eatWelly

In a converted house next to Ombra on Cuba St, Saigon van Grill is a restaurant you’ve probably walked past multiple times without realising it was there.  We sure had.  We’d first visited in January 2014 on the recommendation of a friend and had a wonderful meal.  We kept intending to revisit, but didn’t get around to it until the end of the year.  Saigon van Grill had made some substantial changes in the meantime.

When we first went, Saigon van Grill served mostly smaller plates for sharing.  Two people therefore had to order 3 or 4 dishes to be satisfied, but this was factored into the prices and our meal for two cost around $50.  We suspect that people complained about the small portions, as Saigon van Grill bumped up the portion sizes this time round.  We ended up ordering far too much food.

With three people this time, we ordered combination rolls, pork belly, and grilled pork ribs to share.  Two of us also ordered a pho and Nicole ordered the bún.

The combination rolls ($10) came first.  The fried spring rolls were small, tasty and very moreish.  The prawn summer rolls were decent, but the pork ones were below average – the texture of the pork was strange and dry, almost like it was all pork fat in chewy strings.

The pork belly ($12) and grilled pork ribs ($19) came next.  The pork belly we had had on our first visit had been the best dish of the night, so we were eager to get it again. Unfortunately, they’ve completely changed the dish and the pork belly is now quite similar to the pork ribs.  The sauce for both dishes was sweet and the meat in both dishes was overcooked.  The dishes were rather good value for money given the amount of meat you got, but they weren’t done particularly well.  Not something we’d order again.

Last came our individual orders.  The bún ($15) was absolutely delicious – the ingredients were fresh, the dressing was lightly sweet, the flavours were balanced, and the crispy spring rolls were delicious – it was a perfect summer dish and on par with some of the best food Nicole had eaten in Vietnam (which is really saying something!).  She only wished she hadn’t already ordered so much pork belly before it came.

The pho looked promising to start with. It had all the ingredients – thin slices of beef, a few meatballs, noodles and salad to add. Unfortunately, the broth was bland and the beef wasn’t particularly flavourful, probably because the slices were frozen instead of cut fresh. There was a ridiculous quantity of noodles – neither of us who ordered pho could finish them all. Demi wished she’d gotten the bún by the end of it.

Demi did enjoy her coffee. It was Vietnamese style, which is drip-filtered with an individual filter at the time you make it. After enough coffee had dripped through, she added it straight to the ice and it was delicious and refreshing. Demi, a bit of a coffee snob, was surprised it was so good!

Despite ordering a ton of food, our meal only came to a little over $20 each, thanks to the Entertainment Book’s 25% off deal.  The bún was excellent value for money and we’d definitely come back just for that.  Saigon van Grill also has a lunch menu, which

The ambience of the restaurant is nice – the decor is still quite new, and the restaurant is light, clean and spacious.  It does not have very many tables – but we’ve never seen too many people there either (probably because of its invisibility superpower).

Service was very good – friendly, prompt and attentive – we were very well taken care of. The people running Saigon van Grill are definitely trying, perhaps a bit too hard at times. We get the impression that the restaurant is struggling a bit.

In all – we really hope Saigon van Grill survives.  It is one of the better Vietnamese restaurants in town and is very reasonably priced (much better value than Restaurant 88, for example).  If it closes down, Nicole is going to have to find a new place to get her bún fix.

Our Ratings

Address: 201 Cuba St (next to Ombra near Vivian St), Te Aro