Lao a Vietnamese restaurant located in the beautiful property of Waldrof Astoria Palm Jumeriah. I must confess that it was my first experience to introduce my palates to the Vietnamese cuisine. The idea of trying out new cuisine is always exciting but at the same time it keeps you at the verge of skepticalness.
Last weekend I got an opportunity to try this restaurant perched at the lower ground level of the hotel. Upon entrance the dim lights and the whole dark ambiance instantly calms you down and set your mood for a blithe dinner.
After a warm welcome by the team we sat down to the reserved table and start selecting our order from the menu. The names were quite different for me so I selected each dish mindfully with the help of descriptions and some help of our server.
We started our supper with some in house mocktails, both were refreshing. What else we tried there
- Crispy Chicken Rolls
- Chicken Skewers
- Pulled Chicken Salad
- Crystal Prawn Dumpling
The huge open kitchen let you see how things are getting prepared for the guest. In starters we were served rice crackers with yuzu sauce. They were crispy and I couldn’t help but to go with the second round of them.
Chicken skewers one of dishes I have tried before in other restaurants.They were quite flavorful taste specially with the sauce served along with it.
Crystal prawn dumplings or Banh bot loc tom had filling of prawns, Chinese chives and sesame oil. The minute they came on our table I gobbled two of them instantly as dumplings are best when served hot.
Cripsy chicken rolls were stuffed with chicken, spiced dressing, some herbs, markouk bread and mushrooms. My husband skipped to try this as it had mushrooms with which he’s allergic and for me they were quite filling and heavy.
Pulled Chicken Salad another starter on our table which was quite light and delightful in taste with all the goodness of fresh veggies like carrot, cabbage, beans, sprouts, herbs with a crunch of peanuts.
In mains we tried
- Beef Noodle Soup
- Fried Rice
- Flank Steak
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Tofu
In soup we had chicken noodle soup and beef noodle. Both were comforting and had rice noodles and fresh herbs.
Fried Rice or Com Chien are available with the variety like crabs, prawns or chicken. We opted for the chicken one and relish it completely
Flank Steak one of their specialty and my husband was excited to try as he an ardent fan of steaks. Steak after marination with fresh herbs, ginger garlic and spicy sauce was cooked to rare medium. Here they serve after making a pieces of steak on the contrary to the usual style.
Tofu another main dish we tried that night that was cooked in tomato sauce and shiso leaf. It had tangy taste with a balance of spices.
Last but not the least the dessert. I had no clue what to order so just by the name preference I ordered fried banana with avocado icecream. Having banana in fried version was totally a new experience for me and I believe for liking it one needs to have an acquired taste.
Overall, it was a delightful experience to get to know about Vietnamese cuisine and authentic flavors. Now I know about this cuisine and I can confidently order some Vietnamese food anywhere in the world. Do check out this place and get basked in the flavors of Vietnamese without leaving Dubai.
Engineer With Flair 