Khe Sanh Seafood - (Springvale, VIC)

(degusted 24th August, 2011)

We stumbled across information about this little out-of-the way Vietnamese-Chinese inspired restaurant, but never followed up on it until it popped up on our radar while we were scanning Urbanspoon. It's in Springvale south, in a small shopping plaza.

I guess you can say a ‘perfect storm’ brewed up - through a combination of laziness, a craving for chilli and seafood, and a cold winter's night – together this all conspired to force us to head out mid-week on a school night. Tut tut!! Also, one of The Degusters has a not-so-secret penchant for singing Cold Chisel songs while driving (Saturday afternoons), and knows that 'the last plane out of Sydney is almost gone'. With that in mind, this restaurant was a must-try.. ;)

First impressions were of a fresh and clean dining area (thanks to a recent renovation)– and this was a pleasant contrast to our pre-conceptions of the place (based on their website). There are some nice big tables, it was kid-friendly, and there’s an outdoor area for the socially rejected (smokers). Service was excellent.

Fresh and modern dining room. Pleasantly unexpected.

In true gluttonous style, we had two serves of the famed calamari – one serve was done with salt and chilli, and the other Hong-Kong style. The calamari was everything you could want (soft, tender, tasty), and none of the bad things (not oily, not chewy). This would be an ideal bar-food and if you come here with a table full of mates, be sure to order a few of these plates. At around $10 for a generous serve, you'd be wise to order up big!!  The chilli was not really that hot however, and it was more of a salt and pepper calamari – the HK style was similar, with mild fried garlic, sugar, salt, and fried onion in the flavoursome crumbs on top. Both had a nice little spicy salsa with chilli, capsicum and spring onion.

Fried Calamari - both serving styles looked similar - this one is HK style (the crumbs on top).
At around $10 a plate, you can't miss this!

We tried the hot and sour soup, which had a great flavour – it was not overly 'sour', it was more spicy and slightly tangy. With tofu, BBQ pork, corn, egg and bamboo this was hearty and tasty. A surprise, actually.

Surprisingly good Hot and Sour soup.

One of the mains we degusted was the coconut king prawns. This was unlike anything else we've tried from any Chinese or Viet menus. We had expected the coconut would be dessicated and in bigger pieces, but in fact the crumb looked more like sand (thankfully though, it did not have any sort of gritty texture that a mouthful of St Kilda beach’s finest would typically provide). Flavours were quite delicate, the whole dish surprisingly light. Prawns were big and juicy with a nice pop when bitten. They were very more-ish, and while we wanted to love them, there was something about this dish that held us back –perhaps it was the want for more crunch, or more complexity of flavours and textures...  Granted, you could pair this with a plate of vegetables to get that variation, so this should not be a cause for complaint.

Coconut King Prawns. Looked like sand, but was soft and coconutty.

  (It seemed that shredded carrot and parsley was the standard garnish)

Fresh whole steamed Barramundi.

We wanted to try some fresh offerings, and while there were some large crabs in the tanks, we went for a steamed whole barramundi – fresh from the water to the plate. We didn’t have to wait long, as catching fish around here is like scooping fish from a tank… Actually, this is literally the case. The fish was done well, but the sauce was very sweet. The soy and ginger were the flavours we liked, but there was probably a bit much palm sugar in there. Apart from the sweetness, all other flavours were good, with shallots, ginger and coriander for good measure.

Khe Sanh seafood restaurant seems to have everything you could want, and we will probably head back there to try out a number of (non-seafood) items, including the lobster and the crispy skin chicken that we’ve read some good reviews about.  The menu covers a real variety of dishes –  many of which you won't find elsewhere. Like jelly fish and pork hock, or wasabi duck feet with jellyfish. There's game, too – like venison and crocodile, then there's all the usual suspects – beef, chicken, poultry. A range of hot-pots (including sea cucumber, abalone, and others) round off the varied menu.

A good enjoyable meal can be had here, although our fathers would probably complain about the cost (for asian meals in Springvale).

Rating:  Nom(x1)

Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!
 

Done and Degusted @ Khe Sanh Seafood

Salt and Chilli Calamari

Hong-Kong style Calamari

Hot and Sour Soup

Coconut King Prawns

Whole steamed Barramundi with soy and ginger sauce