, as I managed to make a mess of myself. But I wasn't on my first date and didn't have to try to impress anyone, so it was ok to be a little messy, hehehe.


We still managed to order dessert after all this (I know!). Bear had been waiting all evening for the Vietnamese coffee and enjoyed a dish of coconut ice cream on the side. I was a little curious about one of their desserts described as a grilled coconut banana cake, so I went with that. It was half a banana wrapped in sticky rice that was then grilled, cut into bite size pieces with coconut cream poured on top. It was delicious, but the thing I questioned was the "garnish" of sliced scallions sprinkled on the coconut sauce. It was a dessert and I didn't want to taste anything onion-y. But at the end of our meal, I think we walked out with our own "Impressionist taste of Vietnam."

So why am I torturing you with the description of what I had for dinner tonight? To explain how I felt when I finally got around to watching Eat Drink Man Woman this afternoon. I loved the scenes with the food preparation in this film. The knife skills are amazing - I wish I could be half as good as the nimble hands filmed in this movie, chopping and slicing to absolute perfection.


Which gets me thinking... so what are some movies you've enjoyed that had a central theme that revolved around food? Food is very sensual, and it's definitely conveyed as such in film. Chocolat comes to mind (although it wasn't until I came across Laura's blog that I found out this was based on a book - doh). Food is a necessity for survival, but it's also a desire when you look at food more than just a necessity - to live to eat rather than eat to live. It's the balance between the two that is hard to achieve :)