Em Vietnamese

Vietnamese Food with Patrick Lin & Ly Nguyen, owners of Em Vietnamese.

 

We sat down at their Em Bistro location in DUMBO where we started off with some fresh drinks and shareable bites: 

• Mango smoothie: Fresh mango smoothie with condensed milk and yogurt.
• Dau Hu Chien: Extra crispy fried tofu served with Chef Ly’s secret green sauce and perilla leaf
• Muc Chien Gion: Fried calamari with avocado dipping sauce.
• Bánh Xèo: Turmeric rice crepe with shrimp, pork belly, calamari, beansprouts, and scallions.

 

"It's one of Ly's creations. So it's crispy tofu, a cilantro-based sauce and it comes with perilla leaves. You're supposed to wrap the tofu in a little bit of the perilla leaf and dip it into the sauce."

 

Then we moved on to some flavorful main dishes: 

• Ngheu Xao Bo: Saigon-style garlic butter clams with garlic, chili, rau ram, and fish sauce.
• Bun Bo Hue: Spicy lemongrass soup with beef and pork marrow broth, beef shank, and pork.
• Oc Xao Dua: Mussels in a coconut milk based sauce with rau ram, garlic, and lemongrass.

 

"This is a noodle soup from Huế, probably the second most famous noodle soup out of Vietnam. And this is what a lot of Vietnamese people actually eat more than pho....It's a dish that we both love and we actually went to the City of Hue and ate at every single famous noodle soup shop that sold this dish."

 

We wrapped up with some cocktails and a stroll over to Aloha Alley for dessert:

• La Vietnamita: Aldez tequila infused with lemongrass & kaffir lime leaf, coconut juice, ginger, lime, and basil.
• Strawberry Shave Ice

And Ly sent me home with…

• Pho Bo: Beef Noodle Soup made with 24-hour beef bone broth, filet mignon, rib eye, onions, scallions, cilantro, and rice noodles
• Watermelon smoothie: Fresh watermelon with condensed milk.

 

I also went to their Em Kitchen location in Bensonhurst where we tried:

• Hu Tieu: Em's signature noodle soup with shrimp, pork ribs, chives, scallions, cilantro, and rice noodles.
• Nem Nuong Cuon: Vietnamese Pork Rolls with marinated pork, cucumber, chives, lettuce, and vermicelli noodles
• Thit Kho Tieu: Braised Pork Belly with caramelized fish sauce, black pepper, scallions and rice on the side.

 

"Hu tieu is actually the noodle soup of my ancestors, because my grandparents were born in a part of China where the noodle soup originates from. And then when your girlfriend makes the same thing that your mom makes, but, like, a lot better, then you're like, maybe this is the one, you know?"