The Search for Vietnamese Food: Part Two

{Rare beef pho noodle soup}

A whole afternoon of shopping was planned with some colleagues of mine this past Saturday, but before we emptied our wallets of money for clothes, we had to have lunch sustenance. My search for authentic Vietnamese food was not yet over, especially after a recent failed visit to Cadogan Pho near our flat, and I was itching to try Perfume River Vietnamese Restaurant found in Causeway Bay on Percival Street. The window of the restaurant advertised many traditional Vietnamese dishes that I grew up eating, and not only were they written in Chinese and English, but in Vietnamese as well (minus the accents). Passing the test for properly spelled menu items in Vietnamese, the next, true test was how the food tasted. 

My colleague and I (we met up with a third friend for shopping after our lunch) both ordered rare beef pho noodle soup, and chose to have spring rolls and steamed pork rolls for appetisers. The soup was not as good as what I am used to having back home in Ottawa at the Pho Bo Ga establishments, but tasted pretty close! Of course, I added the usual lime juice and some hoisin sauce to enhance the flavour, but the best part about my bowl of pho were the fresh noodles. Dried noodles are used more commonly in Ottawa, but having had fresh noodles, before, both in Toronto and Vietnam, I know that they are of better taste and quality, at least for me. As for the spring rolls and the steamed pork rolls - they were delicious, thanks to the authentically-made fish sauce. I love fish sauce!

With my meal passing the taste test, it was time for me to test the authenticity of the restaurant itself: seeing if any of the employees/owners spoke Vietnamese. Luckily for me, there was an older woman who is Chinese ethnically but had lived in Vietnam for decades. Although her Vietnamese was heavily accented with Chinese, much like how my paternal grandparents sound when I converse with them in Vietnamese, it was still so wonderful to finally be able to use my native tongue with her! When I asked her how long she had lived in Vietnam for, she replied in Vietnamese with: "Child, I lived in Vietnam for longer than you've been alive - 33 years!" And with that, I came away with not only a satisfied tummy, but also with a great memory of the first time I was able to use my Vietnamese in Hong Kong.

{Traditional Vietnamese spring rolls made with rice paper with a crab meat filling}

{Apologies for blurry quality of the picture, but these are the steamed pork rolls}