Lille Saigon 1: A Good Restaurant But...

A few days ago, we were doing some Asian food shopping in the Storgata area (Oslo S) and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to go to Lille Saigon 1, one of the most popular Vietnamese restaurants in Oslo.

My wife had already been there before but I hadn't. For the starter, I decided to trust the recommendations from the menu and went for some pork rolls called "nems" (picture below).

It was really good. A bit similar to the fresh spring rolls you find here and there but with warm pork inside. I was a bit afraid about the sauce because the menu precised it contained chili. But it wasn't very hot and we had no problems with it.

As my main, I ordered a "bun bo xao" which is a dish with rice noodles and beef. It looked really gorgeous and did taste good but I would have liked the meat to have even more taste (maybe more spices, or more lime or something). Still a good dish, and I understand why it is a very popular one.

My wife went for a Vietnamese soup called "pho". She liked it except the soup itself which was maybe too tasty (great thing when you eat the meat and the noodles but she couldn't drink the soup itself).

For our son, we ordered some noodles with chicken. Not a very exciting dish but he liked it and it probably fits well with children's taste (no vegetables...).

Otherwise, I saw several customers complaining about the service when they write about this place on the internet but we found the staff to be friendly and helpful (they helped us with the stroller, etc...) so it probably depends on who your waiter/waitress is.

On the other hand, something which isn't often mentioned is that the restaurant itself could be better with a bit of renovation and it wasn't the most immaculately clean place I have seen (with such a busy service, it is understandable though).

About the price: for the starter, the 2 main dishes, the 1 child dish, I paid a total of 360 nok which I think is very resonable in Oslo.

To sum up: Lille Saigon 1 is a good Vietnamese restaurant but there are a few things here and there which could be improved. We will surely go there again in the future.

Eating Vietnamese at Far East (Oslo)

Far East is a Thai-Vietnamese restaurant located in Oslo city center (close to Oslo S). It took me some time to try it because I wasn't so convinced about the combination Thai/Vietnamese (I had tried a Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant in the past without finding anything Vietnamese) but I let me convinced by the fact that the restaurant is often quite full. I don't regret it.

About the menu, the restaurant really proposes Vietnamese dishes: Pho, Bun Bo, Bun Cha Gio etc... It also has some Thai dishes (Pad Thai, some Thai soups, ...). We generally have Vietnamese food when we go there.

Their springrolls are really nice:

Cha Gio (springrolls) 78 NOK (or 54 NOK for 3)

The only thing is that I find the sauce a bit spicy which I don't find necessary for springrolls.

Here is a Bun Bo (sorry for the lack of focus, I am a terrible photograph). It is a dish composed of rice noodles and beef with a lemon taste.

Bun Bo 98 NOK

My wife generally order the Pho Bo (noodle soup with beef) but last time we went there, she went for some skewers with shrimps and beef.

It is an original combination in my opinion but it worked nicely and she really enjoyed it. 

We ordered some fried rice for our son. The kingprawn was ordered in addition to the normal dish.

All in all, we really enjoy the food there. We will have to try some dishes from their Thai menu too.

Otherwise, the restaurant itself is quite modest, maybe a bit outdated. Beware that the restaurant can get quite full during popular hours (Friday evening, Saturday evening, ...). 

Xich Lo, a Vietnamese Restaurant in Oslo City Center

My wife and I are big fans of the Vietnamese cuisine. We have never been to Vietnam but we have tasted Vietnamese food in both France and Japan and had some nice experiences with it in both countries.

This is why we decided to try Xich Lo as soon as we heard positive comments about it. The restaurant is in Karl Johans gate (so you cannot do more central than this) and is on the 4th floor of a building with Nespresso on the first floor (just some help if you look for it).

Otherwise the restaurant is pretty and quite "classy". We were received at once and followed to the table. Before we even order anything, we get some water (flavored with lemon, orange and some herbs) and when we ordered, to make us wait, we got the following appetizer:

Vietnamese style beef stew - complimentary

It tasted really nice. The Vietnamese taste was rendered by the spices and despite the chili at the top, it wasn't hot. My wife removed the small chili part and had no problems eating it.

As a starter, we shared a "springroll"

Vietnamese Springrolls, 87 NOK

It was actually a combination of 2 fried springrolls (the usual ones) and 1 "fresh" springroll (cut in 2). Both type of rolls tasted good and at least the fresh one was hand made.

My wife ordered a lamb tenderloin with red wine sauce as a main:

Lamb tenderloin with red wine sauce, 257 NOK

It was good but it did not seem traditional Vietnamese to us (we may be wrong though, we are not Vietnamese). As for me, I went for the duck breast a la Xich Lo:

Duck breast a la Xich Lo, 257 NOK

The duck meat was really nice: soft, tasty but not too strong and I really appreciated it. I liked the sauce too but it was spicy and after a while, I couldn't take it anymore. I wasn't particularly impressed by the mushrooms but I may be too demanding about it.

Both dishes came with flavored rice::

Flavored rice, incl in the dish

Overall, we had a nice meal and we are satisfied with it. The prices are a bit high, but this has something to do with the restaurant being right in the heart of Oslo