Nha Hang Tay Do
The Hong Kong Market IV complex in Bellaire is always busy. At least during the days I go there. And I’ve been there an awful lot of times. No matter what time it is, the closest parking spot we could get was about 20 rows away from the door. Makes me wonder whose cars those 20 rows are, cannot be just the market’s employees’, can it? On the other hand, across from the artificial minipond and fountain, Tay Do restaurant looks so quiet we didn’t know if it was opened.
This is lunch hour, guys. The place is clearly so packed we had to wait to be seated. The only visible person in charge was talking on the phone and to a waitress behind the kitchen counter, and only spotted our unexpected visit after 10 minutes. Feeling welcome?
Except for the wait, we got more attention from the waiters the rest of our visit. Of course, the service here is about as indifferent as many other Vietnamese eateries, but at least we got our water, our food, and our bill in a timely manner. After all, we came to eat, not to chat and find companionship. And eat we did. A lot. Starting with appetizer: cua lột chiên bơ (butter-fried soft shell crab), eaten with fresh xà lách xoong (watercress). This is simply a must-have. I don’t like crabs because it’s too much work for too little meat, but when the crustaceans are caught shedding their exoskeleton to grow, the shell is soft enough to be edible, and among various possible recipes one of the best is you deep fried ’em. My taste buds like it, but thinking of the weak unprotected crab being thrown into a vat of boiling oil is, you know, unnerving. I wouldn’t be able to do it myself.
As we stuffed the last crab legs down our throat, the array of main course was brought out. From top to bottom: vịt chiên khoai môn (fried duck with taro), bò xào sate (stir fried beef in sate), and bánh hỏi tôm thịt nướng (banh hoi with grilled pork and shrimp).
The taro is the purplish layer underneath the duck meat. I like duck, and I like taro. But somehow the combination wasn’t spectacular. The taro was too sweet and the duck was too dry. Overall score: 2.0/10.0 for innovative idea.
The beef is a tongue trigger. It might have been a tad salty, but was great with steamed rice. I know it’s not spicy because my mom could eat it. 6.5/10 for taste and oldschoolness.
When I wrote this wikipedia article about bánh hỏi I couldn’t find any picture of just banh hoi by itself, without the oodles of meat and condiments atop. Why, you may wonder. Because banh hoi is simply fine thin rice noodle. It’s simply white. It doesn’t look appetizing on pictures by itself. And it doesn’t taste amazing by itself either. Much less because this is downtown Houston and the best banh hoi we can get is the dried prepackaged type imported from Vietnam. Things change after a long voyage. Was it an enjoyable dish with the company of grilled pork and shrimp, though? Oh yes. Don’t forget spoonfuls of nuoc mam either. The best thing is this dish is so light. I was not miserable after finishing it. 6.5/10 for satisfaction.
The whole bill came out $57.26. There were a few other customers coming in as we were leaving. The manager/main waiter informed us that this place has been mentioned in several American reviews (didn’t say which ones), and since they’ve been here since I first went to Bellaire in 11th grade, I suppose their business is decent. The red lanterns hanging at the front door enhance the Chinese look, the menu is littered with kung pao chicken and chow mein, the restaurant is named Tay Do (West Capital) after the common name for Cần Thơ, Vietnam. But that’s ok. How should I sum this up? Shania Twain’s song comes to mind.
Address: Tay Do Restaurant (next to Hong Kong Mall)
11201 Bellaire Blvd
Houston, TX 77072
(281) 988-8939
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself? Plz reply back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know wheere u got this from. thanks
1Thanks for all your efforts that you have put in this. very interesting info .
2Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! However, how could we communicate?
3I believe this website has some very great information for everyone :D.
4Awsome article and right to the point. I don’t know if this is really the best place to ask but do you guys have any thoughts on where to employ some professional writers? Thanks 🙂
5Lovely website! I am loving it!! Will be back later to read some more. I am bookmarking your feeds also.
6I’m not sure why but this web site is loading incredibly slow for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a problem on my end? I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.
7he blog was how do i say it… relevant, finally something that helped me. Thanks
8Just a smiling visitor here to share the love (:, btw great design.
9Thanx for the effort, keep up the good work Great work, I am going to start a small Blog Engine course work using your site I hope you enjoy blogging with the popular BlogEngine.net.Thethoughts you express are really awesome. Hope you will right some more posts.
10I precisely wished to say thanks all over again. I’m not certain what I would’ve followed without the type of smart ideas revealed by you concerning this subject. It seemed to be a daunting dilemma in my view, nevertheless noticing your professional strategy you managed the issue made me to cry with gladness. Extremely thankful for the work and even trust you realize what a powerful job you happen to be getting into teaching most people using your blog. Most probably you haven’t met all of us.
11Excellent blog you have here but I was wondering if you knew of any forums that cover the same topics discussed here? I’d really love to be a part of community where I can get comments from other knowledgeable people that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thank you!
12Aw, this was a really nice post. In concept I would like to put in writing like this moreover – taking time and actual effort to make a very good article… however what can I say… I procrastinate alot and not at all appear to get one thing done.
13I have been exploring for a little bit for any high quality articles or weblog posts on this sort of area . Exploring in Yahoo I eventually stumbled upon this web site. Studying this information So i’m satisfied to show that I’ve an incredibly good uncanny feeling I came upon exactly what I needed. I such a lot unquestionably will make certain to don’t fail to remember this website and provides it a glance regularly.
14magnificent post, very informative. I ponder why the other specialists of this sector don’t understand this. You should continue your writing. I’m sure, you have a huge readers’ base already!
15I like this site so much, saved to my bookmarks.
16I am not sure where you’re getting your information, but great topic. I needs to spend some time learning more or understanding more. Thanks for wonderful information I was looking for this info for my mission.
17I’ve been exploring for a bit for any high-quality articles or blog posts on this kind of space . Exploring in Yahoo I eventually stumbled upon this site. Reading this info So i’m happy to show that I’ve an incredibly just right uncanny feeling I found out exactly what I needed. I most surely will make sure to do not overlook this web site and give it a look regularly.
18The heart of your writing while appearing agreeable originally, did not really settle well with me after some time. Somewhere within the paragraphs you actually managed to make me a believer unfortunately just for a very short while. I still have a problem with your leaps in assumptions and one might do nicely to fill in all those gaps. When you actually can accomplish that, I could definitely be impressed.
19he blog was how do i say it… relevant, finally something that helped me. Thanks
20Woah! I’m really loving the template/theme of this site. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s challenging to get that “perfect balance” between usability and visual appearance. I must say that you’ve done a excellent job with this. In addition, the blog loads very fast for me on Internet explorer. Outstanding Blog!
21You have brought up a very great points, thanks for the post.
22I do like the way you have presented this specific difficulty and it really does present us some fodder for thought. Nonetheless, because of what precisely I have personally seen, I basically trust as other opinions stack on that people keep on point and not embark on a tirade of the news of the day. Yet, thank you for this exceptional piece and though I can not go along with this in totality, I regard the point of view.
23