Thursday, 30 April 2009

red mint @ murray st. pyrmont

The day had creeped up on both of us with J a lot more prepared than I was (sorry!) but it was just a bit over two weeks ago that J&I celebrated our 6 years. The mention of it at work seems to have made a few jaws drop and comments about how it's such a long time. Well J, I'm glad that we've made it and glad to see that you still put up with me with a smile on your face. 

To celebrate the occasion, J booked a table at Red Mint (next to the Little Snail) in Pyrmont. When I asked J whether or not I should cab it from work, he said it would be fine for me to walk. And so walk I did and it ended up being a 2km trek which gave me a huge appetite for dinner. 

Red Mint is a classy Vietnamese restaurant seating offering a combination of modern and authentic Vietnamese cuisine. Here's the Iced Coffee with the coffee coming to the table in a percolator (I love these things, and since my couple of times eating at Pho Sam in Epping, I was proud to be able to tell the waitress that I knew how this worked.)
Red Mint Tasting Plate for two. There was a huge list of entrees to try and this was the perfect solution -  a combo of roast duck betel leaf, oysters, goi cuon, cha gio and bo tai chanh.
For mains, we had the Cari Ga (traditional Vietnamese curry with chicken, extra hot) and the Bo Luc Lac (scotch fillet cubes seared with black pepper) with a serving of rice.
We probably could've stopped after ordering the mains but then we saw the 'Goi Sen' and after checking with the waitress, it would make sense to have some vegies. The Goi Sen is a lotus stem salad with yamba prawns and pork. This dish was very unusual and I can only say, try and let me know what you think. The lotus stem is crunchy and well, the combination of ingredients works.

I debated awhile whether or not have dessert. Our friendly (occasionally shy) waiter tempted me with the one that had Dragon Beard Candy but after eating all of the above, I was quite bursting at the waist and feeling quite uncomfortable. J suggested we could probably take a walk and eat dessert elsewhere but even that did not happen. 

Thanks Red Mint for celebrating our 6 years and making it such a pleasant evening. You guys were so down-to-earth and friendly and I really did enjoy the food. Keep it up and I promise I'll be back for dessert next time.

Happy 6 years J!

2 comments:

Bean Sprout's Cafe said...

hehe..u know I have been thinking for red mint recently.. cuz last time I tried their braised pork belly in food and wine festival in Hyde park.. its so nice .. wanna eat it again but there is only in dinner menu.. I even think about to ask them if i can order that in lunch time.. really wanna try vietnamese coffee... never tried yet.. the iced and hot, which one is better?

panda said...

i usually love hot 'italian style' coffees but when i have vietnamese coffees i always get them iced; what i find is that the coffee is so thick, sometimes you need the ice to melt a little to help dilute it a bit. so i still have try a hot vietnamese coffee!

the braised pork belly already sounds delicious without me having to try it!