Miss Saigon

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

This week we explored Vietnamese food at Miss Saigon Restaurant.
Like so many Asian establishments, it was clean, stark and overly well lit. We tried to get them to lower the lights to create a more pleasing ambiance for us, but our request must have got lost in the translation. What’s up with that bright lighting anyway. Maybe they want to make sure we can see what we are eating. Anyway, it seems we’d already frustrated our poor waiter with the lighting issue because the owner, Tony, came over to assist. Because we were the only ones in the restaurant at the time he agreed to dim the lights ….but our victory was short lived - as other diners came in - up they went again. And by 8:45 the place was very busy and very bright. Must be the hungry, hard of seeing, early movie crowd - No offfense.
Now for the food review…..
The choices of wine were simple red, white or sake. Obviously, it’s about the food here and not overwhelming Divas with a huge selection of wines. We easily made our decision and then Tony suggested the Vietnamese Special Appetizer which was a big hit. It was a great selection of egg rolls, spring rolls, and shrimp puffs served with their hoison and other tasty sauces. ”YUM”. Always a good start! And because one of our Divas has been celebrating life a little too enthusiastically lately, soup was ordered to soothe the threat of pending illness. Thanks to her we had a wonderful Seafood with Rice Noodle Soup laden with shrimp, squid, crab . The squid looked like a little accordion and had a bit of bounce to it. We added fresh basil, sprouts and jalapenos to the soup and it was just what the doctor ordered! The wine, the soup…. Droopy Diva came alive again! We were on a roll and ordered the Special Combination Stir Fry with thin egg noodles, beef, chicken, shrimp and mixed vegetables with another one of their special sauces. We had the noodles served soft and the dish was deliciously delightful. We were thrilled with our choices, however, we did have to interrupt another diner when we noticed the beautiful presentation of his stir fried meal served in a crispy noodle shaped bowl resembling a large bird’s nest. Back to our table…Next we thoroughly enjoyed a dish of diced beef with jasmine steamed rice, onions, tomatoes and lettuce. It was served with a small dish of salt and pepper with a wedge of lime to dip the beef in. Now, you must try this. The mix of flavors was a joy to the palate. And for something really different we decided to try the dessert - Three Flavored Bean served with Jellies, ice and Icy Coconut Milk. It is served like a sundae but we found it to be quite a strange mixture of wierd textures and flavors.
The Divas found this establishment to be delightfully delicious but suggest you bring your sunglasses.
The meal was $19 per person.
Miss Saigon Restaurant, 560 N Washington Blvd, Sarasota, FL 34236
941-955-4662

Diva Note…Please don’t be shy about recommending your favorite “Off the Eaten Path” restaurant or café below, so we can add it to our
list.