Vi-Sand (Vietnamese), Shimokitazawa

My wife and I spent ten days in Vietnam last year and somehow never got to eat the popular baguette sandwich "Banh Mi" (here's your wiki article on the dish). It's really quite a shame as it's probably one of the very few good things French left in Indochina, and I had quite fantasized about the legendary baguette dish before leaving for Saigon.
We have never had the chance to try some of those places yet, so how happy were we when we realized that a Banh Mi joint had just opened in Shimokitazawa less than a month ago.

Vi-sand, which is an abbreviation of "Vietnamese Sandwich", is quite far your cliche asian joint and looks more like one of those relatively stylish new cafes popping out by the dozens in Tokyo right now. The place is managed by a friendly foreigner (he told me he's a restaurant producer) who is more than willing to help you: when I told him that this was our first Banh Mi ever, he kindly explained me what the dish was all about and what the recommendations were.

Definitely not looking like your average Vietnamese

There is a a choice of 4 Banh Mi: Beef & Lemongrass, Chicken & Ginger, Fish & Tomato and Tofu & Vegetables. My wife and I opted for the most popular "Beef & Lemongrass". By the way, each sandwich comes with a drink and a potato salad.

This is what the Lunch set looks like

I had always imagined Bahn Mi being made of crunchy French Baguette bread but the one we got served after 5 minutes following our order was definitely on the softer side. It has the obvious merit of not hurting your palate, but I would have preferred it crunchier.

The veggies

Once the surprise of the soft bread is left behind, the second impression is of a nice lemongrass aroma, which gives the dish a pleasant and refreshing taste. The freshness is accentuated by plenty of fresh coriander and mint leaves, some thinly-cut pickled radish and carrot, and some sweet and sour Nuoc Mam fish sauce.

The choice on the menu is mint or coriander but you can add either one for ¥50.

The meat hidden under the vegetables

The little strips of beef are stirred with minced ginger and what seemed to be on a blend of Nam Pla fish sauce and Shoyu soy sauce. They also add some pink-colored liver paste on the bread.

As mentioned earlier, the sandwich comes with a regular potato salad, but you can change that to a soup. The soup might actually be a better choice if you want to keep some sort of Vietnamese vibe to your food.

The not-so Vietnamese potato salad

It's overall a nice lunch though the pricing at ¥750 with a drink and a soup/salad might be very slightly high.

Once again, I have never tried any Bahn Mi before so I have no way of comparing it with other places, but if you have, your comments are welcome.

So there are no surprises when you come here, you should know that they don't serve Bahn Mis for dinner, if not for a Ham Bahm Mi (and some stews, curries and pots)

Vi-Sand is open everyday from 11:00am to 16:00pm for lunch and 18:00pm to 23:00pm for dinner.

2-12-13 Kitazawa, Setagaya-ku

03-6805-4624

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Com Pho (Vietnamese), Shimokitazawa

I'd like to feature today this Vietnamese restaurant which we used to patronize quite frequently five years ago or so, "Com Pho". We stopped going there when we felt like somehow the great food quality had gone down (and I believe the cooks had changed) and because of an appetite inhibiting bathroom odor that used to float in the air and which was getting stronger and stronger at the time.

So we hadn't been paying much attention to the restaurant for years until we recently saw a sign outside the restaurant advertising its "Tom Yam Kung Pho". I am a HUGE FAN of the Tom Yam Kung Ramen at Tinun Shibuya so I got tempted, knowing how exciting it would be to discover closer to home the Vietnamese remix of the dish.

You can imagine how quickly I gave my nostrils the odor test when entering the classy restaurant. This is by the way one thing that has not changed from the beginning: the decoration has always been quite upscale for a Vietnamese in Shimokitazawa. There still subsists a suspect smell but I couldn't tell whether it came from the condiments used in the kitchen or from you know where...

We sat down and (in spite of all the prior fantasy over the Tom Yam Kung noodle) ended up ordering the Pho Ga (Chicken Pho) which we thought was a better approach to knowing whether they had a decent cook or not, just like you should always order the Tamago (sweet egg omelette) in a Sushi joint to have a better idea on the house abilities.

In case you're not aware of what Pho is, here's your wiki article for a basic notion.

Quickly after ordering, the waitress put a dish of Moyashi (bean sprout) in front of us, which you can help yourself from as a free topping on your Pho. Too bad Com Pho doesn't also bring you all those herbs and leaves you can top on your dish, like they do in Vietnam.

The bowl that got to us was rather large and smelling good. I have to say that the first aroma didn't come close to what we had in Vietnam, but it was still a good reminder of what we had in that incredible country (should you be interested, here is a photo collection of our trip there).

The preset toppings were boiled chicken, chopped leek, long cuts of Nira garlic chives and bean sprouts.

The soup was pretty basic and tasted a bit too strong in what I think was chicken bouillon so I added lemon juice to smoothen it and a lot of hot chili sauce to add a kick to it.

As you can see, the rice noodles Pho are flat and their tenderness (I probably let them in the soup too long, busy that I was taking pictures) combined well with the soup. I supersized them for ¥100 and it was just enough for my hungry stomach so please do so if you think you can handle it no problem.

So, it's definitely not like what we ate in south-east Asia, but for ¥830 (when supersized) I think this makes for a very decent lunch when you're tired of eating Japanese food or simply want something slightly exotic.

They also have a rather extensive menu for dinner that's not expensive, so please give it a try and let me know how it was! In the meantime, I will definitely try the Tom Yam Kung Pho...

Com Pho is open everyday from noon to midnight (L.O. at 22:30)

Setagaya-ku, Kitazawa 2-13-4

03-5481-0564

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Little Saigon (Vietnamese), Shimokitazawa

UPDATE: the restaurant has closed during the summer 2010. The chef is now working at the tiny Vietnamese restaurant Karate Chop

We went to Vietnam on vacations the past March and we overall loved it (click the below photo if you're interested in plenty of pictures from daily life there), though we were slightly disappointed at the pace with which the country is turning into a huge construction site for resorts and exponential-growth-rate-supporting manufactories.

Vietnam - March 2010

What did not let us down though was the food, which we sampled everyday from morning to late in the evening (mention for best food goes to the underdog provincial town of Hoi An). Besides the unavoidable bowl of Pho and the numerous dishes I had researched on various blogs before leaving for Vietnam, I was very much looking forward to eat the real "Cha Ca", a specialty served in Hanoi, which I first got introduced to in this Shimokitazawa Vietnamese restaurant "Little Saigon".

"Little Saigon" is managed by two friendly Vietnamese food fanatic. The cuisine is good, affordable and relatively authentic. The restaurant is in a basement but they keep it from feeling claustrophobic with a pseudo bamboo hut south-east asian decor. If you're interested in Uncle Ho's country, they have bunch of photo albums that they will be more than pleased to show you, so don't hesitate to ask for them.
I strongly recommend the "Com Chien Xa" (lemongrass fried rice), "Ca Kho To" (fish simmered in coconut caramel sauce) and the "Rau Muong Xao Cam" (stirred morning glory).

What we went for the other night were the "Banh Beo" (savory rice pancake), the "Cha Ca" (literally Grilled Fish in Vietnamese) and some Stirred Eggplant.

The stirred eggplant was simple and fresh, with a nice touch of garlic. It is quickly sauteed, leaving the eggplants fleshy and juicy. Excellent appetizers for sure.

Then came Vietnam's old capital Hue specialty "Banh Beo", which, for some reason we did not eat while in Hue.

The Banh Beo are sticky, almost jelly-like rice cakes which you scoop with a spoon. They are topped with leek, dry shrimp and crispy fried shallot. You can add some fish sauce Nuoc Mam, which supplies a nice sour flavor to the otherwise rather plain dish (despite the topped condiments). The look of the dish was exotic and pretty, the texture fun, as well as the scooping process, but it did not provide the aroma explosion that you always expect from Vietnamese fares.

When we finished the rice cakes, the young lady in the kitchen brought us all the stuff needed for their Cha Ca: some Pho noodles in the red plate, some Nuoc Mam in the larger blue bowl, a bit of Mam Tom (very strong fermented shrimp sauce with a pungent smell that reminded me of markets in Vietnam), a large plate of copped dill, spring onion (some fresh, some quickly marinated in vinegar) and some peanuts. The large pan put over some red-hot charcoal contains some vegetable oil and cuts of fleshy white meat fish powdered with turmeric.

Once everything is brought to you, just put everything on the pan, and stir until the greens start to diminish in size (shouldn't take more than 3-4mn). Once you've got to that stage, have some Pho ready in a bowl and top it with some of that excellent sauteed food. Add some Nuoc Mam and a little bit of that shrimp sauce and go nuts! It's a really good dish, and it's fun to make.

The dish costs ¥1,800 but the taste and fun factor do make for the price. It's not as "exotic" and powerful as it was in Hanoi, but it's a must if you ever visit "Little Saigon".

Attaching below for your reference what the "Cha Ca" looked like at the famous restaurant "Cha Ca La Vong" in Hanoi. It was good, but WAY TOO EXPENSIVE so keep that money for some other joint that will not rip you off.

From Vietnam - March 2010

"Little Saigon" is open everyday from noon to midnight, last order at 23:00pm

Setagaya-ku, Kitazawa 2-19-17

03-3414-0076

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Karate Chop (Vietnamese), Shimokitazawa

We just visited Vietnam in March, and having overdosed on the local food at the time, we since hadn't been too much in a mood for that cuisine. However, after a couple of months, the crave for exoticism finally got the upperhand, and the weather being nice, we visited the cute "Karate Chop", a tiny and airy Vietnamese restaurant with a nice little semi-terrasse.

After getting a seat in the small but charming shop, I ordered what seemed the most filling Buta To Tamago No Nitsuke Don (¥840) which I oversized (+¥100). I am not sure what the most appropriate translation would be but let me go with Simmered Pork Bowl with a soft boiled egg.
After about 10 to 15mn, the chef brought us with our orders, the aforementioned bowl and the Zenbu-Iri Curry (curry with bunch of ingredients) (¥1,200).

The simmered pork was quite fibrous but managed to be very juicy when chewed on. It tasted like it had been simmered in a mix of Shoyu and Vietnamese fish sauce Nuoc Mam but Mea Culpa if I'm wrong on this. It was a shame it was not soft enough though to be easily mixed with the rice as it would have made a nice mix.
The egg was nicely half-boiled, which I love, with a nice flavor to it. The juicy and sour thin-tripped pickles added a nice consistence and aroma to the whole.
My only problem was the rice: it's my fault I oversized the bowl, but I got really bored towards the end as it's an unseasoned rice and there clearly was too much of it. I had to add quite a lot of Nuoc Mam to finish the dish. I strongly recommend that you order the regular size of this dish.
The bowl also came with a very good milk pudding that really nicely melted in my mouth and a cup of slightly too light cold lotus tea.

My wife seemed to enjoy the more Thai-tasting Zenbu-Iri Curry but it seemed to me a little expensive for lunch, even with that paper peacock on top...

They also had bunch of other Vietnamese fares such as the baguette sandwhiches "Bahn Mi" or a variety of Pho, so I will definitely try it again to have a better idea of the place...

Karate Chop is open everyday from noon to 23:00pm.
03-3468-0481
Setagaya-ku, Kitazawa 2-7-3
Click here for a MAP