REVIEW: Anna Vietnamese Restaurant, Oxford St, Leederville, Perth WA

Inexpensive, Middle-of-the-Road Vietnamese Restaurant?

Any restaurant that has kept the door open for over 20 years must be doing something really right or perhaps just doing very little really wrong. In the case of Anna Vietnamese in Oxford St, Leederville, we were keen to find out which it was.

So on a recent Saturday evening after a movie at the nearby Luna Cinema, we dropped in to Anna's for a quick Vietnamese fix.

No Flashy Restaurant Decor

The first thing that hits you about the restaurant when you walk in is the age and stark plainness of the decor, complete with shiny laminex tabletops and plastic crockery. You get the picture, but as with many restaurants like this one, it's all about the food.

No Pho, No Banh Xeo

The menu at Anna's is reasonably long and comprehensive, but with the notably strange absence of Pho, the Vietnamese staple of starchy rice noodles in aromatic soup and Banh Xeo, those slightly crispy, turmeric coloured pancakes stuffed with slivers of pork, prawns, and bean sprouts.

To Basa, or Not to Basa?

We really wanted to order the hot fish curry (Cari Ca), but checked with our waiter first as to what type of fish was being used in the dish that night. We couldn't really understand what he was saying, but were sure he said the fish was something like "Ca Basa", which we wrongly assumed to be Basa (see explanation below). Basa is that somewhat cursed river catfish from Vietnam now often found in Australian fish and chips. Anyway, we decided to pass on the curry.

Instead we played it a little safe and ordered Ginger Beef (Bo Xao Dau Phong) and Barbecue Pork (Soun Heo Nuong), both $11.90, as our mains to go with fresh Vietnamese Spring rolls (Goi Cuon), $4.40 for two, and a stuffed chicken wing (Cahn Ga Don), $3.80, as our entrees.

Entrees

The Spring rolls were, well, fresh-ish Vietnamese Spring rolls, with the skins perhaps slightly tough as rice noodle can be if not served absolutely fresh. The chicken wing was boneless, stuffed with minced pork, mushrooms, thin mung bean vermicelli noodles and mint, then deep fried.

Both these dishes were acceptable, without ever threatening greatness.

Main Course Dishes

Our mains were pretty much as described with the Ginger Beef consisting of thinly sliced strips of beef braised with ginger, flavoured with fish sauce for a light saltiness and cooked with some sliced carrots for sweetness and served with peanuts for texture.

The Barbecue Pork was actually boneless medallions of pork twice cooked, meaning that the pork was firstly marinated - the menu suggested in lemongrass, garlic and onion - then barbecued to hopefully provide some flavour enhancing caramelisation, and finally braised to tenderness in a light plum sauce.

Both of these dishes were again perfectly acceptable without really pushing any great flavour buttons.

Unlicensed Vietnamese Restaurant

Anna Vietnamese is not licensed so a trip to the nearby liquor store is necessary unless you've planned ahead and brought your own alcoholic beverages. This turned out to be a bit of a blessing as we were able to buy a German beer we had been wanting to try, the Weihenstephaner Kristall, that we thought would work very well with the food we had chosen.

Weihenstephaner Kristall

As it turned out, the crisp fruitiness and rather pleasant slight yeastiness of the beer worked perfectly, lifting and highlighting the various flavours of the food, especially the ginger and plum elements.

Unfortunately, it was a much needed lift as the food generally lacked the layers of flavour and punch that you'd expect Vietnamese food to have.

The Verdict

To answer our initial question, we were left with a distinct feeling that the longevity of this restaurant lies more in its ability to not overly disappoint, rather than to delight diners. It presents what we think to be a very much "dumbed down" version of Vietnamese food, albeit at reasonable prices.

There seems no doubt that like so many of their suburban Chinese Restaurant cousins, Anna Vietnamese have over the years tuned their food and pricing to suit middle-of-the-road Australian tastes and pockets.

But as the tastes of Australian diners continue to evolve and flavour expectations rise, we wonder how much longer this formula will work.

A Curry Correction

On the way out we did check with the Maitre d' and he informed us the fish in the curry was actually "carpet shark". We guess that sounds a bit like "Ca Basa" if you apply a thick enough Vietnamese accent. Carpet shark or Wobbegong is better known as flake and was once, before Basa, definitely the mainstay of Australian fish and chips.

Anyway, maybe we'll give the curry a try if we ever make our way back to Anna Vietnamese again.