One of the benefits of working for a French company is going to Paris for "work" every now and then. This time, I had the Puffin in tow - poor thing, how she suffers. We are staying in the Marais and while walking around, stumbled into a small Vietnamese restaurant called Minh Chau. To be clear, it was the bucket of spring rolls displayed in the window that caught my attention.
As soon as we walked in, the owner started speaking to Puffin in Mandarin.
Turns out, the couple who own the restaurant are Chinese who grew up in Vietnam. They left in the 70's and came to Paris and later opened a restaurant. The woman seemed genuinely pleased to be speaking Mandarin. Secretly, I hoped this would translate into my getting extra food (such a selfish pig, I am.) The salad was excellent - a mixture of egg, carrots, vermicelli, parsley, peanuts and chili paste.
The spring roll contained shredded chicken and was complimented perfectly by the accompanying vinegar-sweet chili sauce.
Next, the curried prawns with zucchini and red peppers. Tasted best with a mouthful of rice and sauce.
This was the tastiest dish of the evening - tender chunks of pork stewed in a black pepper sauce. The sauce made the dish - flavorful, with a light pepper bite. I tricked the Puffin into asking the owner questions in Mandarin and then took advantage - eating the majority of this.
Great pictures and the food looks good enough to eat. Will see if I can post this as my previous several attempts failed
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Dad! Good to see your comment. It sure was good. And, it is only a few blocks from the hotel, so we'll probably go back at some point.
ReplyDeleteFood was definitely very delicious. My favorite was the salad which FN obviously ate most of it since he tricked me into talking to the owner!
ReplyDeleteLooks like I got to go back to eat a whole plate all by myself during lunch before we leave. Yeah me!
Mmmmm. I'm going to have to try this one!!
ReplyDelete@Meg - be warned, this is more of a Chinese spot than a Vietnamese spot...
ReplyDelete