Thursday, November 22, 2012

Discovery XX

After a two week rest break the discovery team reconvened to visit Thanh Ha in Victoria Street Richmond. Our researches having convinced us that the place was BYO, we gathered a 6-pack of Coopers, found a handy parking spot in front of Pho Dzung Tan Dinh (opposite Xiao-ting box, the scene of Discovery V) and walked the short distance up Victoria Street to Thanh Ha.

Mr 28 was ready and waiting but Mr 30 was slightly delayed, possibly from exhaustion after his mammoth road trip to North Queensland. Discovering that Thanh Ha is in fact licensed, we ordered a couple of Singha and a VB and stashed the Coopers away for later.

Menu at Thanh Ha
Menu with Singha
This is a picture of the menu. It is a very long and complicated menu so I was relieved when Mr 30 arrived and took over the ordering.

We started with an enormous light crispy pancake stuffed with beanshoots, tofu and other good veggie things. A bit like a Sri Lankan dosa but with more filling. After that the carnivores tackled some very pink prawns with pork. Then we had rice paper rolls with peanut sauce and vermicelli with sugarcane prawns.

While the food was lovely and very reasonably priced, the service was less than attentive, with some dishes served immediately but others totally forgotten. The stash of Coopers came in handy. The boys thought it was funny to affix Singha and VB labels to the bottles in an attempt to make them look like the restaurant's stock, but I'm sure the patient and overworked waiters (when they finally deigned to approach us) were not fooled in the slightest. Nevertheless we managed to avoid the corkage charge. Not that Coopers has corks.

On the way home we decided to drop into the Bridge Hotel to see if it could redeem itself after a previous disastrous discovery experience. We all agreed that it is just fine for a drink (especially with a little impromptu Woodies performance of Courtin' in the Kitchen thrown in to the indifference of the other drinkers), but on no account should any of us attempt eating there again. We'll stick with Thanh Ha.

Thanh Ha 2 on Urbanspoon