The Vietnamese eatery at the Imperial Queen's Park Hotel in Bangkok, Uncle Ho, provides diners with an enlightening look at the world of Vietnamese dining. Through the atmosphere and the menu, an authentic slice of Vietnam is presented. The heart and soul of the restaurant, like any other, is the menu and Uncle Ho's large selection of Vietnamese delicacies manages to touch all of the bases of this cousin of Thai cuisine.
Appetizers, noodle dishes, soups, salads, main courses and desserts make up the 60 or so entries. There's an equal mix of meat, poultry and seafood here so just about anyone can find something to his or her liking. Our own rather large lunch provided a representative sampling of the menu and everything happened to be to our liking. With the recent proliferation of Vietnamese outlets in Bangkok hotels, it has been possible to gain a greater understanding of this interesting cuisine and also have more points of reference in terms of authenticity and quality, and our judgments are based on a good amount of experience gained over the last few months.
Although Vietnamese food is served in a growing number of restaurants in the U.S. (our primary training ground in culinary knowledge), the establishments in Bangkok present a much more authentic version. Uncle Ho's measures up well to the competition here in terms of all of the important factors: food quality, service and atmosphere. In fact, the atmosphere here is completely different than the other fine Vietnamese restaurants sampled recently, and each was unique and very well done.
The emphasis in Uncle Ho's appears to have been on creating a wide open, airy space to give diners a sense of the outdoors. High ceilings and a glass wall provide plenty of light which highlights the tile floors and natural woods everywhere in the room. It was refreshing and comfortable at the same time and imparted a plantation type ambiance where you would expect a country-style kitchen and dining room. What you would also expect is great food and Uncle Ho's delivers.
Starting with crepes filled with minced pork and mushroom (bahn cuon thit Ion) and deep fried spring rolls from the appetizer list, we began to appreciate the skill of the chefs here. Salad and soup were not on our menu for this meal, but next time our selections might incl ude cream soup with crabmeat, egg, and mushroom (cua), the tom yam kung "Vietnamese Style" (canh chua tom), which is a variation of the traditional Thai delicacy, the red snapper salad (Ooi ca) or the steamed seafood and chicken salad (goi Uncle Ho).
Our meal proceeded with BBQ chicken with deep fried sticky rice, a lovely steamed seabass and deep fried shrimp fritters on stalks of sugar cane. All of the delicate flavors of these dishes came through the preparations and provided us with a delicious meal. The presentations were also quite nice, indicating a great deal of thought had gone into the overall planning of the menu. So for a real taste of Vietnamese culture and food, Uncle Ho's is a place to try. You'll enjoy the food and have the opportunity to soak up some authentic culture while staying here in Bangkok.
See http://bangkokdining.ning.com/profiles/blog/list for info on Bangkok restaurants.
Tags: Thailand | Style | opinion | bangkok | vietnamese cuisine bangkok | vietnamese food bangkok | vietnamese restaurant bangkok
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