Kuala Lumpur 5 - Du Viet

Du Viet
http://www.duviet.com.my/

Say hello to my last Kuala Lumpur post, also the final entry from my recent overseas fling. We found Du Viet at the top floor of Suria, KLCC (aka my KL second home). I suspect that the craving for Vietnamese food originated from an excess of curry the day before (from Spice of India and Old China Cafe).

As a generalization, Vietnamese cuisine tends to be lighter and projects the illusion of healthiness. Whether it actually is healthy or not would depend on what you order. I find that I rarely hold back when I'm eating out :).

At Du Viet, you get a piece of paper to write your order on, which the waiters come and collect when you're done.

Smoothie and Vietnamese filtered coffee

Beverages were ordered to kick the meal off. Marc's was just a smoothie but I ordered a Vietnamese coffee. It arrived in a special contraption that dripped the filtered coffee direct onto a pool of condensed milk. I waited briefly for it to finish dripping and then made the mistake or stirring it up completely. Boy, that made it way to sweet. Isn't there supposed to be something other than condensed milk in there too? Maybe that's why the iced version works better - the ice-cubes mellow out the sweetness.

Spring and summer rolls combo - fried spring roll, chicken and beef summer rolls

We were very excited about the entrees because there were so many interesting options. One that we had chosen was the assorted spring rolls. It comprised of a couple different fresh spring rolls and a fried spring roll all cut up into perfect, bite-sized portions. I really enjoyed this! My idea of a great, casual garden party would serve up plates of these as canapes. Yum.

The other entree we ordered got lost in 'the system'. We didn't even remember it until the end and by then, we were full so we didn't push it.

Hue-style beef boodle (“Bun Bo Hue”) - beef fillet and tender brisket in mildly spicy beef soup

My main was the hue-style beef noodles. My understanding is that hue noodles are the round ones. Usually in Brisbane, when I order this, they are fatter round rice noodles. The ones at Du Viet seemed barely a shade thicker than vermicelli. They were still tasty though and perfect for slurping up the delicious beef stock. I love Vietnamese-style soup bases. What was outstanding about this dish was that the beef itself was really tender and tasty too. Usually, you get crappy, tough offcuts of beef in noodle soup dishes.

Vietnamese fried seafood noodle - rice noodles with fish filler, prawn, squid and veggies

Marc had ordered the Vietnamese fried seafood noodle, which was a 'dry noodle' dish even though it came with a soupy sauce. I'd never tried anything like this in a Vietnamese restaurant and we both loved it. It was really simple and clean with none of the oiliness that normal fried noodles have. The flavor was fantastic though - I detected almost a peanutty quality? If there was, it was very mild.

Vietnamese salad

At my insistence, we had a salad too. It was a green papaya salad with a sweet, tangy lime and fish sauce dressing and lots of nuts. I thought this salad was super tasty! The dressing had great balance but moreover, the papaya was finely sliced and had just the right amount of crunchiness.

We really liked the food at Du Viet. Even though it was a shopping centre franchise restaurant serving Vietnamese food (something we can get in Brisbane), it still managed to impress. It's a shame about the dish that never showed up but everything we did get to taste was delicious.