My first Vietnamese food.

By: Greg B.

After helping Asa move his things to a place in Brooklyn (which, by the way, smells like Peru), we went out in search of lunch. Jessica and Asa knew of a top secret, second China town nearby, so we set out in search of a Vietnamese place called “Nha Trang Palace”. This econd china town was somewhere along 8th avenue, near 60th or 59th st for the restaurant. Having wanted desperately to go to Pho, in Baltimore the week prior, I found it fitting that I would be trying Vietnamese food elsewhere.

Walking inside, we were all thirsty and pretty hot, so we ordered a beer. I don’t recall what kind of beer it was, unfortunately, though it had that usual Asian beer crispness to it, with hardly no hop or malt flavor. Once inside, we ordered an appetizer of Spring rolls, which, when they came, did not look like the picture on the wall, though they still were delicious. They were filled with some kind of meat, ground and spiced, and the outside looked like it had been fried, and was very crunchy, and very hot! At our table sat some delicious sauces, both a sweet one with shredded carrot that came for each person with the rolls, and spicy sauces and red chili sauce. Wrapping the spring rolls in lettuce and adding the spicy red chili sauce was an excellent idea, with the added mint leaves to give a little extra kick. very pleasant to eat.

Our meals arrived shortly afterwards, and, while everything was delicious, I had to say that the food was much more like Chinese food than I had imagined. Jessica ordered #88, the Bo Luc Lac, or marinated beef cubes sauteed with a salad as the base. I remember this number, because it was what I was going to order, but I usually cant allow myself to order the same thing as another person at the table, especially at a restaurant where everyone will want to try food! Asa ordered Tom Ram Man (#73), a shrimp dish with green even yellow pepper (I remember there being another pepper color on the plate) onions and oyster sauce. It was very delicious, and came with a large bowl of rice. I ordered… something with vermicelli, I think it was number 52, the sliced beef with lettuce over the vermicelli. It came with a side sauce to add to the noodles, and was very good. Still, kind of like Chinese food to me, and I am waiting to try our Pho, to see if this Vietnamese has more of a refreshing, almost thai-style way of presenting and cooking food. However, I would certainly recommend this restaurant in NYC to anyone who wants to grab a bite to eat, in China town 2.0.