Howard 25 January 2010 Dinner, Sydney, West, Vietnamese 13 Comments  Print This Post  Email This Post

It’s the middle of the week and the team has planned where to go for an impromptu (as all of our gatherings seem to be) farewell dinner gathering for Teresa’s guest D, who is due to fly home the next day. After tossing up the usual choices in the City and surroundings Teresa mentions that D really wants to try authentic Vietnamese food before leaving, and the choice is easy – out west we go! Linda and I have lived in the South West for most of our lives, so when it comes to recommending Vietnamese restaurants the choice is never easy!

I’ve found when eating out west that Canley Vale and Canley Heights are actually much more convenient when looking for a late night eating location, the majority of restaurants on the Cabramatta strip are closed by 9pm making late dinners impossible. I get a bit worried that no one else has arrived yet, I’ve sent them the address and none of them are familiar with the area, relying on google maps to lead the way. I’m told they start to wonder if they’ve got the right location when a bright red neon sign and a fluro green faux waterwall window dressing light up the pathway – thats when they know they’ve found Hai Au.

Ca phe sua da (Vietnamese iced coffee)

A glass of this makes me wonder what life in Vietnam would be like. Sitting on a tiny stool by the road side and sweating in the humid temperatures while drinking an ice-cold Vietnamese coffee comes to mind. This stuff is strong and I’ve seen people finish the coffee in ten seconds and saying there isn’t enough coffee in it, only ice. This is true, but the idea is to let the coffee slowly melt with the ice.

Steamed Oysters w/ vermicelli noodles and xo sauce

Everyone is actually running a little late (squishies has actually gotten lost and is wandering around at Canley Heights just up the road), so I start ordering with Linda. By the time the team has gathered the food is coming out, and first up is a quite entree of Steamed Oysters. I’ll admit given the choice I prefer my oysters raw, but tonight the steam oysters are a great starter. Each oyster is plump and seasoned well, enticing enough for F the new oyster convert to one shot his, squishies however has yet to be converted to the dark side.

Charcoal grilled beef w/ rice noodles and salads

One of the Hau Au’s signature dishes is their marinated meats which are charcoal grilled at the table. It’s all do it yourself, so prepare to get your hands dirty and clothes smelling like charcoal. The charcoal really adds that extra flavour dimension to anything which is cooked on it. Since it is beef, we didn’t need to cook them for that long. The beef is simply wrapped with rice paper and various Asian greens such as mint, bean sprouts, lettuce and pickled carrots. Once wrapped, dip them into a bowl of fragrant fish sauce and you are in heaven. Not only that, it is also a relatively healthy dish.

Lemongrass pork

The lemongrass pork was a hit, simply stir fried with slight burnt edges yet perfectly cooked on the inside. Apart from the lemongrass there are hints of garlic, fish sauce, black peppers and soy sauce. It’s a tad salty, but nothing a big bowl of white rice can’t fix.

Ca Kho (Caramalised fish)

Ca Kho is one of a few ‘home style’ Vietnamese dishes that every Vietnamese family should be familiar with. There is something about the sweet, sticky and salty caramalised sauce which really is the x factor of the dish. The fish is served in the clay pot which it is traditionally cooked in. When it arrives at our table, it is still simmering away with an infectious aroma which fills the room.

bo tai chanh (Beef carpaccio salad)

Bo tai chanh is a dish where rare beef is served as part of a salad. The beef is actually helped cooked by the acidic juices from the lime. This was such a fresh dish, served cold with prawn crackers and garnished with fried dried onions and an array of fresh Vietnamese herbs.

Canh Chua Ca (Vietnamese sour soup w/ fish)

This soup is relatively sour due to the tamarind, but is offset nicely with the sweetness from the pineapples. There are copious amounts of Vietnamese herbs which give the soup plenty of crunch and texture. The fish is extremely soft and fall off the bone. It’s a real winter warmer dish and we find ourselves pouring the soup over our bowls of white rice and eating it up like a congee or porridge.

Hot Vit Lon

Our friend from New York this evening lives by the “try anything once” mentality. What better way to see if he keeps true to his word than to introduce him to to a fertilised egg with an embryo still in it. We drove two minutes down the road to a restaurant called Diem Hiem in Canley Heights to try it out. Yes it sounds disgusting, but it’s one of those things which needs to be tried as it is a love hate taste.

Ok it doesn’t look appetising at all , but its actually eaten with a squeeze of lemon, pinch of salt and white peppers and Vietnamese coriander. The taste is initially quite overwhelming, all I can taste is egg yolk but once you delve further in it has a strong taste much like liver.

It’s not the ideal way to finish off a fantastic meal at Hai Au, but it tastes better than it looks. But back to Hai Au, it’s one of my favourite Vietnamese restaurants for more authentic Vietnamese food. You won’t find pho or crispy skin chicken here, you’ll find crabs stir fried in tamarind sauce, caramalised fish in claypots and charcoal grilled meat and seafood. It’s worth the treck to the South West if you can’t see yourself in Vietnam anytime soon. Menu is in english and some of the staff speak english too.

Hai Au Restaurant, Canley Vale