**** Que Huong has closed
In case your wondering where we've been the last couple of months, it's been at Que Huong on the corner of Malborough avenue. I'd posted on Que Huong before, way back in August of 2005. Our meals were pretty mixed, and so I kinda left it alone for a while. But recently, thanks to some comments about the food at Que Huong (thanks Y-Y!), and the various dishes offered at Que Huong, I found myself back in front of the restaurant behind Burger King.
The first thing I noticed was a chalkboard menu of specials, I recognized a few of them – Ốc len xào dừa, snails braised in coconut milk, but as a whole, I understood much less than I knew. As I entered the empty restaurant, it looked like it had been in a time warp for the last 3 years.
Except for a few things…..
Have you ever written on a greaseboard with the "wrong" type of pens, and the darn thing wouldn't erase? For some reason, several specials were written on the mirrors lining the walls of the restaurant.
The other dramatic change was the menu. It had been pretty long and diverse before, with stuff like Crocodile.
But now I noticed many more dishes…..and an entire sheet with various noodle soups like Bun Mam, and Rice Porridge(Chao – which has always been popular here). Much of it was probably due to my increased exposure to Vietnamese cuisine over the last few years.
So what to eat? There were 2 dishes that were mentioned to me. The first was mentioned by several persons, and I thought it was just a "natural". Fish Sauce Chicken Wings($9.95):
I'd been warned that these sometimes edged on being "too salty", and that it was a "weird" combination. But I found these to be pretty good, perhaps a tad too salty, with a mild sweet flavor. And these were nice and crisp. The nice young man running the place on this day told me to eat these hot since they don't stay crisped for very long, and he was right. I didn't finish them, and by the time I got home they were starting to get a bit chewy. I'd have them again, though I think they are a bit on the pricey side. When he packed them for me, he told me to make sure the lid stayed "open". There are several types of chicken wings on the menu, including Chickens Wings in Tamarind, which I was told is a sweet-sour wing. The small order is $9.95, the large order $12.95.
The other dish, mentioned to me by FOY "Y-Y" was Gỏi Chân gà rút xương – Boneless chicken feet salad($9.95)! How could I resist?
The photo is kind of deceptive, this was a pretty large salad. First off, the Chicken feet are boned, (how'd you like that job? ) so you really can't tell it's chicken feet. In fact, if you wanted to "punk" someone, you could tell them this was…say tripe…but well, most people I know who wouldn't eat chicken feet, wouldn't eat tripe either, and visa versa. The chicken feet had no taste, and seemed to just be here to add some crunch to the dish. The overall flavor of the salad was nice, sour-salty-mildly spicy. The Nuoc mam based "dressing" had a ton of ginger in it, and every bite had its own flavor and texture. Every so often you'd run into some Rau Ram, and the powerful peppery-spicy flavor would hit you. There was quite a bit going on here, and though it wasn't a "homerun", it kept me interested. At least interested enough to want to return. The only thing is….
How would I convince the Missus? Stay tuned…………