Suz and I felt like some Asian food for dinner, so I chose Viet Nosh on Hampden Road in Nedlands. I had eaten here a small handful of times for lunch and enjoyed the beef pho and vietnamese spring rolls, so I was eager to go back and try something else on the menu. I also knew that Suz preferred chicken that didn’t have bones in it and had previously noticed several non-bone options on the menu.
I read somewhere that it was important to make a booking for this place and I would agree. When we walked in, the great majority of tables had “reserved” plastic signs on them, even though it was a Wednesday night. Whilst Suz and I sipped our lychee drinks (pictured below) and chatted, the restaurant filled up completely and ontop of that, there was a fairly constant stream of people coming in to pick up takeaway orders.
The lychee drinks were alright, mine contained four canned lychees, the largest of which was perched atop the drink at the rim of the glass. The other three were trapped underneath an avalanche of ice. I had to use my spoon to manoeuvre around the ice and get at these lychees because there was so much ice that did not melt.
By the time we received our mains, I was so hungry that I completely forgot about photographing my meal (not because service was slow, I was hungry due to having exercised earlier in the day). I ordered the stir-fry beef noodles, which were delicious. I enjoyed the salty and fresh Vietnamese flavours, as well as the texture of soft rice noodles against crunchy bean sprouts. There was a generous amount of thinly sliced beef, much to my delight – both as a meat lover and a female with a history of iron deficiency. I was almost finished when I remembered about the plan to take some pictures for my blog, so I just took a picture of what remained.
As you can see, Suz’s meal in the blurred background (prawn curry) is considerably less demolished than mine. This is due to the fact that I was multitasking by munching and listening whilst she recounted stories about things like Dragon Age 2.
As an aside, we noticed that the words “Chicken Maryland” appeared several times on the menu. Neither of us were sure what that meant, however the helpful and accurate pictures that were next to each menu item hinted at the idea that Chicken Maryland was chicken on the bone. Some further investigative work on the internet has confirmed that in Australia, Chicken Maryland refers to the quarter chicken cut that includes the thigh and leg.
Anyway, I really enjoyed my reasonably priced and tasty meal (I think Suz did also?). I was amazed that we sat there for two hours without being rushed out of the restaurant or hinted to leave (y’know, the “do you want any desserts / tea / coffee / your bill?”), which was a pleasant surprise. I would recommend this place for the reasonable price, tasty food, range of options on the menu and non-intrusive service.
