Since its shipping container days, the return of Miss Van’s has been highly anticipated. Now set up in Civic, the restaurant is difficult to get in to without a booking.
I thought it was a good opportunity to book lunch here for my birthday earlier in the year. I like that the online booking form has a ‘pram’ option, and sure enough we are seated at a table with lots of room for a pram. There are no highchairs unfortunately.
There are so many amazing sounding dishes on the menu. But as Mr FoodPornJournal hates coriander with a passion, there was a bit of back and forth with the kitchen to see which dishes had coriander in it. In the end, we could really only have two things on the menu. This is totally understandable as Vietnamese food uses coriander as a staple (Note to self, don’t take the husband next time!)
I’m happy to see 0% ABV drinks on the drinks menu. I order the Good Kid mocktail ($13) with mango and coconut cream, ginger, lemon and soda. Delicious but I wish there was less ice in it.
Even though there’s coriander in it, I still order the laos sausage ($14 for 3 pieces) from the snack menu just for myself. This arrives as three cut slices of sausage sitting on cabbage. The sausages are delicious stuffed with various herbs and are nicely complemented by the charred tomato salsa. Three didn’t seem like enough, but it was a good starter.
The vegetarian spring rolls ($14 for 3 pieces) contain mixed mushrooms, heart of palm, and vermicelli. We’re not usually big fans of vegetarian spring rolls, but these are stuffed with flavour, and are plumper than expected. I’d order these again.
The umami butter egg noodles ($22) are a generous portion tossed with vegetables and shallots. It seems like a pretty simple dish but I suspect contains many levels and layers of flavours for that umami hit.
On the specials menu, Mr FoodPornJournal wanted to try the BBQ Kingfish collars ($24). Staff confirmed the marinade includes coriander but we ordered it anyway. The marinade also has dill and turmeric incorporated which works well with the fish. The dish is served with noodles, herbs, lettuce and nuoc cham where you wrap it all up in a lettuce cup to eat. The fish is barbecued to perfection. I enjoyed this and was even able to pick out pure fleshy fish without the marinade so Mr FoodPornJournal could have some too.
I finished with The Dessert ($14) of Vietnamese coffee and salted caramel ganache, condensed milk ice cream, and puffed wild rice. I loved this! Perfect balance of coffee, caramel and sweetness.
The restaurant is loud and vibrant, much like the food can be. The doors open up onto the street to allow a nice summer breeze. I’ll definitely go back but sans baby and husband.
There’s plenty of other things I want to try – the banh mi, cuttlefish, grilled chicken to name a few. There’s a set menu available (minimum 2 people) and a Sunday long lunch.
Miss Van’s
113-119 Marcus Clarke Street, City West Carpark
Canberra City, ACT
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