Ms. Saigon, the FBI and Vietnamese Food

Last November I was listening to NPR radio. They were conducting an interview with a former Ms Saigon, Meyung Robinson. Ms Robinson is also a former FBI agent. And now she is the owner and chef for one of the most popular Vietnamese restaurants in Bangkok. Xuan Mai (Shun Mai - means Spring Flower in Vietnamese).

Being fond of nearly every type of cultural food (at least once) I committed to make a vi st to this little restaurant which is located off of Suhkumvit road and the end of Soi 13. From my apartment it is a 15 minute ride on the Skytrain + a 15 minute walk up the Soi. With the weather in BKK now hitting the upper 90's and humidity competing for a win the last 5 minutes of the walk was difficult. My fault. I ventured out during the hottest part of the day. Still I had my bottle of water, towel and umbrella to keep the sun from doing too much damage.

One on-line review I had read mentioned a lack of AC, but I still decided to visit. Thankfully the AC was working fine.

The restaurant is cozy as you can see from the pics. And in traditional Asian style, the food is prepared while you wait. In the pic you can see the staff preparing my lunch. It is all so fresh. In fact, when I arrived at the resturant, I could not get in. The vegetable seller's cart, full of "picked from the garden this morning" veggies was making his daily stop. It is always 'summer' in Bangkok - everthing is fresh.

I started off with a bottle of Hanoi Beer. The name alone caught my attention. And instead of peanuts, they serve beef jerky to enjoy with the beer. You can see the jerky in the small serving bowl shown in the picture

The waitress then brought me a bowl of mixed green vegetables that included leaf lettuce, mint, basil, coriander and two small servings of picked vegetables. I've eaten Vietnamese food before but this plate was new to me. What do I do with it? So I asked - my Thai is bit better now by the way, so the waitress understood me - or was it the confused look on my face? Either way I figured it out. It is quite amazing and simple...one simply makes a collection of whatever they like from the bowl of veggies, roll it up and eat. I immediately began to feel "healthy".

I then tried Emperor Rolls. These are fried spring rolls that are the most unique I have ever experienced. They were wrapped in what appeared to be flaky rice paper - as thin as Philo dough. Instead of eating them plain, you wrap them in leaf lettuce, along with thin slice of cucumber in the middle, then then dip in a special sweet sauce.

And for the main course I ordered Lemon Grass Chicken which was incredible. Very light seasoning. Nothing hot.

Ms Robinson only works in the evenings so I will have to make another trip. If not this vi st to Bangkok, then the next. And certainly if my wife is here with me (can't wait). This is one Asian style food she can handle. Very light and not one hint of 'heat'.

See: http://www.xuanmairestaurant.com/ for more information