La Mint Restaurant: Vietnamese Pho Pot, Darlinghurst (26 July 2013)

62-64 Riley Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010

http://www.lamint.com.au

Hot out of the pot

My original plan was to dine anonymously to try the Pho Pot Starter ($9.50) but once the owner Leanne Lai recognised me she was keen for me to try the other add on dishes of Raw Angus Scotch fillet ($7.50 add on), Beef Balls ($5 add on) and Beef Tripe ($5 add on) which were all provided complimentary including the Pho Pot Starter I wanted to pay for. It's an interesting concept to have a Pho Pot which does have its pro and cons. Usually when I want a bowl of pho I'm just used to it coming to the table all ready to eat. With the Pho Pot all the ingredients came ready to put into the hot pot filled with a light tasting broth although you do have to cook it yourself and then transfer it back to your smaller bowl for eating. I guess you could eat straight out of the pot but it's a bit awkwardly high to do so. A positive is the broth will always be hot as it's kept heated by a flammable blue gel underneath. 

I think the Pho Pot Starter on its own is quite nice although I would have personally loved a few more noodles and slices of meat. The experience and flavour of having the raw Angus scotch fillet is more appealing though because you get to control the amount of cooking of each piece to your liking and it also flavours the broth better. Adding the home-made sate-hoi sin dipping sauce, chilli and thinly sliced onion into the broth will intensify the flavour too. By the end you end up with a very nice tasting broth that's not too oily. Having the add ons does make the a bowl of pho a lot more expensive but they're large enough to share if you dine with one or two others to make it more reasonably priced.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Friendly service, Nice decor and setting, The Pho Pot always remains hot, Quite fun for a small group if you have the time for a leisurely lunch

CONS: You need to cook the pho pot yourself which might not suit those just wanting a quick eat and dash lunch or if you simply don't feel like cooking it yourself, Add ons can make for an expensive bowl of pho if dining alone

MUST TRY: Cooking the raw Angus scotch fillet to your liking

VERDICT: The Pho Pot Starter seems reasonably priced but once you start adding on the extras it can end up being quite a pricey bowl of pho compared to others around town so it's best to share the add on dishes to make it more reasonably priced.

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Pho Pot Starter served with finely sliced cooked Angus beef and noodles with home-made sate-hoi sin dipping sauce, bean sprouts, spring onion, basil, onion, coriander, chilli peppers and lemon ($9.50) — would have loved a bit more noodles and sliced beef to make it a more filling pho lunch.

Raw Angus Scotch fillet ($7.50 add on)

Beef Balls ($5 add on)

Beef Tripe ($5 add on)

Cook your raw scotch fillet to your liking

Broth gets better the more things you cook in it

A different type of rice noodle to try

Special flammable blue gel

Make sure you ask for a proper soup spoon

Pho Pot menu

Owner Leanne Lai and Head Chef George

Nice decor

Very awkward spot for urinal when exiting the cubicle

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La Mint Restaurant: Vietnamese $25 Set Lunch Menu, Darlinghurst (12 July 2012)

62-64 Riley Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010

http://www.lamint.com.au

Setting out for Vietnamese

A work colleague's farewell lunch brings me to La Mint, just next door to Red Lantern on Riley, to try their $25 Set Lunch Menu. Due to the group booking being larger than eight it attracted a credit card deposit of $10 per person which is something to keep in mind. The set menu starts with an Entree Platter of rice paper rolls with prawns, seafood nem and coconut prawn. I really liked the seafood nem aka seafood spring roll which was tasty and crispy as hoped although it seemed to be missing an appropriate Vietnamese 'nuoc cham' dipping sauce. The fresh roll was good and came with a hoisin sauce and the coconut prawn was a decent size and nicely cooked and came with an aioli style sauce. I opted for a $5 glass of wine with the set menu which is a bargain considering a glass of wine starts at $10. The 2011 Kapuka Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough NZ was as expected. My Chilli salted squid with salad had good flavours but unfortunately the squid wasn't as tender as hoped making it a bit of a workout for the jaw. This seemed to be the consensus of most of the diners that ordered it but some seemed to have a better experience for most of their dish. Portion size was decent although the salad wasn't really Vietnamese in style and I would have preferred some pickled carrot, radish and mint with the lettuce and perhaps a dipping sauce to go with the squid.

Other visits to La Mint: 
• 12 July 2012 – $25 set lunch menu 
• 21 Jan 2010 – Food Bloggers Award Launch

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Nice decor and seating, Fresh ingredients, Service seemed friendly enough, Glass of wine reasonably priced with set lunch

CONS: Credit card deposit required for large groups, Tables have very thick legs so together creates large gaps between seating

WORTH TRYING: Seafood nem, Glass of wine with set lunch menu
VERDICT: The set lunch menu was a bit of a hit and miss but I'd be curious to try other dishes on the menu

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Table water, 2011 Kapuka Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough NZ ($5 with lunch menu, $10 on wine menu)

Entree Platter: A tasting plate of rice paper rolls with prawns, seafood nem and coconut prawn ($25 pp Set Lunch)

Seafood nem
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Chilli salted squid with salad and balsamic dressing ($25 pp Set Lunch)

Set Lunch $25 pp

3 Course Set Lunch $35 pp

Wine menu

Bill $345 for 13 people — notice a glass of wine is cheaper than lemon lime bitters with $5 lunch deal

Quite a large awkward gap created by table legs when put together

Very unfortunate position of urinal next to cubicle door entrance — Perhaps get rid of urinal and replace with some shelves with nice flowers and Vietnamese ornaments

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