Eating In Kuala Lumpur - Little Vietnam

Little Vietnam is a small Vietnamese restaurant at the top level of Midvalley Megamall. I had quite a satisfying Pho Bo here some time ago. During a recent visit to KL, I had a sudden craving for Pho, so decided to check it out again. 

The decor is really simple, basically an open dining area with wooden chairs and tables. At a back wall there are some diplay cases with Vitenamese artifacts. Hanging from the ceiling are a few Vietnamese lanterns. There is another more upscale Vietnamese restaurant called "Co Do" which sits right on top of Little Vietnam on a mezzanine level. I don't know if they are related.

The menu is quite a long one. You get the usual salads, springrolls, noodles - and the Pho comes in many variations. I decided to try the version with grilled New Zealand striploin. 

While waiting for the Pho, I had the deepfried springrolls. It was served with a light chili dip and some lettuce leaves. Light and refreshing.

The Pho came in 2 portions - the Pho itself in a bowl, and the grilled beef with garnishing on a separate plate. When I eat Pho, I always like to start off with the soup and slowly add in other ingredients to vary the flavour. When I first tried the soup, I was frankly a little bit disappointed. It had the required taste - just not as intense as I remembered or like it to be. Putting in the basil leaves added another dimension to the taste.

I then tried the grilled striploin. It was really good ! Sliced very thin and marinated with lemongrass, pepper and other spices, it was really tender and flavourful. I then dipped the striploin slices into the soup. That did the trick. The soup took on some of the beefy and smokey flavour of the steak, and from then on I was a happy man ! 

If you are looking to satisfy your Pho craving in KL, I would recommend Little Vietnam. The place is simple, but the food is tasty and pricing quite reasonable. In fact I saw a few Vietnamese patrons while I was there - a testament to the authenticity of the taste, or maybe just the lack of good Vietnamese restaurants in KL ?