Anh Hong - 7 courses of beef

Now, I've only done 7 courses of beef at one other place, so that is what I have to compare to. I was a little shocked to find that my favorite Japanese restaurant had been closed down and replaced with this Vietnamese food place. When I walked in, I was amazed by the new decor. This is one high-end looking place. Not what I'm used to when looking for a bowl of pho. And then another shocker, no pho.

The waiter approached us and was extremely friendly. He highly recommended their 7 courses meal. We chose to do that with a salmon sashimi - like appetizer and fookie ordered a glass of arnold palmer. The waiter looked confused at this request. Fookie carefully explained the makings of this drink and the waiter walked away still looking confused. He later returned with a creamed thai iced tea mixed with lemonade. He got it right after the second try though.

The food at this place though, was very good. The appetizer came first, about 8 slices of fresh salmon covered with a delicious sauce topped with fried onions. There was a plate of thinly sliced rare beef also drenched in a delicious lemony sauce topped with fried onion. Then came the beef salad, beef ball, grape-leaf wrapped beef, beef sausages. Hm... I'm missing something. There was even a person who came by to change our rice-tortilla dipping water. That's new. I really liked their rice wraps, they were thick but flexible, even I, the ultimate wrap-ripper managed to make pretty good wraps most of the time.

Lastly came the bowl of beef porridge, hot, a little watery, and topped with fried onions. By this time I was getting pretty full, but the porridge was tasty with bits of beef and green onions. I think I had a couple spoonfuls before falling back into a well-deserved food coma.

For 21 dollars a person, it was a very filling and satisfying meal. The server was friendly but didn't seem extremely experienced. I'm sure that he will only improve with time.