Grub Scout: Vietnamese Bistro fills welcome niche in Turkey Creek

Photo by Angela Allen

Vietnamese Bistro at 11605 Parkside Drive

Every now and then, I’ll dine in an Asian-food restaurant that has a few Vietnamese items on the menu, but I’m not aware of any in Knoxville that has recently focused exclusively on that particular category of cuisine. As such, Vietnamese Bistro in Turkey Creek certainly fills a niche in the local market.

The Grub Spouse and I tried the restaurant out for dinner last weekend and were welcomed into a single, open dining space where the interior design and furnishings subtly revealed an upscale tone, although the overall aesthetic presentation had trouble shedding the character of an austere, strip-mall shell. Most of the seating consists of tables, which are complemented by a few booths and half-booths.

The Spouse and I occupied one of the latter and pored over the menu. Our server helped us out by handing us flip charts with photos of most of the menu items, which I found helpful. It’s interesting how much the appearance of a dish plays into its appeal.

The appetizer section contains several fried rolls and dumplings, but the one that grabbed our attention was the Shrimp in Pants (how can you not order something called Shrimp in Pants?). Consisting of five pieces, this appetizer is made with whole shrimps filled with minced pork and wrapped in spring roll skins (aka the pants) before being fried. The Spouse and I enjoyed both the shrimp and the pants and agreed that the sweet but spicy aeoli dipping sauce was a good accompaniment.

In general, the menu offers a preponderance of dishes made with shrimp and chicken, although there are also entrees featuring pan-roasted rainbow trout, steak, duck, quail and salmon. There are also several pho soups made with rice noodles.

We spent quite a bit of time trying to decide on our entrees, because so many sounded (and looked) appealing. A few that caught our eye were the pan-seared jumbo scallops with grilled baby Japanese eggplant; pan-seared thick noodles with choice of beef, pork, chicken or shrimp; bun thit nuong cha gio, which is thinly sliced and grilled pork loin on vermicelli noodles; and Vietnamese rice crepes filled with shrimp, lean pork loin, and bean sprouts with nuoc cham.

The Spouse chose the pan-seared steak salmon, which is served with either grilled veggies in balsamic vinaigrette reduction or lump crabmeat in a light cream sauce. The Spouse went with the former. I wanted something spicy, so I got the spicy noodles (bun gao xao kho), which is vermicelli sautéed with egg, onions, bean sprouts and a choice of meat. I opted for pork.

Both entrees were very well received. The flavors in the grilled salmon were robust, and the complementing vegetables were grilled to perfection — not too mushy, not too stiff. And the spicy noodles were right on target. The level of spiciness was definitely enough to make you sit up and take notice but not so harsh that it diminished the meal’s enjoyability. It was a generous serving of thin noodles and other ingredients, and the chunks of pork were distinctively tasty.

Our original plan was to eat half our meals and take the rest home, but at the halfway point, we agreed we were enjoying them too much not to go ahead and polish them off.

We did save room for one of the three desserts on the menu, which are Vietnamese banana pudding (described to us as thinner in consistency than Southern pudding), cappuccino creme brulee and white chocolate mousse cake. We tried the last item, which was disappointing. It was dry and had a freezer-burned flavor and kept me from rating this restaurant’s food higher.

But don’t let that stop you from giving Vietnamese Bistro a try. I think you’ll find the experience worth it.

© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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