Vietnam Palace - Vietnamese Restaurant @ 222 N 11st St.

I had mentioned on previous blog dated April 12, 2008 that I had never been to a true Vietnamese restaurant. I wanted to break this and stumbled upon a review of Vietnam Palace in Zagat. I am normally not a big fan of Zagat ratings as I have been severely burnt by taking their review on face value. I also saw them listed on the free print version of Philadelphia Style Mag that can be found in different places in Center City. It's a guide to Center City tourists. So I decided to try them out.

I dragged along with me my brother and a cousin once removed who also lives in Philadelphia. I have been to Chinatown several times mostly for dining at my favorite place but never to this side on the 11st street. We reached there around 8:30PM. That part of the street is kind of dark at this time of the day and there was construction going on, which blocked the east side walkway and a lane of the road. I felt that I should have come during day time. My fear subsided as I crossed Race St where the restaurant is located to the North of Race Street on West side of 11th street.

The facade was a modern two storied building with two huge polished doors as the entrance. It kind of has a big restaurant feel to it and the inside ambiance was brightly lit and well decored. The chairs were made of cane and the walls had pictures of ladies having a stroll during fall time in Vietnam (or so I assumed from the costumes on the ladies). I was impressed. The waiter handed us the menus and asked for drinks. We all had water and dug ourselves perusing the menu. The menu was huge and it took a while for us to decide as it was our first time. The waiter came back the second time and asked if we needed more time. We said yes and he reminded that the kitchen closes at 9:00 PM and won't take orders after that time.

It was already 8:55PM and so we decided to have an appetizer, 2 entrees to share it among us. We ordered a Chicken on the Skewer as an Appetizer, Fish in Clay Pot and Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice. It was bad idea to settle on 2 instead of 3. Normally restaurants in china town have big servings and we did not want to have left overs for brown bagging. This one was not like the other Chinatown restaurants in that aspect.

The chicken skewer had 3 large chicken breast pieces on a skewer. They were well grilled and had a mildly sweet seasoning applied to them. It was simply delicious. The Fish in Clay Pot was a catfish stewed in a mix of mild spices and scallions. The quantity was a about an inch thick single mid section slice of the catfish that was well cooked and tasty. The sauce that the pot had was eclectic. It was tangy, spicy and sweet at the same time and had the color of a barbeque sauce.

The fried rice was tasty as well but oily despite our requests to have less oil. It has been a long time since I had a really tasty fried rice. One can argue as to who can go bad with a fried rice. True but only a good chef can make a really tasty fried rice and this place passed my palate test in all the food we ordered.

The price was not high either. The entrees be it rice/noodle items or Chicken/Seafood/Beef items ranged from $7 to $9. You can find a few that are as expensive as $14 but the menu is huge so to make your selection without compromising on what you want to eat. The Chicken Skewer was $7, the Catfish Clay Pot was $9 and the shrimp fried rice was $7. I paid about $29 including taxes and tips for three. The food portions of an entree are small and will fill the appetite of a single person at best. So $29 for three should read as $29 for 2 or 2.5 that makes it about $12-$14 per person which is not bad for a dinner. For a cheap lunch the menu is huge with entrees for $7.

All in all I was a highly satisfied customer and will definitely go back.