Restaurant: Brother’s Cafe
Location: Hoi An
Date: March 24, 2014
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: Great setting, Great food
We move on from Saigon to Hoi An, a small “ancient” city in the middle of Vietnam’s long coast. Hoi An is know for, among other things, its excellent food.
The oddly named Brother’s Cafe isn’t really a cafe, but a large riverside restaurant located in this scenic colonial style building.
With a rather picturesque garden and riverside seating.
The menu, like most in Vietnam, is epic.
Cao Lou. This is the quintessential Hoi An dish, noodles with a bit of saffron, pork, various vegetables, and a delicious savory “sauce.” This was the best version of this spectacular dish we had on the trip. Apparently you can only really get it in Hoi An, as unless the sauce is made from the local well water, it isn’t “real Cao Lou.”
Hoi An deep fried spring rolls. Delicious and crispy.
Vietnamese pancake with shrimp and pork. Sort of like a Vietnamese omelet.
As you can see, it was eaten rolled with vegetables in rice paper.
Tofu with minced pork in spicy sauce. This is the Vietnamese version of Ma Po tofu, one of my favorite Chinese dishes. It was good, although not terribly spicy like this amazing version. The Chinese have been in Vietnam for over a thousand years and certainly left their mark.
Roasted boneless duck. Yum.
Roasted boneless duck. Yum.
Prawn curry, lemongrass, eggplant, and coconut milk. Very tasty, but not enough shrimp.
Red snapper steamed with ginger and vegetables.
Banana flambé with chocolate sauce. I don’t do bananas, but I was told they were good.
Creme Caramel. Mysteriously, this seems to be a popular (in fact omnipresent) Vietnamese dessert. No complaints here as I love the stuff.
Brother’s was an upscale place, kinda “expensive” for Vietnam (maybe $30 a person). The food, however, was great, as was the atmosphere. Certainly a great start to our couple of days in Hoi An.
For more Vietnam dining reviews, click here.
This pond came with a very loud (and charming) invisible frog