Unless you’ve spent weeks cruising street food vendors in Hà Nội, you’ve never had Vietnamese like this before.
Light flavours, clean meats, and fresh herbs plated on traditional banana leaf wraps with a notable absence of sticky-sweet hoisin characterize the fare served up at Mr. Red Café on West Broadway.
The five-month-old Kitsilano eatery is the second location for Mr. Red Café, run by husband and wife team Hong and Rose Nguyen, after the popularity of their East Hastings canteen demanded an expansion.
According to Rose, her menu could be the closest thing to northern Vietnamese street food without the plane ticket. And it’s that authentic taste that keeps her customers coming back.
“Because I grew up in a family with three generations of cooks [who] specialized [in] northern Vietnamese cuisine, the love for the food is all the way up here,” she says, motioning to her heart.
The Vietnam native and her husband moved to Vancouver in 2012 and saw that most of the Vietnamese food on offer in the city reflected a more southern palate.
“We made the decision that we wanted to maintain our food culture and that we want to have more customers know about the real northern Vietnamese cuisine,” she tells Westender. “I’m the new generation, and Hà Nội is still in my heart and everything is still in my mind. The special thing is that I learned this way of cooking from my grandmom and from my mom.”
The new restaurant boasts different menu items from its inaugural location, with a focus on dishes specifically from North Vietnam; everything, from the flavours to the methods of cooking, is followed according to their tradition.
“If you visited my hometown, you would typically find these dishes on the street,” Rose reveals.
That includes the Cha Ca La Vong — a flakey turmeric fish cooked in a hot clay bowl, topped with fish sauce, herbs and a healthy handful of dill — which can only be found on the street of the same name in Vietnam.
Other strong dishes include the Bun Cha Ha Noi, a smokey barbequed pork served in garlic chili sauce and soft vegetables; flaked to perfection Vietnamese spring rolls with fresh garlic-chili vinegar for dipping; and the Nom Xoai Xanh Chua, a sweet and sour green mango salad.
And, of course, Rose simply won’t let you skip dessert, the tastiest of which are the mung bean coconut cream or the Che Chuoi, sliced banana served in hot coconut cream with tapioca.
“I tell my regular customers that the wish of Mr. Red Café is to become the bridge that connects people from Vietnam to Vancouver,” Rose says. “If you’re going to come here, I recommend going with a full meal: appetizers, main course and dessert, because by doing that you will get a better understanding of what I’m enjoying.”
