Vanessa’s Bistro, sweet and savory the Vietnamese way
“You girls know how to eat”, our hostess smiled at us, the check attached. Ten things. At a tapas place like Vanessa’s Bistro where everything sounds tasty, I’d say we did a pretty good job narrowing down our choices, and we asked for the house recommendations only three times. All rendered success.
The first decision was the easiest: we’d got to get the sweet potato fries. Neither mushy like their orange cousins nor mealy like the white kinds, these Okinawan sweet potatoes, or purple yams, are sturdy in texture and just gently sweet. With or without the ginger aioli, they were loved. The small plates also stood alone splendidly, not that their dipping sauce came short.
Black pepper cured filet carpaccio with roasted peanuts, fried shallots and Asian mint (húng quế). A twist on the classic Vietnamese bò nhúng dấm (carpaccio with vinegar) bò tái chanh (carpaccio with lime). (Thanks for the correction, Linh-Dang!)
Crispy quail marinated in five spices and honey, with a light mixed fish sauce. Classic Vietnamese.
Doesn’t look like much but it’s my favorite of the night: Maple Leaf duck confit lettuce wraps with mushroom, onion and roasted peanuts; a sweet, slightly zesty black bean sauce for dipping. The pickled radish and daikon carry a gentle fruity note, had our hostess not been so busy with the other tables I would have asked her what kind of vinegar they used to pickle.
Green papaya salad with poached prawn, roasted peanuts and Asian mint. A hint of fish sauce. Pieces of sesame crackers, substituting for the traditional shrimp crackers or rice crackers.
Pork loin marinated in molasses and slow roasted to a crusty outside, unfortunately a tad dry inside, topped with a lovely Fuji apple chutney and accompanied by an average potato gratin.
Dungeness crab and mozzarella rolled in an oven-baked petrale sole filet, which was dressed in a lemon caper beurre blanc. The accompanied potato croquet is nothing to write home about, but we left no trace of the fish roll. It’s a Vanessa’s Special that doesn’t get served every night, we’re told.
And desserts, of course. Fuji apple and coconut eggroll with vanilla ice cream. Good ol’ comfort.
A ginger molasses creme brulee. Charming at first bite but quickly grew too rich.
Banana, raisin and peach bread pudding with vanilla ice cream. Good ol’ comfort once again.
It’s been a while since I’ve dug into Vietnamese food, mostly because I’m afraid of getting less than I expect. The same thing happens to my Chinese, Korean and Japanese friends with their respective cuisine: we compare the “authentic” stuff at the restos with what our mom makes or what we remember eating in our motherland, and we shrug. Now Vanessa’s Bistro didn’t disappoint. It doesn’t dwell on authenticity, then again, the nature of Vietnamese cuisine speaks mix-and-match. The restaurant looks Western but it smells Vietnamese. The plates and their names are dressed up in French but the core ingredients ring familiar tunes. Everything is sweet and savory. We intentionally ignored the more Vietnamese shaken beef (bò lúc lắc) and claypots to have room for innovations, and innovations we got, but it’s nice to see that the roots are still there. 🙂
Address: Vanessa’s Bistro
1715 Solano Ave
Berkeley, 94707
(510) 525-8300
www.vanessasbistro.com
Dinner for three (ladies): $97.89
Thanks a lot for sharing this with all folks you actually recognize what you are talking approximately! Bookmarked. Please additionally visit my website =). We may have a link alternate arrangement among us!
1I’ve been surfing on-line greater than three hours lately, yet I by no means found any attention-grabbing article like yours. It’s pretty price sufficient for me. Personally, if all web owners and bloggers made excellent content material as you did, the net can be a lot more helpful than ever before.
2It is actually a nice and helpful piece of information. I am satisfied that you shared this helpful information with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.
3Howdy! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on. You have done a extraordinary job!
4I am so happy to read this. This is the type of manual that needs to be given and not the accidental misinformation that is at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this greatest doc.
5Good info. Lucky me I reach on your website by accident, I bookmarked it.
6I like your writing style genuinely enjoying this internet site.
7Real nice design and style and good content, nothing else we want :D.
8Enjoyed examining this, very good stuff, appreciate it.
9It is actually a nice and helpful piece of info. I am glad that you just shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.
10Howdy very cool website!! Man .. Excellent .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your web site and take the feeds additionally…I am glad to search out a lot of useful info here in the publish, we’d like work out extra strategies on this regard, thank you for sharing.
11You are my inhalation, I possess few web logs and occasionally run out from to brand.
12Hi there are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create my own. Do you need any html coding knowledge to make your own blog? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
13I’m not sure exactly why but this web site is loading very slow for me. Is anyone else having this problem or is it a issue on my end? I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.
14Wohh precisely what I was looking for, thanks for posting.
15Some really prime posts on this website , saved to my bookmarks.
16Some times its a pain in the ass to read what people wrote but this website is very user genial! .
17Very interesting info !Perfect just what I was searching for!
18I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post…
19It’s hard to find knowledgeable people on this topic, but you sound like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks
20Fantastic web site. Plenty of useful information here. I am sending it to several buddies ans also sharing in delicious. And certainly, thank you in your effort!
21Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wished to say that I’ve truly enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope you write again very soon!
22I really enjoy studying on this web site, it has got good posts. “And all the winds go sighing, For sweet things dying.” by Christina Georgina Rossetti.
23Thank you for helping out, excellent info. “If at first you don’t succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.” by Bill Lyon.
24I’d perpetually want to be update on new content on this internet site, bookmarked! .
25I have been browsing online greater than 3 hours today, yet I never discovered any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty price sufficient for me. In my opinion, if all web owners and bloggers made just right content material as you did, the net shall be a lot more helpful than ever before.
26Veja como revisar TCC nas normas ABNT com checklist prático de estrutura, capa, sumário, citações e referências antes da entrega.
27It’s actually a nice and helpful piece of info. I’m glad that you shared this helpful information with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
28Excellent goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you are just extremely magnificent. I really like what you have acquired here, certainly like what you are saying and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still take care of to keep it wise. I can not wait to read far more from you. This is actually a terrific web site.
29whoah this blog is wonderful i love reading your articles. Keep up the great work! You know, lots of people are searching around for this information, you can help them greatly.
30you have a great blog here! would you like to make some invite posts on my blog?
31Great wordpress blog here.. It’s hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! take care
32Yeah bookmaking this wasn’t a high risk determination outstanding post! .
33It’s the best time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I want to suggest you some interesting things or advice. Maybe you could write next articles referring to this article. I wish to read even more things about it!
34This really answered my problem, thank you!
35Great post, I believe people should acquire a lot from this blog its really user friendly.
36A person essentially help to make seriously posts I would state. This is the first time I frequented your web page and thus far? I surprised with the research you made to make this particular publish amazing. Excellent job!
37This is the suitable weblog for anybody who wants to search out out about this topic. You notice a lot its almost laborious to argue with you (not that I actually would want…HaHa). You undoubtedly put a new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!
38We’re a bunch of volunteers and starting a brand new scheme in our community. Your web site provided us with useful information to work on. You’ve performed an impressive job and our entire group shall be grateful to you.
39I have read several good stuff here. Certainly value bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how so much attempt you place to make this type of magnificent informative web site.
40Thank you for sharing superb informations. Your site is very cool. I’m impressed by the details that you’ve on this site. It reveals how nicely you understand this subject. Bookmarked this website page, will come back for extra articles. You, my pal, ROCK! I found just the information I already searched everywhere and just could not come across. What a perfect site.
41Loving the information on this web site, you have done outstanding job on the posts.
42Greetings! I’ve been reading your website for a while now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Porter Texas! Just wanted to tell you keep up the excellent job!
43Aw, this was a very nice post. In idea I would like to put in writing like this moreover – taking time and precise effort to make a very good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and under no circumstances appear to get one thing done.
44Enjoyed reading this, very good stuff, thanks.
45The subsequent time I read a weblog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as a lot as this one. I imply, I know it was my choice to learn, however I truly thought youd have one thing interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about one thing that you can repair if you werent too busy on the lookout for attention.
46I do agree with all of the ideas you have presented in your post. They’re really convincing and will certainly work. Still, the posts are too short for newbies. Could you please extend them a little from next time? Thanks for the post.
47Having read this I thought it was very informative. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this article together. I once again find myself spending way to much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it!
48Exactly what I was looking for, appreciate it for posting.
49Hmm it appears like your website ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I too am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to the whole thing. Do you have any tips and hints for novice blog writers? I’d certainly appreciate it.
50