Relish: Thanh Vi
This week Seattlest was in the mood for something quick, easy and cheap. Thanh Vi has been on our list of places to try for awhile now, but it has the unfortunate location of being next door to Sichuanese Cuisine--a restaurant we adore. We keep intending to go to Thanh Vi, but invariably end up at Sichuanese Cuisine. This time we stuck to our guns and ate at Thanh Vi. Okay, we're lying. We're really bad at sticking to our guns. We only went to Thanh Vi because there was a really long line at Sichuanese Cuisine.
On first impression, Thanh Vi appeared to be very... pink. Maybe it was just us, but everything took on a pinkish hue as soon as we walked in. The restaurant was larger than we expected and since there were only a few people dinning we had no problem getting a table immediately. Service, on the other hand, was a bit more difficult to obtain. Despite being seated right in the pathway to the kitchen, it took almost ten minutes for them to notice us and bring menus. After that we waited another fifteen minutes for someone to take our order. So much for quick and easy.
We had been given a recommendation to try the duck congee (a rice-based porridge), but aside from that we were on our own with the menu. Seattlest enjoys asking the waitstaff for recommendations, as they can be surprisingly unusual and wonderful. We asked our waiter if he could recommend anything and he shook his head and backed away from our table. Seattlest had the sudden urge to leave because it left us with the impression that all the food was bad and not worth eating. But since we were already here, had already waited awhile and were hungry, we decided to stay.
We started off with an order of Bi Cuon ($2.50 for two). These were spring rolls made with shredded pork, cellophane noodles and cilantro, enclosed in a rice paper wrapper. Seattlest is admittedly no expert on Vietnamese spring rolls, but these tasted distinctly stale and rubbery. One look at our dining partner's contorted face confirmed our suspicion. The pork had that strange consistency often found in Vietnamese cooking--and it reminds us of stringy, chewy jellyfish. Some people accept pork in this form, but Seattlest is not thrilled about it and doubts we ever will be. Luckily, the rolls came with a wonderful dipping sauce made from fish sauce and rice vinegar, which helped out with the rubbery texture.
Our next dish was Suon Bo Nuong ($6.75), which was described on the menu as charbroiled beef short-rib. The beef ribs were cut really thin, flanken style and had a savory-sweet glaze. They were fatty and incredible. The thin meat was heavily charred and crisp, but the fat content kept it from being dry. The marinade walked the line of being cloying but in our opinion it was perfect--especially when dipped in the accompanying salty vinegar sauce (similar to what came with the spring rolls). We could have eaten two or three plates of these.
Our last dish was the Chao Vit ($5.25), which was the duck congee. Seattlest was surprised to find the congee pure white and flavorless. We're used to congee that's been slow cooked with meat so the soup is rich and has incredible depth. In this dish the bland and fatty duck was steamed separately and served on the side. The soup came with a bright tasting ginger juice, cilantro and slivers of burnt, bitter garlic, which were the only thing that gave the soup any flavor. Unfortunately, it wasn't the deep, comforting flavor Seattlest wanted from a bowl of congee.
We admit that we are very judgmental about congee and we rarely order it at restaurants precisely because of this. But in this case we were lured by the promise of a tasty Chinese donut, which is a traditional accompaniment to congee. Sadly, the donut never came. We're not sure if they forgot it or were just out of them that night, but either way, it was never mentioned.
What comes to mind when we think about Thanh Vi is... atrocious service. Not that Seattlest was expecting four star service at a restaurant like this, but we have a "three strikes, you're out" rule. This was the tally for the night: a ridiculous wait for menus/ordering, not getting the water we requested until well after our first course, not getting tea until we were standing up to leave, unhelpful and unfriendly wait staff, and to top it all off, the mystery of the disappearing donut. Seattlest would understand if the restaurant was packed or understaffed, but there were only six guests and there appeared to be at least that many waitstaff on the floor. Seattlest generally believes in second chances, but in this case, there are just too many other delicious eats (with friendly service) within a one block radius to warrant a return visit--even for those delicious short-ribs.
Thanh Vi
1046 S Jackson Street
329-0208
