Le Regal – Old food, new taste
When asked about Vietnamese food, Americans usually think of phở busily churned out in small noodle houses crowded with plastic chairs and formica tables. Naturally, since most immigrants gather in their community, the variety of traditional food can only circulate in specific areas. A small fraction of the people have settled in a predominantly American neighborhood long enough and are acquainted with the system enough to set up a business, but they often target the young customers with adventurous taste. Meanwhile, most young customers can only afford low price, hence phở and other easily-made noodle dishes make their way to the top.
Careful circumspection would show that pasta alla carbonara requires no more effort than bún thịt nướng, so is it just a matter of gaudy names, flashy advertisement, and aging familiarity that brought one into fancy menus but not the other?
By no means do I want to sound like a snob, but every now and then I get cravings for a nice dinner in a restaurant aptly labeled “restaurant”. Ladles of this melting cheese and mounts of that grated cheese just no longer light the candle. A retouch of Far Eastern eloquence was much needed to make the aesthetic night.
The price is a little steep, but here are clothed tables, warm lights, an all-English menu, little to no disturbances from foreign chattering in the kitchen and among customers. A middle-aged woman, busy like a humming bird, scampered from kitchen to tables with plates in one hand, orders and bills in the other. For a restaurant with a fair size like Le Regal, one-person play seems a little overwhelming. But it works, our food was served within the time it took for us to make a few glances at the decor and exchange some daily news.
Fried rice is an easy dish, if you throw in some meat, some egg, some legumes, some salt and soy sauce, it can be called well done. Its volatility allows the cook to break free from shackles of recipes, and the eaters to relax from judging its missing-this or extra-that. There’s no fixed list of ingredients, no fixed standard other than appealing to the mouth, hence no objective criterion to rank a plate of fried rice among others. But if we were to nitpick, creativity would pump this one fried rice on top of all other Asian concoctions I’ve had, simply because of the addition of pineapple. There were only a few wedges in that mount, but pineapple is not one to be bullied by other ingredients, its tamed acidity seeps through every grain of rice, sweeter and more thorough than a squeeze of lemon. It helps lowering the guilt of consuming chicken, shrimp, scallops, pork, fried egg and zillions of molecules of saturated fat in frying oil. The rice also made tasty leftover for the next day.
As much as the cook was generous with the protein and the starch, they also gave us enough veggies for ten. At other Vietnamese restaurants, a small plate of sprouts topped with some basil is the usual allowance. Here came a basket of mounting garden goodies. I hadn’t seen any bunch of greens this big for years, especially since we weren’t asking for phở. Not sure what to do, we made lettuce wraps with bean sprout, a couple of leaves of basil and mint, and grilled beef from the other dish we ordered. Dipped in nuoc mam, the wraps were rad.
I’ve blogged about bánh hỏi thịt nướng before, so instead of blabbing about the lacy texture, I’d just say that this was delicious. Now clearly it’s a bit disproportionate, nowhere in Vietnam would you find so much meat accompanying so little banh hoi, the rice vermicelli must be the base. But the food pyramid seems to be upside down in America, where meat is vital in keeping you thin and at all cost one must say no to starch. The cook also went bizerk with deep fried shallots and crush peanuts, but those are easily brushed off if you’re not into contaminating grilled beef with relatives of vegetables.
Together with Tomatina, Alborz, some Mexican eatery, and Top Dog, Le Régal makes Center Street a road of international cuisine, of course an addition of kangaroo ragout and kitfo would be nice.
Bill before tip: $26.23 – dinner for two and leftover lunch for one.
Address:
Le Regal
2126 Center Street (between Oxford & Shattuck)
Berkeley, CA 94704
Hey there I am so thrilled I found your website, I really found you by mistake, while I was browsing on Aol for something else, Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to say kudos for a incredible post and a all round enjoyable blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the moment but I have bookmarked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the excellent job.
1I think this is one of the so much important info for me. And i am happy reading your article. But want to remark on few basic issues, The website style is perfect, the articles is in point of fact nice :D. Good process, cheers
2Your place is valueble for me. Thanks!…
3Aavant produces the best photography, event and theatre backdrops in the world and works for almost all the biggest players in the world. Being in backdrops industry for last two decades it is the largest player in the world, providing highest quality backdrops to every buyer from USA to Australia.
4I would like to thank you for the efforts you’ve put in writing this web site. I am hoping the same high-grade site post from you in the upcoming also. Actually your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own site now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings fast. Your write up is a good example of it.
5Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing some research on that. And he actually bought me lunch since I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thank you for lunch! “Any man would be forsworn to gain a kingdom.” by Roger Zelazny.
6Lovely just what I was searching for.Thanks to the author for taking his clock time on this one.
7I went over this website and I believe you have a lot of great info , saved to my bookmarks (:.
8I have been surfing on-line more than three hours these days, yet I never found any fascinating article like yours. It is lovely value sufficient for me. Personally, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content material as you probably did, the net will likely be much more helpful than ever before.
9Well I definitely enjoyed reading it. This article provided by you is very useful for good planning.
10I got what you mean , thankyou for putting up.Woh I am glad to find this website through google. “You must pray that the way be long, full of adventures and experiences.” by Constantine Peter Cavafy.
11TURMERIC TRICK
12I have been absent for a while, but now I remember why I used to love this web site. Thanks, I’ll try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your website?
13Thank you for sharing superb informations. Your web site is very cool. I’m impressed by the details that you’ve on this blog. It reveals how nicely you understand this subject. Bookmarked this website page, will come back for extra articles. You, my friend, ROCK! I found simply the information I already searched everywhere and just could not come across. What a great website.
14Thank you for sharing with us, I conceive this website genuinely stands out :D.
15I see something truly special in this internet site.
16Thanks for another excellent article. The place else could anybody get that type of info in such a perfect method of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am on the search for such info.
17Thank you for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more clear from this post. I’m very glad to see such excellent info being shared freely out there.
18Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! By the way, how can we communicate?
19Hello.This post was extremely remarkable, particularly since I was browsing for thoughts on this issue last Friday.
20Thanks – Enjoyed this article, can I set it up so I receive an email sent to me whenever you make a fresh post?
21Sweet site, super design, rattling clean and utilise genial.
22Very nice article and right to the point. I don’t know if this is in fact the best place to ask but do you guys have any ideea where to get some professional writers? Thanks 🙂
23I’ve been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this blog. Thanks , I will try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your web site?
24It is truly a great and helpful piece of info. I’m happy that you shared this helpful info with us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.
25I’m extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Anyway keep up the nice quality writing, it is rare to see a great blog like this one these days..
26I simply needed to thank you very much once again. I’m not certain the things I might have followed without these secrets documented by you over that topic. It had been a very difficult crisis for me personally, nevertheless considering a well-written manner you processed it forced me to cry for contentment. Now i’m grateful for the assistance and then sincerely hope you recognize what a great job you are undertaking educating the mediocre ones with the aid of your webblog. More than likely you’ve never encountered all of us.
27Hey would you mind stating which blog platform you’re working with? I’m looking to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a difficult time deciding between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your layout seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique. P.S Apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!
28This is a very good tips especially to those new to blogosphere, brief and accurate information… Thanks for sharing this one. A must read article.
29Super-Duper website! I am loving it!! Will be back later to read some more. I am taking your feeds also.
30It’s actually a great and helpful piece of info. I’m glad that you simply shared this useful information with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
31This is a very good tips especially to those new to blogosphere, brief and accurate information… Thanks for sharing this one. A must read article.
32I got what you intend, thankyou for putting up.Woh I am delighted to find this website through google.
33Great line up. We will be linking to this great article on our site. Keep up the good writing.
34Excellent goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you are just too fantastic. I really like what you’ve acquired here, really like what you’re stating and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still take care of to keep it sensible. I cant wait to read far more from you. This is actually a wonderful web site.
35I am no longer certain where you are getting your info, but great topic. I must spend some time studying more or understanding more. Thank you for magnificent info I used to be on the lookout for this info for my mission.
36Currently it appears like Movable Type is the top blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
37I likewise conceive so , perfectly composed post! .
38hey there and thank you in your information – I have definitely picked up something new from right here. I did on the other hand expertise several technical issues the use of this website, as I experienced to reload the website lots of times prior to I may just get it to load correctly. I had been considering if your web host is OK? No longer that I’m complaining, but sluggish loading instances instances will sometimes have an effect on your placement in google and can injury your high-quality rating if ads and ***********|advertising|advertising|advertising and *********** with Adwords. Well I’m including this RSS to my email and could glance out for a lot more of your respective interesting content. Ensure that you update this once more very soon..
39naturally like your website however you need to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very bothersome to tell the truth nevertheless I will certainly come back again.
40very good publish, i definitely love this website, keep on it
41Thankyou for this fantastic post, I am glad I discovered this web site on yahoo.
42What’s Happening i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It absolutely helpful and it has aided me out loads. I hope to contribute & aid other users like its helped me. Good job.
43Throughout the great pattern of things you’ll secure a B- just for effort. Where you actually lost us was first in the specifics. As as the maxim goes, details make or break the argument.. And it couldn’t be more true at this point. Having said that, let me reveal to you what did give good results. The writing is actually extremely powerful which is probably why I am making an effort to opine. I do not really make it a regular habit of doing that. Secondly, even though I can notice the leaps in reasoning you make, I am not really sure of exactly how you appear to connect the details which make your conclusion. For right now I will subscribe to your issue however trust in the future you actually connect the facts better.
44Hi would you mind letting me know which webhost you’re working with? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different web browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you recommend a good internet hosting provider at a reasonable price? Kudos, I appreciate it!
45Good site! I really love how it is easy on my eyes and the data are well written. I’m wondering how I could be notified when a new post has been made. I have subscribed to your RSS feed which must do the trick! Have a nice day!
46I was examining some of your posts on this internet site and I think this internet site is real informative! Keep on posting.
47You are a very intelligent person!
48hello!,I like your writing very much! share we communicate more about your article on AOL? I need a specialist on this area to solve my problem. May be that’s you! Looking forward to see you.
49Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to more added agreeable from you! By the way, how could we communicate?
50