The Pho Quest Continues... Kind of...
Vietnamese cuisine at Bam-Bou -- Eduardo Vargas' latest - By Hien Huynh, May 20, 08
When I first heard that new restaurant was opening and serving Vietnamese cuisine, I couldn't wait to try it for myself. Ever since one of my favorites Le Garcon Chinois stopped serving their delicious Vietnamese menu there has been a serious dearth of fine Vietnamese cuisine in this city. After trying to reserve while the restaurant was still under construction, missing the official opening, and then having to wait another week before I had the chance to make it down to Bam-Bou, I was oozing anticipation just walking through the door.
A quick survey of the decor revealed the dim lighting that is a common theme with all of Eduardo's restaurants. Creating an atmosphere that is especially perfect for romantic dining, muted beams bounce off of the neat interior. Half the restaurant is comprised of 6-8 person cushioned booths (clean socks, no holes please) and the other half is lined with more conventional tables and chairs.
Bam-Bou serves up not only Vietnamese but also dishes from some of my other favorite Southeast Asian nations like Cambodia and Laos. In fact, I believe Bam-Bou serves the first Laotian and Cambodian dishes to appear in Shanghai. Not unlike Thai, these three cuisines resemble one another often separated only by subtle differences in use of fish sauce, lemon grass, chilies, and various mints and herbs.
I had expected modernized fare fused with modern techniques, but much to my surprise, most of the dishes boasted authentic flavors, no doubt courtesy of their Vietnamese cook. The meal started off just right with a basket of mixed mints and lettuce -- a time-honored Vietnamese pre-starter. However, service was slow it was a long time before we finally ordered our dishes. By this time my throat was parched and I felt dangerously near to an unsightly alcohol withdrawal attack.
For starters we indulged in the Laotian Spring Roll, Steamed Hanoi Nem Rolls and the Crab Avocado and Crab Salad. All were magnificent. I had to try the Pho, which at 50rmb was in the ballpark price with all the starters, although somewhat expensive when compared to other renditions of the same dish in town. This was some of the better Pho currently available in Shanghai, but on Hien's scale as far as Pho goes, it's still not quite there -- lacked flavor. The Chicken Curry was a highlight, as was the Soft Shell Crab Salad. The Lao Chicken Soup was interesting and subtly flavored -- I had anticipated something tangy and zestier. Most of the dishes were reasonably priced and our bill totaled about 200rmb per person including drinks.
My group is already discussing making a second trip to try some of the dishes we didn't have room for this time around. Two thumbs up.
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Leenski
May 26, 08
The service was terrible on Saturday night. The hostesses were stressed out and rude. The wait-staff were completely inattentive and badly mannered. I felt like we were in a local restaurant where you had to scream to get service....sadly, we had to resort to this a couple of times.
The food was bland. It didn't help that the food came out 10mins before the drinks so it tasted dry, flavorless (and cold by the time we had our drinks). The wait staff didn't tell us what she was serving so we spent the better part of the evening trying to guess if the satay sticks where chicken or seafood.
We were seated in the communal table area so it was incredibly noisy. We had to scream to hear each other across the table (there were only 5 of us). And the low lighting made it difficult to lip read the conversations (not to mention seeing the food). The futon areas looked much more pleasant and cozy.
The overall dining experience was really unpleasant but hopefully Eduardo will fine tune this baby. Replace the service staff, get more bartenders, up the lighting, replace the noisy communal table.... and we might come back for a second try!