Pho Viet Kieu

Rating: Very good
Meal: Breakfast for 2
Price: 225,000 VND
Payment: Beef pho, meat/veg on rice
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: Not usually, but sometimes

My brother and I decided to eat pho for breakfast.  We wandered down to a street with lots of potential restaurants and most of them were closed for the holiday, but eventually we found one that was oddly run by several young foreigners.  They spoke vietnamese and there were vietnamese cooks in the back though.

Beef pho

I opted for the beef pho and my brother had a meat/veg dish on rice.  The pho was much better than the place the other day, so I was glad to be able to say I had some very good pho while in Vietnam.

Meat and veg on rice

Nha Hang Nam Hao 2

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner part 2
Price: 300,000 VND
Payment: Cash only (as far as I could tell...language barrier was pretty high)
Dishes: Grilled Pork northern style, blood sausage
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: Yes (it's basically outside)

Not feeling satisfied by my partial pho dish, I went on the prowl for some meat.  I had seen this other restaurant on my walkabout earlier and decided to try it out.  I apologize for my ignorance of the variation within Vietnamese cuisine, but this place appears to be something specific, I just don't know what it is.  There were lots of big tables outside and a friendly, family atmosphere, especially as more people came to dinner.  It looks like the sort of place you bring the whole family or group of friends and order a ton of dishes to share.

Blood sausage with boiled offal

Sadly, I was by myself, and half full already, so I just ordered some grilled pork.  I was told it would take a while, and it did.  Eventually I got bored and ordered blood sausage thinking it would come out quicker.  It arrived at the same time as the pork.  The blood sausage was ok, but it came with a ton of boiled onions and intestines.  I'm all for offal, but this stuff was a bit tough to chew, except for the liver, but it also had fresh chilies added which was nice.  The blood sausage may have had some rice mixed in, at least that was the texture I got.  Oh well...gonna have to carb it for a bit here.  The grilled pork was very tasty, especially with the rock salt and chili mixture it came with.

Grilled pork northern style

I snarfed it all up and am sad I know I just scratched the surface of everything that place had to offer.

Pho Thu

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner part 1
Price:  137,000 VND
Payment: Cash only
Dishes:  Pho, fresh coconut
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

I'm in Da Nang, Vietnam, visiting my brother.  He's on an odd schedule to sync up with his US-based job, so I had the evening to myself.  I wandered about a bit, eventually swinging back to where I started.  I decided to start with some pho, because I've always wondered if the pho I've had elsewhere was anything close to the original.  Pho Thu was a nicer looking place so I decided to give it a shot.

The menu had several options so I went for the one with the most stuff in it.  Even though I've given myself permission to eat carbs for this trip, I still found myself unable to take more than a bite of the noodles.  I ate all the meat and drank the soup though.  Overall, while good, it didn't really blow me away flavor-wise.  Maybe I'll get to try some better examples during my short time here.

Tatsu

Rating: OK
Meal:  Breakfast
Price:  2800 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  Steak
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

I'm traveling to Da Nang, Vietnam to visit my brother.  This morning I was at Narita Airport Terminal 1 and had some time before leaving on the plane.  Not wanting to be tempted by the horrible food on the plane, I looked around for some meat to eat (carnivore diet atm) and found a steak teishoku at Tatsu, which also advertises craft beer which I sadly did not partake of.

Steak

I opted for no rice, so I got a few slices of meat, which was what I wanted.  Just ok of course, not amazing stuff, but it worked.

Halima Kebab Biryani

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner for 2
Price: 4200 yen
Payment: Cash only (credit card machine not working)
Dishes: Tandoori meat platter, lamb chop, samosas, paneer cheese sandwich, kerala paratha
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Masala papdum

My wife and I were in Tokyo on Saturday and Sunday, so we spent Saturday night in the Ueno area as that would position us well for church on Sunday.  We had an enjoyable time traipsing all over the Ameyokocho market, identifying numerous potential restaurants for dinner.  We ended up at one closer to our hotel called Halima Kebab Biryani, which as the name indicates is a rare find in Tokyo:  an Indian restaurant run and staffed by actual Indians!

Samosas

The menu and font look very similar in many ways to our favorite Indian restaurant in Japan:  Royal Parasol, but the food tastes a bit different.  I am eating carnivore these days so I stuck with a tandoori meat platter and lamb chop and my wife wanted to just eat a bunch of appetizers so she went for samosas, a paneer cheese sandwich thing, and some kerala paratha.

Paneer sandwich thing

The meat was pretty good, although I found their tandoori sauce to be a bit high on vinegary scale.  But the malay chicken was nice and creamy, and the lamb chop was surprisingly hefty.  My wife said her dishes were pretty good too, although the paratha was a bit disappointing as it wasn't covered in ghee or butter, but oh well.

Tandoori meat platter

While eating, an Indian family came in and sat next to us and ordered biryani and curries and such, and I'm really looking forward to returning to try those dishes as well.  I may even change the rating up to an Excellent if they merit it.  But for now the rating is a Very Good as both of us felt Royal Parasal is a cut above.

Afghani lamb chop

Kerala paratha

Restaurant Q

Rating: OK
Meal:  Lunch
Price:  1300 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes:  Steak
English Menu: No
Smoking: No

I had a moment after church today to grab a bite to eat before the next thing happened.  Right next to our church is a small restaurant with a showa-era feel that I hadn't eaten at before.  I spied a steak item on the menu and decided to give it a shot.

It's a homey little place with an interesting retro-decor.  The menu is in Japanese but easy to figure out as the dishes are mostly western influenced and therefore all in katakana.  I asked for the steak meal without the rice and quickly received the requisite steak.

It was tasty, but nothing extraordinary.  Effective for the task at hand.

Arabella

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner
Price:  1000 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes:  2 chicken shishkabob
English Menu:Yes
Smoking:Yes

Arabella is the reincarnation of Bravo Yokosuka, owned by the same generous man, Mohammed.  Someone pointed out I hadn't reviewed it yet, so I remedied that last night.  The menus is similar to the old one, with shawarma, chicken shishkabob, and some burgers.  I still think the chicken sticks are some of the best around, and way bigger than anything you get at a yakitori place.  It does take a while to cook anything though, which is good as you always get that char-grilled flavor.  The vibe is more of a bar than Bravo was, and they are right on the honch.  Apparently they are doing shisha after midnight, but I'll never be up that late.