Thanh Nga Nine

Thanh Nga Nine

160 Victoria St, Richmond

(Ph) 9427 7068

We were going shopping at Richmond - we decided we liked to shop at Richmond better than Boxhill 'cause 1. Boxhill is ridiculously packed full of people on Sundays - the line up to pay for our groceries is so fricken long and have to fight with all these 師奶 (see lai - a derogatory term for housewife) for the fresh vegetables and 2. it's so hard to fight for a carpark on Sundays especially 'cause it's free for all and  3. their meat and seafood stores are pretty shitty even though it's meant to be a market - fish is super UNFRESH =(

So this day we decided to park at Ikea and walk out to the grocery shops at Richmond. P wanted to go to Ikea to buy a carton of Apple Cider from Ikea - he's in love lol (See Ikea post) so we could go on our way back to the car.

After much shopping, we wanted to sit and have some food. P was dying for some Pho even though I'm never a fan of it. I wanted to get a Vietnamese sandwich roll - only $3.50 at the bakeries here! But he wanted Pho so of course I'm the more lenient one =P

There was a restaurant at the start of the strip that we wanted to go 'cause it was in the Cheap Eats Guide but we couldn't be bothered walking back so we walked into the first half decent looking restaurant - Thanh Nga Nine. Good choice though =D This restaurant had only opened for 2 years but had many good reviews from critics etc. And P said he had actually come to this restaurant before with some friends and said the food is pretty good here - of course he's gonna say Vietnamese food is good lol

There was a food critic's review in the menu saying the Mini Pancakes are a must try - I was considering whether to order a main or not but I decided to try this entree and maybe get a dessert afterwards. 

Mini Pancakes - a traditional dish made from rice flour with a crispy base filled with prawn, mung bean paste and sprinkled with crushed prawns, served with fish sauce and coconut sauce $9.50

Mini Pancakes

It was so strangely unique - sweet and savoury pancakes! I love mung bean paste so this was super tasty to me - crunchy edges on the outside with soft rice flour and mung bean etc inside. Actually went very well with the fish sauce and coconut sauce - who would have thought?! I wasn't a fan of the multiple prawns but I just picked them out and gave them to P =)

P of course, got the Special Rice Noodle Beef Soup  $8.50

Special Beef

Looked quite oily actually - and they don't have beef brisket and tripe etc that they normally have in Special Beef Pho. He of course LOVED IT, but I shiver at the look of the coriander on the bowl.

After P finished, he said he was too stuffed and couldn't share a dessert with me =( I had wanted to order Thanh Nga's Tofu Ball - a traditional dessert made from sticky rice, taro, sugar served with ice-cream and mum's special coconut sauce $7.00 but I guess have to save it for next time =( The waiter was SO SO eager, I was looking at the menu seeing if I wanted to order anything else, and he kept coming over to see if we wanted anything - a bit too eager to be honest lol

Since I wasn't getting a dessert, I was wanting something sweet and I was super thirsty as well so I ordered a Xui - Lemon Tea with a Vietnamese Twist $4.00.

This time when I actually wanted to order something the waiter was busy with other customers taking orders etc etc -  it was about 12.30pm now. So while I was waiting to put the order through, I tried a bit of P's Pho soup - and surprisingly enough, I really liked it! I couldn't taste much coriander at all, and it was so rich in flavours! I basically drank all the rest of his soup - P was so surprised 'cause he said there was quite a bit of coriander in it but I just couldn't taste it =S normally I'm very sensitive to the taste of coriander and any slight leaf I would spit out 'cause I just really disliked it. I was so shocked - nooo I don't want to start accepting coriander in my food! ><

Finally I put the order through for my drink =P

Wow they make so many drinks at once - all different but with their signature shaved ice on top.

Xui

It was delicious! Lemon tea with a twist indeed! They put a Kumquat in it - squished, so the tangyness comes out. Mmmm after I finished it felt like I could have another one - was YUM and definitely quenched my thirst =)

As we left, we saw the next table had ordered a Vietnamese Omelette - which doesn't sound that interesting, but when it came out, we realised it was like the Vietnamese Pancake I wanted to order last time at Thanh Tam - large crispy fried egg with lots of ingredients inside! Gah really need to try this one day - it's been twice already I've missed out!

We both left satisfied - next time I'll try that restaurant in the Cheap Eats Guide, and for sure, I'm going to try the Vietnamese pancake/omelette!

7.5/10

C.
xo