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Tuesday 8 May 2012

STREETS Restaurant Cafe @ Hoi An, Vietnam

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STREETS Restaurant Cafe is a restaurant created to keep youths off the streets. The youths that are involved in the program are considered disadvantaged, orphaned or vulnerable. STREETS is an 18-month comprehensive program where youths are taught by top culinary professional from around the world. I love the overall concept of the restaurant.
Upon walking in to the restaurant we were seated down and provided with menus, and there was a friendly vice. The overall service at STREETS was exceptional. We also had an interesting scenario with the owner, who had recognised us from seeing us earlier in the day bike riding to the beach. Scary that he actually remembered us, but he was nice about it.
Sesame twirl with satay sauce
 Woo hoo complementary dish. Way too addicting. Could not stop snacking on it.
Pork with quail eggs
It is a Vietnamese dish known as 'thit kho' which is when meat (usually pork) is braised over a few hours so that it becomes nice and tender.Served in a clay pot, the pork had a lovely saltiness to it and the eggs mixed with the marinade was delectable.

Green Mango salad
A bit of a twist on the usual Thai styled green mango salad. It had a bit more sweetness due to the dressing used (known as nuoc mam), but what I really enjoyed was the prawn chips on the side. Placing a bit of the salad on the prawn resulted in a great crunch and tasty twist.

Cao Lau Hoi An
Similar to the one at Morning Glory the only difference was that this dish was saucier. The meat was juicier than Morning Glory, and the warm sauce made the dish nicer. 

Grilled eggplant and tofu
This dish was a lot better than the one at Morning Glory. I think it was due to the fact that it was grilled eggplant and not smoked. It was soft and tasted beautiful. Eggplant only tastes good when cooked properly and this was done extremely well.

Bread and butter pudding
One of the best bread and butter puddings I have tried. It was not at all oily, and was dense. There was warm passion fruit sauce that was eaten with the pudding, this was my favourite of the 3 desserts.

Ice cream with passion fruit sauce and pineapple
This was a standard dessert, which was perfect for another hot night. The use of pineapple in dishes across Vietnam is prominent in the spring/summer season when they are at there peak.

Coffee Creme Caramel
Definitely one for the coffee lovers, which unfortunately is not me. It had a very prominent coffee taste, which was still nice for me, but it became a bit overpowering. The texture of the creme caramel was smooth. The overall dessert was good even for a non-coffee lover, but for a lover of coffee this dessert may have been the best of the 3.

Good food, good times!