New South Vietnamese restaurant Le Garçon Saigon in Wan Chai serves delightful dishes in a fun atmosphere
Winnie Chung
The new South Vietnamese restaurant, Le Garçon Saigon, has injected life back into quiet Wing Fung Street. The boisterous eatery was hopping on the Sunday night we were there with quick turnover at the tables. The low ceilings make sound reverberate but the lively energy adds to the fun atmosphere.
Le Garçon Saigon’s menu has three to four selections in each course. Spoiled by a heavy lunch that day, we started with green papaya salad (HK$78) and fried spring rolls (HK$98). The papaya salad was a wonderful mixture of textures: the papaya was juicy, the shrimp crisps were crunchy while the beef jerky added a chewy texture. Unfortunately, the spring rolls were disappointing as the filling was bland and could have been crisper.
The whole red snapper (HK$248) more than made up for that. Grilled in bamboo leaves, the fish was perfectly cooked and retained its delicious juices. This was served with rice paper, fresh herbs, pickles, vermicelli and dipping sauce to make a roll.
The calamari (HK$128) appeared small to be a main but when we looked under the generous topping of spring onions, peanuts and fried shallots, there were just layers and layers of juicy, tender meat.
We ended with cheesecake topped with mango purée which was off the menu and the “che” (HK$78). The che - which comprised smoked coconut ice cream, meringue, banana, meringue and peanuts - was the more interesting, but the cheesecake also won us over with its fluffy lightness.
Service was friendly, with lots of enthusiastic advice on how to tackle the courses (“use your hands”) and we appreciated that they offered us tap water right off the bat.
LE GARÇON SAIGON
12-14 Wing Fung Street, Wan Chai, 2455 2499
