Viet Cafe Revisited

They have moved! Have blogged about their old place here.

And this is their new premise, located at the block of shophouses next to TESCO Mergong. It's dining gone boutique. The new place also offers alfresco dining. There're a few tables outside, still within the building premise itself, just beside the corridor. In Alor Setar, the City Council very often seems to selectively go after outlets who put tables on the corridor while just beside the block of new shops, many hawker stalls have set up business on the pavements. They are an eyesore and I wonder how the authorities don't make these operators operate from hawker centres with clean water supply. One wonders about hygiene at such roadside stalls.

We took a drive around the new blocks of shops after dinner and discovered that there are quite a few restaurants at that locality, including a steamboat and barbecue outlet that had just opened that very same day. This seems a nice new place for a dining experience of another sort in Alor Setar. There're also the hawker food stalls to dive into too.

New premise with new menus... well, they seem to have just added the Oriental Seafood Menu.

Finger food... fried spring rolls with its own sauce. I used to order this at their old premise whenever I went.

The non-fried version. It will probably taste a bit 'bland' to those used to strong flavours. But if you take time to savour the natural flavours of the vegetables used, it's actually quite nice.

Cafe-type of food... one dish meal, Asian style. This is Other Half's order of Indonesian Fried Rice. Notice the curry leaves? They give the rice this pungent smell. This makes a nice meal on its own.

I ordered their Garlic, Onion, Fish Rice. It was spicy enough to make me reach out for tissue papers. Fried with onions, dried prawns (plenty of it), onions, lemon grass and chillies, it's enough to make one sweat a bit. But it's tasty. The sauce goes very well with the non-fried spring rolls. 8)

We ordered this, the Four Seasons Beans from their Oriental Seafood Menu just for the fun of it. It's quite nice, with minced meat, garlic, mushrooms and dried prawns (??). Food is quite nice but be prepared to wait a bit if there is a crowd as they seemed understaff at the moment. Renovation is still ongoing as this restaurant. It seems they will be catering for meetings at the hotel which will be opening soon too. The restaurant is part of the hotel set-up, I think.