Vietnamese Restaurants

ANNAM REVISITED

Pa in seo/Japanese okonomiyaki!

Annam is probably not only the only authentic Vietnamese restaurant in Shizuoka Prefecture, but is definitely in a clss of its own.
If I listened to the Missus we would visit the place every week!LOl
Antway, the other day my best friedn, who happens to be Irish, and his Jpanese wife came to visit us after a lapse of two years.
We just couldn’t find a better reason to visit our favourite South Asian restaurant!

Here is what we ordered:

The Vietnamese have brewed beer for a long time and thier 333 is as good as any!

Artistic and very light raw spring rolls with shrimps.

Healthy green papaya and shrimp salad.

Stir-fried chicken and deep-fried rice cakes.

French influence in the steamed French bread with shrimp and peanuts topping.

As the beer and the sake (from Shizauok) has disappeared quickly, we chose a honest and reliable bottle of French Cotes du Rhone from Annam’s very decent wine list.

Home-made Vietnamese ham as a complimentary dish!

Stir-fried chicken and deep-fried imperial rolls with cold rice noodles salad.

Very light stir-fried vegetables in sweet and sour sauce.

Pa in seo/Vietnamese okonomiyaki, the specialty of the restaurant.
Enormous but as light as a feather and filled with loads of beansprouts!

No we did not have dessert, but pho soup instead!

Can’t wait for the next visit!

Shizuoka City, Aoi-Ku, Tenmacho, 17-9
Tel.: 054-2502266
Fax: 054-2502323
Lunch: 11:30~14:30
Dinner: 17:00~22:00 (last orders: 21:30)
Closed on Mondays and day after National Holidays
Homepage
Credit cards OK
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WINE TASTING AT ANNAM

Thursday 17th of April was the third Thursday of the month and I had not expected drinking wine at Annam Vietnamese Restaurant in Shizuoka City as such tastings are held on the second Thursday of every month!
Not that I would complain, especially in the light that the Missus and I had come back from an unsatisfacory trip to Numazu City!
Annam holds such wine tasting with the help of Nagashima Saketen to demonstrate that Vietnamese cuisine can be appreciated with wine, instead of the usual beer for instance.

The Missus ordered a glass of Blanquette de Limoux, the oldestsparkling wine in the world (Dom Perignon, you are a horned liar!) while I had a draught beer (I did a lot of walking that day, and I needed fluids first!).
The papaya salad made for a perfect snack with the first glass.

The first drink having disappeared within a blink of the eye, I also had the Blanquette while my (?) half ordered Pinot d’Alsace Auxerrois (White, France). Actually as I downed the Blanquette before I could say “Glory be!”, I found myself asking for a St Magdalena (Red-Italy) before anything came up on the table. All simple hearty wines I must admit, but within everyone’s budget and in good accordance with more substantial set consisting of two kinds of Spring rolls, Vietnamese Quiche and other tidbits.

Deep-fried seafood balls,

and large prawns steamed in coconut milk enticed us for a glass of Cuma (White-Agentine) and another glass of the St. Magdalena diligently served by Mr. Hirotaka Sato, the Nagashima Saketen Sommelier on duty that night.
Although a white Viogner (France), a Petit Cep Syrah (Red-Languedoc/France) and a Serre Longue (Red-Roussillon/France) were also on order, we decided to call it a day (a night?) as rain was pouring in earnest outside and had to call a taxi back home.
The wine list changes every month, so I’ll do my best to attend the next wine tasting in May!

ANNAM

For all their popularity, real Vietnamese restaurants are far and between in this country. Actually, I will go as far as to say that Annam in Shizuoka City is probably the only genuine Vietnamese Restaurant in the whole Prefecture of Shizuoka!
Therefore, I was only too happy to pay them a long overdue visit for lunch last Sunday.
Luckily enough, they propose a “set lunch” for Sundays and holidays. At 2,800 yen (about 24 US$), it may sound a bit steep to some, but the quality, if not the quantity, does warrant it. Even on a Sunday, past 13:00, the restaurant was still half full with more customers coming in. Therefore a lot of people tend to agree!

The menu was served as follows:

“Sup Mimosa”: a very elegant, tasty, soft soup to sharpen your appetite.

“Ba men khai vi”/ Set of 3 hors d’oeuvres:
“Cha guo”/Fried Spring Roll
“Goi du du”/Green Papaya salad
“Goi cuon bom”/Prawn Spring Roll
Served with 2 kinds of dressing. Delicious!

Main dish: “Ga mong mat ong”/Chicken sauteed with honey. A bit small, but cooked to perfection. Very Vietanamese!

Pho Soup: I had a choice of “Pho bo huoc”/Beef Pho or “Pho ga”/Chicken Pho.
I chose the Chicken Pho. A bit small again, but delicious.
Foodhoe would have loved that!

Dessert: “Trang miong”/diifficult to describe. maybe a sweet potato vichyssoise? gGeat!

As for drinks, I had a choice between Vietnamese Coffee or Lotus Flower Tea. I chose the latter. Extremely refreshing, even drunk hot. I would recommend it to anyone!

You can buy it at the restaurant.

I had a glass of Shosetu sake from Kansawagawa Brewery in Yui to go with the meal (extra).

Gaijin Tonic would have been interested in the drink the owner graciously offered to me after I had finished my sake (I always pay my bills in full, but sometimes “service” comes in!): A Vietnamese “Shochu” (called “Vodka” in Vietnam. Communist influence?) called Nep Moi. At 36.5 degrees (they have two more, at 25 and 45 degrees), quite heady, but eminently drinkable on the rocks. Tastes more like a liqueur with reminiscences of flowers, coffe beans and bitter chocolate. A dessert in itself!

Annam
Shizuoka City, Aoi-Ku, Tenmacho, 17-9
Tel.: 054-2502266
Fax: 054-2502323
Lunch: 11:30~14:30
Dinner: 17:00~22:00 (last orders: 21:30)
Closed on Mondays and day after National Holidays
Homepage
Slightly expensive
Credit cards OK
——————–
Annam

It was my second visit to this remarkable Vietnamese Restaurant which opened away from the centre of Shizuoka City in late Autumn 2006.
As usual, the food was not only succulent but also extremely elegant. The size of the portions would please ladies as quality is privileged over quantity.
The three chefs are all Vietnamese ladies with the recent addition of Ms. Ngyuen Ti Hong Mai direct from Ho Chi Min Continetal Hotel.
The Vietnames Maitresse d’Hote speaks perfect Japanese and manges English.
The menu changes according to seasons and offers some real surprises.
We ordered the following:
Oo Don Phit Hap
Turbo shells stffed with minced meat (see above picture!)
A great appetizer. You pull on the lemon to extract the meat out of the shell!

Bun Sha Jio Phit Nojong
Grillled pork with fried Spring rolls
A hearty dish if you decide to eat it on your own, although light in texture despite the oil.

Bain Jao
Vietnames “okonomiyaki”
This was a new addition to the menu.
Paper-thin omelette-like pancake filled with fried vegetables to be savoured cut into pieces and rolled inside lettuce.
My favourite!

Cua Lot Xao Ran Lui
Deep-fried soft shell crabs in herb sauce
Would make for a great appetizer, too!

Finally we had the unavoidable Pho Soup. Luckily enough they come in two sizes. The “mini” size was large enough for me!

Beer, wine and Japanese sake are avilable.
Do try the three kinds of Vietnamese spirits!

One thought on “Vietnamese Restaurants”

finechina says:

June 21, 2007 at 4:57 am

Of all the vietnamese restaurants that I’ve been to in NYC and in toronto, I have never seen such elegant designs for their food! The only thing that looked familiar is the Pho Soup! It looks pretty good, but I wish your pictures are even bigger so I can like taste the food by just looking at it!

the Turbo shells stuffed with minced meat looks interesting to me. I wish there was one here!

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