Editor Pick
Best Vietnamese Meal: Nha Trang Centre
- December 17, 2003
- Rated 5 of 5 by
ext212 from New York, New York
Nha Trang Centre
148 Centre St.
New York, NY 10013
212/941-9292
One of the best phos in NYC is under the code L1 with raw thinly-sliced beef strips for less than $5. The hot broth will cook the beef. Make sure you add all the bean sprouts, basil leaves, and squirt the lime juice in there! Add some hot sauce for a kick--they have a Vietnamese red hot sauce bottle on your table with a rooster logo that I call Flaming Cock. Yum!
If you're not into pho but still want a nice big bowl of hot soup, check out their vegetable soup under code D5. You'll get a nice clear soup with mixed vegetables like broccoli and carrots, tofu, and bean sprouts.
For rice meals, check out the barbecued pork with rice under code L11. It comes with a sweet and sour dip that I always use to drown my rice on my plate.
There's also the usual Vietnamese spring and summer rolls. They're excellent at Nha Trang. The spring rolls are the ones deep-fried and the summer are the fresh ones with raw skins. Both are filled with vermicelli rice noodles and vegetables.
For dessert or for something to drink while you walk off all the Vietnamese food in your tummy, ask for the Vietnamese iced coffee. You'll get a small coffee drip strainer and a glass filled with ice. Once all the coffee is "brewed," stir in the condensed milk at the bottom and pour into your glass. Remember, stir before you pour or else you're gonna get a mass of condensed milk in your glass that would be too difficult to mix.
When you get your table, no reservations needed, you will be given a red menu and a green menu--the red menu has the least expensive choices that you should go through every time you visit; the green menu, I say, is for the tourists.
From journal Eat in New York City but don't let New York City eat you!