The Halong Bay region is a spectacular sight with its 3000 rugged limestone islands rising from the emerald waters in northern Vietnam. It has been many years since we were there and I’m thinking it’s almost time to revisit.
Halong Bay in Newtown is a little more accessible, though absent of a gleaming bay sprinkled with islands and fishing boats. We’ve eaten here several times and to be honest, it’s never really all that busy with patrons. Today we felt like a bit of Vietnamese for lunch and seeing it’s our closest (5 minute walk) option, it would suffice.
We didn’t order too much food; Mr K never really eats that much and I’m still getting over this flu so our lunch consisted of three things.
The chicken wonton soup is incredibly light and almost lacks any flavour yet the wontons, I was informed, were “quite tasty.”
The good old prawn toast, more at home on a Chinese menu (as were many things on this menu), is nothing much to rave about. Light on the prawn, light on the chicken and heavy on the oil, as expected.
The grilled pork with vermicelli was quite nice and flavoursome. Tender bits of pork cooked in onion and lemongrass tossed onto noodles with pickled vege’s, lettuce and fried shallots. Light yet moderately filling.
This isn’t the best Vietnamese I’ve come across in this town which may explain why they’re never that busy. Any suggestions are welcome.
Revisited 30/12/2010
It’s been about a year since we last sat at Halong Bay for a meal despite the fact we walk past it many times a week. They’ve since closed up shop and moved a few doors down to a similar-sized venue, painted a few of the walls a vibrant green colour and sadly haven’t gained too much more of the eating public.
Stuck on where to go for a dinner close to home we decided to drop in seeing there were three other occupied tables in there. They were busy! It looked as if Ma and Pa were running the show with one other person in the kitchen. Pa isn’t all that good with the English, but gets by quite well providing he concentrated on what you’re asking for. Tonight was a little bit of a Faulty Towers night.
The table of eight was still half-way through getting their mains and the table of two behind us recieved one of their mains when the over-reactive and volatile vegetarian lady screamed across the restaurant ”I didn’t ask for chicken and prawn, I asked for only prawn!” Of course the restaurant went silent and we all just stopped and looked at the crazy woman, while hubby sat holding his shaking head. Something tells me he’s used to this kind of behavior.
The other table of two had to get up and leave because their food was taking longer than the time they’d given themselves and our mains came an hour after our starters. The food was good enough, but again, it wasn’t great. The quail was a simple affair, the rice paper rolls were ok and the mains were pretty good. I quite liked the caramelised pork. On paying, Pa did the maths in his head and ended up overcharging us about $15, which was later rectified with a sincere apology. The poor guy was clearly flustered, shaken and a little frazzled.
I’ll say it again. It’s not the best Vietnamese I’ve come across so next time I reckon we’ll be catching the train to Marrickville. If Cabramatta weren’t so far away, we’d be going there.
Halong Bay 512 King Street Newtown 2042 9557 6315 Open 7 days 12pm-3pm 5.30pm-10.30pm
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
One word, CABRA!
I’m talking my boyfriend and his workmate & wife out tomorrow for some good ol’ Vietnamese lunch.
At first the name of the restaurant caught me and thought “maybe I should try it out when I’m trying to figure out where to eat in Newtown besides thai”. But as soon as I saw those chicken and prawn toasts I thought “Nah… I’ll stick to cabra” and like you said, it belongs on a chinese menu rather than vietnamese. That last dish is typically Viet; light and very tasty! YUM!