Tra Vinh Vietnamese and Chinese Special Noodle House

You probably have a special person in your life, someone who gives you gratification, provides comfort when you need it, makes you happy. They never really disappoint you, and if by rare chance they do, you forgive and forget in a heartbeat. There's something about them that makes you keep going back for more.

And indeed I do have something special in my life that I can turn to, give comfort when I am needy, and rely on in times of HUNGERRRRRR! A place where you can come back again and again, to give you an all rounded satisfying experience and you never really leave disappointed. And even when it does screw up, you let it go, telling yourself it's just a one off bad day. No no not biased at all.

Tra Vinh is one of those eateries we have been going to frequently for yearsss without getting bored of the same things on the menu. It's not like you can get sick of your other half in a relationship right? RIGHT? 

And because I was catching a plane that night to schmancy Gold Coast, I aimed to maintain a good palate and didn't introduce any new foods that might have shocked my very weak digestive system. And for that, Tra Vinh was a safe bet as it has been an old favourite hunch for as long as I can remember.

Bun Bo Hue - $11

Of all the different Vietnamese restaurants I've tried, each has their own version of the bun bo hue and they all taste different - some spicy, some salty, some as bland as water boiled with chilli and seasoned with salt. To each their own at the end of the day.

This bowl filled with deep red stock suggests a rich, flavoursome broth with a chilli bite to it. Quite a traditional Vietnamese dish of Rice vermicelli in spicy soup with pork and beef, along with the inclusion of a pig knuckle which you may or may not eat. It's not that hot if you can brave chilli foods but on a hot day, you'll probably eat this with your sweat.

Hu Tieu Mi Tra Vinh Dac Biet - $11.50

Here we have a bowl that has a little bit of everything, a combination of animals from land and sea. In this Tra Vinh Special, there are rice noodles, there are egg noodles, there is seafood, there is meat, and then there is offal. Along with the very tantalising pig liver pieces, there exists pork pieces, prawns, fish balls and squid, topped with a deep fried golden cracker embellished with a prawn shell.

The rice noodles used to form the above dish are...as above. They are springy and light with a satisfying chew to them, cooked to just the right level of "done". They are good in retaining their texture even when being soaked in the hot broth, which continuously cooks them. Makes you wonder at times what the hell goes into making it and how well (or unwell) you can digest it.

Hu Tieu Tra Vinh Dac Biet - $11

So I wasn't joking when I said we wanted to keep it simple and basic. This is just like a duplication of the previous dish minus the noodles and substituted with different rice noodles. Very exciting.

So as you can see, these noodles are the ones that replace the transparent kind. They are less chewy so require less mastication before swallowing lol. Another addition is the mini quail egg and cashew nuts in the soup, along with bits of fried pork lard and caramelised onion bits that do their magic in enhancing the fragrance and flavour of the dish.


Many of the noodle soups have chives as a topping and surprisingly, a while ago back when chives were supposedly unknown to mankind, I'd came across a customer who came back with their bowl of soup with a horrid, shocked, disbelieving and utter disgust expression on their face demanding a refund because,
"THERE IS GRASS IN MY SOUP!"


...


The location of Tra Vinh, although seeming to be a bit lonely and separated from most of the other restaurants in the heart of Northbridge, turns out to be quite favourable for them and the customer. Being on the outskirts of the entertainment district of Perth means there's less hassle and headache for the diner to find parking. A meal is much more enjoyable when you don't have a sky high parking ticket as accompaniment!


It is also open all day morning to night, and around peak hour it usually overflows with Asian clientele - always a good sign. Menu has all your usual dishes you'd expect, and all taste pretty good without the help of much MSG...but that is a guess that I'm making based on the fact that the mouth doesn't go all dry and you don't need to gasp for water afterwards. Fair prices that you'd expect from a casual eatery with basic and no fuss furnishings. But the abundance of mirrors in most Vietnamese restaurants always has me wondering, WHY!


Like the decor, the service is also no fuss, but it's there when you need it. Frankly, we all know it, places like this sprout up to give you the good food, good service is a bonus! You get what you need, no more no less. Serving sizes are good and are in proportionally correct sized bowls unlike ones that use huge bowls to give the illusion of generosity. You're also presented with free tea as you sit down! - a nice gesture that immediately scores brownie points :)


Mmmmm...brownies...

Jun

People often walk into dark side alleyways to either do their business or, do some dodgy business. Feeling like a thug, venturing into these hidden locations away from the busy side of town and into an underground hideout unknown to many, I made my way cautiously down a steep staircase, hoping whatever was to come better be worth it.

Relaxxx, I'm no killer, I'm only here for my dinner! Ho ho hooooo :D

And after a few thorough rounds of menu scanning, we realised there was less than 30 minutes til closing time, and we should probably hurry the hell up.

Salmon Sashimi (Small) - $9

I think it's incomplete to visit a Japanese restaurant without trying out their sashimi. Jun's raw salmon tasted fresh and even though $9 would be the expected price for 5 pieces, I can't help but feel I deserved more, MUCH MOREEE of this for a small.
This ain't a Small, this is a TINY! :(


Garnish wasn't very appealing however, and I say that because I am usually a garnish eater but even I wasn't attracted nor tempted to eat this. The salmon pieces were sliced to a good thickness though, and salmon, I really really love you and can't ever get enough of you <3

Chopstick Covers

Between the first dish and the next dish, a considerable amount of time passed and pretty much all the other tables had left with dirty dishes all around. I hate being the last table because you feel like a nuisance to the staff.

So I did something productive with my time, like admiring their very pretty cardboard paper chopstick covers. I have always been fascinated with the art and details of origami and I went through my own paper crane folding phase, although I am about 750 frickin' cranes away from making my wish :(

Shio (Salt) Torime - $4

Judging from its menu, Jun does its grilling the best and specialises in this area. The large range of an assortment of meat, offals, skin and other body parts/sections coming from an assortment of animals on the menu gives you a whole choice of tantalising (or sickening to some people) skewered foods. From the normal chicken tenderloins to chicken liver to chicken soft bone to chicken tail, nothing goes to waste in this kitchen. Yep, by chicken tail, probably means you have the choice to eat ass. Even a chicken's ass can earn some money for them!


Since nothing really excited us besides meat, we played it simple and got the chicken thigh with garlic sprout skewer with salt marinade, rather than Teriyaki. The chickens' thighs were very tanned, to the point of being blackened by the flame in some areas. But still tasted juicy thanks to the marinade, coating all over the meat and garlic sprouts. And these must taste pretty darn good or were cooked well, cause -


M (an avid garlic hater): Hey these taste goooood *om nom nom*
Me: Uhh...you're eating garlic sprouts you know
M: PUHHH WHAT?...oh well *om nom nom*

Sooooo I wanted to be different and wanted to try something new from the menu that looked distinctly different to the usual dishes you see on a Japanese menu. I came across something called the Tori Zousui and well, different it was! The presentation alone had me intrigued already. I half assed regretted my decision cause I thought I had just ordered...rice in soup. Aka congee.


When this came out, I thought, oh well. At least it looks interesting? A little black stool which maintained the warmth of the metal bowl that sat on top with a wooden lid on top of that.
Very snug.

Tori Zousui - $10

When I lifted the lid and a non-congee sight greeted me, I was happy. It was warm and toasty, a very nice matching dish that complemented the restaurant's surroundings of wooden and yellow tones and dark colours. Not that it matters.

I was a bit sad at seeing how shallow the bowl was and thinking no way would this ever fill me up...or even 2 of these. But when I put my spoon in, it sorta just...fell inside the bowl. The depth of the metal bowl is very deceiving! I plunged my spoon down and got frightened at how deep it was. It felt like a neverending drop bowl for about...one second or so.

Risotto - Closer (not really)

Oh hello, Japanese style Chicken Risotto. To me this really looked like wantons. Or like tofu skin. Or even like floating scrambled eggs. But no, it was the look of Chicken risotto. I had expected a dry cheesy dish even after being told it was rice in soup. Brain's just bloody stubborn and only had Italians on its mind.


Stirred everything through and it became a little pot of warm, toasty goodness. Calling it a risotto is a little misleading though! The stock though, was tasty and can make you consume 3 bowls of rice without even realising it, when you're eating the two together. You momentarily forget your carbohydrate overdosage and really, I don't really care.

Contents of Risotto

Best not to eat straight out from that heat-conducting-metal-bowl which I stupidly did, and only used a bowl when it was too late. So here you can see (not really), the ingredients of this risotto, namely sliced mushrooms, eggs, rice, and chicken. YES believe it or not, there WAS indeed chicken, just the invisible kind.


But yes there was chicken in this chicken risotto, just very very very very very very very very very very little of it though. A more generous inclusion would have been greatly appreciated and devoured.

Coffee Jelly - $4.50

Seeing as the portions were a bit, well, TINY, we decided on this dessert. M sang much praises for it before it came and well, yeah, it was okay I guess :P I am a party pooper like that.
I only wish it came as a bigger serving ... ok ... I notice the pattern here ... as this was just nowhere near enough to satisfy :(


Coffee flavoured anything usually tastes awesome, and jelly is no exception. It seems relatively simple to make (although I don't dare say that too loudly!) and had a pretty strong flavour to it, topped with a little condensed milk and cream on the side. A nice and refreshing way to tell your stomach to calm down there's no more food coming in!


...


Seriously this place is initially impossible to find, even when it's right in front of you (well, me) and I don't really have a habit of walking into dark alleyways to find my dinner. Truthfully, slowly but surely, the streets of Perth are becoming increasingly tainted with violence and crime, and one might find coming to the city after sunset to be insecure and dangerous. I for one, am a chicken, and didn't feel particularly comfortable being alone there.


Being underground and everything, I suspect this place gets by via alot of word-of-mouth referrals. I had heard many good things about this place and if going on a busy night, it may be best to make a booking beforehand. I have a tendency NOT to do this, but I have a tendency to dine out on quieter days and as close as possible to closing time ... the sort of customer I tended to hate when I was a staff and not a customer :P


Offering something different to your usual Japanese fare, some dishes are unique and prices are reasonable. Staff do their job as per their roles and were very patient with indecisiveness. That's bound to happen when you get a menu that has so much choice and you get overwhelmed by what to try. It's probably best to visit Jun with a heap of other people so you can try a lot of their little sized dishes...or you can just do so yourself. But it's probably better for you and your waistline to be greedy in a group, rather than be a pig alone.

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^ Poor and embarrassing attempt of a self portrait :(