Mr. Red Cafe

Mr. Red Cafe is a Vietnamese dining experience unlike any other place you can find because they specialize in Northern Vietnamese food as opposed to the more commonly served Southern Vietnamese food.

I’m not a huge fan of Vietnamese food but Mr. Red Cafe always seems to change my mind. In contrast to typical Vietnamese restaurants, Mr. Red cafe serves Northern Vietnamese food. Food from the Northern side of Vietnam tends to focus on using glutinous rice instead of regular rice as an ingredient and their flavors are more “clean” in a sense because they like to use clearer broths.

Dumpling sampling platter

★★★★

I was the most excited about this Dumpling sampling platter at Mr. Red Cafe because I rarely encounter Vietnamese dumplings and who wouldn’t like trying something new?

The first one was the roundest one of the bunch. I think this one was made out of rice flour because it had a tough and dense exterior. I think that there was ground pork in the middle. I’m not sure what spice they used for it because it ended up being orange on the inside?

Next up was the flattest one. I didnt think that it would be so soft but it was almost the consistency of mush. I think this one was made out of rice flour as well based on the colour. There was a bit of minced meat inside, shredded carrots and green onion. I wasn’t a huge fan of the consistency of this one.

This was my favorite out of the 3 we tried. Its a tapioca dumpling so the texture was soft and chewy. It had shrimp and some shredded pork in the middle of it as well.

Chicken and pate glutinous rice

★★★

This glutinous rice was speckled with pate, mung bean paste and seasoned chicken meat. The shredded chicken was a little on the tough and dry side though resembling pork floss instead of juicy chicken. Mother deer said that the dish was interesting and she would definitely have it again some time. Lil’ bun and I thought it was a little salty for our taste but it was enjoyable nevertheless

Mung bean glutinous rice ball

★★★★

I got this the last time I was here and I just HAD to get it again. It was just soo good the first time! The perfect blend of chewy, salty, savory goodness all wrapped up in a little rice ball of joy.

Under the thin layer of sticky rice, there was a layer of pandan based (the green) glutinous rice dough that encased the mung bean in the middle. The salt and pork floss on top added a nice element of saltiness to balance out the pandan which I really liked.

Beef noodle soup

★★★★

Then came the oh so traditional beef noodle soup. Northern pho is different because they use much more aromatics in their broth than Southern soup. I find this one to be a little more salty but the depth of flavor in it is amazing. The pho here might be pricier than most places but they also give you so much more beef slices!

Rare beef and beef ball soup

★★★★

We found the pho broth to be different than all the ones we’ve tried before. It was clear, light and obvious that it wasn’t laden with MSG. I think its because they only use beef bones in the broth instead of a variety like they would do so in Southern Vietnam. The rice noodles were a little thinner than what we were used to as well. I liked it better this way because it gave the pho a lighter feel.

Crab cake noodle platter

★★★★

Next, we got the crab cake noodle platter. If you’ve never had this before, you eat it by mixing everything together and then pouring the tangy fish sauce on top. I’m not usually a fan of anything fried but these crab “cakes” were so good! They were fried to crispy perfection and the inside was filled with shredded crab meat!

Shrimp salad rolls

★★★

We couldn’t leave without ordering these so we got them too! There wasn’t anything special about them but Grayson said that the peanut sauce was more “peanutty” and less “hoisin saucy” than ones he’s had before.

I on the otherhand am not a fan of peanuts so I opted to use their in house fish sauce! It was super delicious and had a more garlicy flavor than most I’ve tried before. I liked how they made it their own!

Bahn mi sandwich

★★★

We also saw bahn mi sandwiches on the menu so we decided to get one to try for the heck of it. We are used to the ones that are filled with pate and Vietnamese ham so we decided to get the shredded chicken. Unlike their protein heavy noodle bowls, the sandwiches lacked in the protein department and it seemed to us that there were more pickled veggies in there than chicken!

Summary

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