Y Lan
Dazzling Hanoi creations Y Lan excels at unusual regional specialities from the north of Vietnam presented with flair SARAH MUSGRAVE The Gazette Saturday, November 19, 2005 CREDIT: MARCOS TOWNSEND THE GAZETTE La Vong-style fish was invented by a famous restaurant situated on Cha Ca (Grilled Fish) street in Hanoi. Y Lan Great bet $$ 6425 St. Denis St. (near Beaubien St. E.) Phone: (514) 495-3812 Open: Daily 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Licensed: Yes Credit cards: Visa Inter-ac: Yes Wheelchair access: One step Vegetarian-friendly: Yes Price range: Appetizers $2.50 to $3.95; main courses $5.95 to $14.95 When it comes to the usual Vietnamese grilled meats on vermicelli, Y Lan offers variations on a theme. This month-old eatery doles out several unusual dishes from the north of the country, more specifically the capital, Hanoi. La Vong-style fish, for instance, is the creation of a famous restaurant in the colonial city, situated on Cha Ca or "Grilled Fish" street. Its signature dish is quite the production, and a pleasing one at that. First comes a square platter with an assortment of fresh things: lettuce, carrot-cabbage salad, strips of cucumber, a mound of vermicelli, sprigs of mint and lightly roasted peanuts. Then, another supporting player: a plate of crisps, similar to shrimp crackers, but dense with black sesame seeds and green onions cooked into the mix. Beside it, a small bowl of murky shrimp sauce, with a suspicious fishy aura that disappears once it's added to food. The centrepiece is a head-turning presentation that's delivered sizzling and spitting atop cast iron. Stained yellow with saffron and blackened from the heat, pieces of basa (a loose, white fish also known Mekong catfish) are topped by a whole bunch of green stems of dill. We found that just about any combination of the above ingredients worked well, and the remnants in the bottom of our bowls wound up soaked with harmonious flavours. Not to be confused with the Vietnamese seafood crepe, the Hanoi-style pancake features strips of sweet potato shaped into galettes and topped with crustaceans. The shrimp were fused on tight but still cloaked in their shells, so it wasn't entirely clear how to eat it. I opted to crunch on through despite mixed feelings about the texture, picking up the fritters with lettuce, adding veggies and mint, dunking the rolls into a thin, sweet sauce. Pho is a more common concoction that the north lays claim to. Y Lan serves a fine, rounded broth, sharpened by cilantro and green onion. The "special" soup spares no parts, from white filaments of tripe to fatty nubs of tendon to squeaky slices of meatball, with some lean beef thrown in between the noodles. We partnered a small serving with an opening papaya salad tossed with morsels of smoked beef (decent but a little dry) and an excellent battered banana to close. Y Lan's recently launched room, in shades of green and blue, is faintly institutional despite curvy mirrors and bamboo wall reliefs. Attention has been paid to detail, though the sappy string music is one detail that could go. The regional Vietnamese specialties, on the other hand, should definitely stay. Sarah Musgrave is the author of Resto a Go-Go: 180 Cheap and Fun Places to Eat and Drink in Montreal (ECW Press, $16.95). � The Gazette (Montreal) 2005
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