Mui Ne: Vietnam Family Restaurant

     Our stay in Mui Ne offered lots of good noms, particularly spring rolls. Vietnam is famous for their spring rolls, fresh or fried, you can buy these fresh at side vendors in popular areas (saw loads of them in Ho Chi Minh city.)
     One of our regular go to's, (Schwammy's home!!) is a place called "Vietnam Family Restaurant." It's located a couple hundred yards away from Mai Am, right on Nguyen Ding Chieu Street. The place is owned and run by a family, the father being the head guy but his daughters are always there.
     It was the first place where we had drinks and an impromptu dinner. Our first night in Mui Ne we wandered and fell upon this cheesy romantic lit place and slightly drunk ordered a plate of their fried vegan spring rolls and...well this order happened almost every night.

vegan spring rolls and heavenly sauce (photo taken by VeganBeats)

     My flash makes these looks severly oily but, trust me they arne't oily. They are pan fried and filled generously with cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, tofu, and crushed lotus seeds. Everything blends very well together, a soft heated texture and crispy skin, but it's the sauce that makes this roll really roll.
     It's a spicy and tangy sauce with powdered peanut in it. Not tasting racked with msg or very salty, there is a sweetened tang to it, that also heats the mouth a bit. This with the mixture of vegetables created a savory explosion of crunchy crispy skin, marinated in a heated sweet array of veggies.
     On other days Ani and I did visit this place for a meal meal. Spring rolls were always around but, one day we decided to try some of their other menu options. I went with a tofu and tomato sauce, which was very satisfying. A generous position was provided chalk full of veggies. Soft tofu was served on a bed of shredded carrots and cucumbers along with steamed cabbage and morning glory. There were chunks of fresh sweet tomato and these ingredients came together to make an almost cirtusy sweet sauce that brought out a lot of natural flavors. It was saucy, and not high in oil at all, I would even go as far as saying this dish was nearly fat free. There was some oil or fat content from the tofu, but...this dish was great. If I was in Mui Ne again...kick over some of this....and more spring rolls ^^*!~

tomato sauce tofu (photo taken by VeganBeats)

     Ani went with the pineapple fried noodles, and it sounded interesting and how can you go wrong with pineapple? (wait...don't answer). This dish was beautifully plated, and looked very nice but...what it had in looks it lost in personality. The noodles were ramen noodles (points lost) but there were alot of shredded carrots, greens, sweet pinapple, and radish (points points points) but no flavor (annnnnd FAIL.) Pineapples and veggies were picked out...but more or less, untouched. )O:

Pineapple fried noodles (photo taken by VeganBeats)

     I also got a fresh coconut, seeing all these coconut trees just chilling, my eyes, I mean belly was wanting this. And for only 15,000 dong ($0.75) hell...do it! They literally grabbed a young coconut off of a tree, cut out the top and stuck in a straw. The juice was refreshing and full or health jazz, feeling energized! The meat was great too, though no spoon was offered to help get that out...I found a way!

my fresh coconut (photo taken by VeganBeats)

     Because we came often enough and struck up some positive vibes with everyone here, we started getting dragon-fruit when we were planning on leaving.
     "It looks like cookie dough ice-cream" Ani once said to me. It's like a crossbreed between a cactus and a kiwi, bright pink with green tendrils and a soft white pulp similar to kiwi's texture. This fruit is delicious, subtle in flavor, not too sweet or too strong in any sense but refreshing and delightful. Grab a spoon and scoop it out!

dragon fruit!!! (photo taken by VeganBeats)

     This place is located on the main strip of hotels in Mui Ne, if you see Schwammy and a brown spotter pooch kicking it alongside her, make sure to stop in and get some spring rolls!!

Nguyen Ding Chieu Street<~~~check Vietnam Family Restuarant