Dinh Son Quan, again

Dinh Son Quan at Little Saigon Market is my comfort zone.  I keep going back, the food is always tasty, the staff are obliging (I ask questions about the food, a lot!). 

I have been trying to work my way through the specials board.  This has worked okay to a point.  There are two duck dishes on the menu, but they don't have duck at the moment.  One day they will get duck again, I hope, or I will have to find these dishes somewhere else.  A small problem though.  I've had their banh xeo before, a rice flour and turmeric and rice flour pancake filled with salad, pork, prawns and bean shoot.  It is not too bad.  

I have started to venture into dishes that I have no knowledge of.  

I tried the mien xao cua.  This is a relatively simple dish comprising noodles, bean shoots and crab and/or shrimp paste.  It was quite strongly flavoured and quite fishy.  I don't think I would order it again, but I am glad I tried it.

Mien xao cua (glass noodles with crab and shrimp paste) $8.50

I found mi quang  to be a tasty but very busy dish.  It is a soup made with turmeric noodles (which I have seen sold dried in the Asian grocery stores).  The soup comes out with fried rice and black sesame crackers on top.  The mi quang is topped with a prawn, pieces of fish stick, pork belly, pork ribs, some pork loaf (cha lua) and two soft boiled quail eggs.  It was like a banquet in a bowl...all food groups were covered.  I would say I liked it rather than loved it, but I would like to order it again.

Mi quang (turmuric noodles) $8.50

The bun moc  is by far, my most favourite dish at Dinh Son Quan.  A lovely lightly flavoured broth with thin vermicelli noodles, slices of pork loaf (cha lua) and small meatballs of pork and shiitake mushrooms.  The dish is topped with fried shallots and spring onions.  This soup was such a surprise, the pork and shiitake meatballs were soft and flavoursome.  I could eat this soup every week. 

Bun moc ($8.50)

Bun moc pork dumplings

The bun bo la lot was a pleasant surprise too.  I have had some okay renditions of this dish around town, but I was very happy with this version.  Fat fingers of juicy beef with betel leaves wrapped around them.  Super tasty with plenty of salad leaves and dipping sauce.  This one is a keeper too.

Bun bo lat lot $8.50

Bun rieu was another soupy noodle dish that I haven't tried before.  It had thin vermicelli noodles, crab balls, pieces of tofu, cha lua and wedges of tomato cooked in the broth.  The tomatoes reminded me of the thai soup tom yum, interestingly, there is tom yum on the menu which I keep meaning to try.  It was quite a strong crab flavoured dish as well.  I'd like to order this one again too, a very interesting dish, not my favourite but worth a second look.

Bun rieu $8.50

This is the specials board.  I have given up attempts to pronounce the names, the poor staff having to try to understand my mangled Vietnamese!  I just point now.

Menu board...at the bottom is kinh moi=invite or welcome

Dinh Son Quan

Little Saigon Market
Nicholson Street
Footscray

Open every day for breakfast and lunch