This is just a quick report of a return visit to Vnam Café on Oldham Road in north Manchester. Everything I said in my previous report still holds.
The setting is basic and easily missed from the street, though I was told they are hoping to do something about that.
I ordered some barbecued quail to start with and the beef pho, though both came together.
Chim Cut Nu'ong: BBQ quail
Six quid buys you three half quails. I've no idea what's in the marinade that the quail must have been in, but it's jolly good. The little bowl I think contained merely salt and pepper, but wasn't really necessary, as the quail was tasty enough in itself. Very juicy meat combined with a bit of char and a slight crisp to the skin. Delicious. Though not a dish for those afraid of bones or of using their fingers.
Pho Bo: Beef noodle soup
Then on to the main event of this quick lunch, the Vietnamese national dish, phô. This is a noodle soup, the star of which should be the stock. My pho was pho bo, apparently the northern Vietnamese version, featuring a beef stock and slices of beef (in the south of Vietnam, pho is apparently more heavily seasoned and features more herbs, greens and chillies). A pile of beansprouts and herbs come separately, along with some rather ferocious sliced chillis. According to the menu, the broth is flavoured with cinammon, cloves, star anise and coriander. I can't say that I could particularly identify them, but, while quite light, it was nicely flavoured and didn't dominate the other ingredients. Initially, I shovelled in most of the beansprouts, herbs and chillis, but it wasn't long before I was fishing out the chillis, as for me, they'd more than done their work and were my making my nose run! Again, this was great value: £6.50 bought a very large bowl that I struggled to finish.
Vnam Café is unlicensed, so I kept it local and had a can of Vimto! That brought the total cost to £13.50. Excellent value. Good, friendly service too.
At the end of my meal I noticed that staff lunch appeared to be bowls of steaming pho, which is a recommendation in itself.
This is a small cafe on an unloved and unlovely stretch of Oldham Rd in the no-mans land between Manchester city centre and its suburbs. It's in a small parade of shops opposite the Wing Yip/Glamorous/Postal Depot behemoth. Very conveniently, there is limited parking in on-street bays directly outside.
It looks nothing from the outside and, speeding past in the car, if you even noticed it, you'd probably think it was a takeaway. If you managed a second glance, you might think it was a hairdressers or something. Inside, it's cheap laminate floors and basic, bare tables decorated only with chopsticks and paper napkins, but it's clean and there's a good smell coming from the downstairs kitchen, and, as I enter, the waiter leaps immediately up from the table where he's been chatting.
I'm no expert on Vietnamese food (in fact it's the first time I've had it in over 20 years), but the menu seems to tick most of the boxes I know, with spring rolls, summer rolls, pho, banh xeo, plus a strong line in barbecued meats. Just how authentic it is, I don't know, though I was the only caucasian in the whole time I was there.
The menu is very brief and not without repetition, in that most of the main courses are the starters with rice or noodles added. I rather like that. Both in terms of keeping buying to a minimum and produce fresh (vital in Vietnamese cuisine), and in terms of me always wanting to try at least one more starter.
The food had clean, fresh flavours, but perhaps lacked some of the fragrance I had expected, probably because there weren't the quantity and variety of herbs that I'd associate with Vietnamese cooking.
Summer Rolls (Goi Cuon) were filled with rice, prawns, noodles, carrot, cucumber, lettuce and coriander. They were certainly well filled, but the prawn element was a bit sparse, especially when I realised the prawns had been cut in half lengthways. Unfortunately they seemed to be missing a bit of the zing of flavour that I'd hoped for. But you can't really complain for £3. With the rolls came a dish of very moreish dipping sauce, that seemed to be a sort of combination of satay, fish sauce and chilli. Absolutely delicious, but it seemed out of synch with the summer rolls, which it dominated completely.
Bun Thit Nu'ong was some slivers of barbecued pork that had a nice level of char without being overcooked, on a mass of thin rice noodles that could have done with someone deciding whether they were meant to be hot or cold, as they were neither. On the side were some cucumber, carrot, spring onion, coriander and mint and fish sauce based dipping sauce.
Banh xeo (no picture: the camera battery died at this point) is described as a savoury pancake. It looks like an overcooked, thin egg yolk omelette, but has no eggs in it and is (I learned) a batter made with rice flour and turmeric that is shallow fried in oil. Here it comes filled with beansprouts, more of the halved prawns and pork, with the same salad and dipping sauce that came with the pork.
One disappointing thing was a clump of mint that still had an almighty chunk on inedible stem attached. Am I expecting too great a level of refinement in a basic caff?
Given the good value of the food (£3 for the the summer rolls, £5.50 each for the other two dishes), a small glass of lemonade for £1 seemed a bit dear! (They're unlicenced.)
Not perfect, but good value for £15. I wouldn't make a special journey (from north Lancashire), but would quite like to go back if I'm in the area.
