ottawa foodies

This is a shiny new purpose-built restaurant on Carp Rd in Stittsville. It has a spacious parking lot and a wheelchair ramp to the door. The interior is light and roomy and service is friendly. Water arrives with a lemon slice and the napkins are cloth rather than paper.

I read that the chef has extensive experience with the local Thi Fusion chain and I'd put this restaurant in the same "upscale Vietnamese" category.

I had the phở and my comments are under that food entry...

My coworkers each had a vermicelli plate with choice of grilled meats ($15). They were pleased with the quality but found the price steep compared to the $10-$12 one might pay at other Vietnamese restaurants.

This restaurant also offers a decent selection of sushi, including some large and pricey specialty rolls. I like that their soups and noodle dishes allow you to choose from a list of meats, rather than trying to list a bunch of popular combinations in the menu.

The medium phở was not as large as at other places, but the price ($9) was quite reasonable for this category of restaurant. You can choose any 2 meats from a list of ~7. The broth was decent but not exceptional. The meats were nice and in good supply--tender rare beef, and pleasantly oblong beef balls. The beansprout/herb offering was disappointingly small. Scant sprouts, no culantro, and *just* enough basil, a small piece of lime, and no chili pepper.

Hoisin and sriracha sauces were brought in nice clean squeeze bottles but without a condiment bowl. Expecting customers to squirt sauces into their soup suggests an acknowledgement of inferior broth quality. Good broth needs no saucy accoutrements -- I like to put some sriracha sauce into a bowl and dip pieces of meat into it. ref: this recent and timely post: www.facebook.com

This was loaded with meats and flavourful, although less spicy and rich than I've had elsewhere. The Large ($11) wasn't as large as Large largely is at other restaurants, but that's normal for the Pho Thi-inspired upscale Vietnamese places. Still good value!