Bay Tinh

Last night, Ruth, Stan and I went for dinner in Marrickville at Bay Tinh. OH MY GOD was it good.
I have been wanting to go here for about a year. A friend visiting from overseas went to meet some other friends for dinner one night at a Vietnamese place 'where the chef used to cook for the king or something'. I was intrigued and only half-heartedly tried to find out where this place was as she didn't know the name. But earlier this week, I asked Becci, an ex-Marrickvillian (or Marrickanuian as they say in Thailand) if she knew of any good Vietnamese places in Marrickville. Lo and behold, the words passed her lips 'There is this place, the chef used to cook for the king or something' and a year and a half of half-hearted searching was satisfied! Okay, the truth is that the search was WAY less than half-hearted - if I had bothered to read my Sydney Cheap Eats Guide, I would have found it very quickly.

Anyway, about the food. Ruth insisted that we order proper spring rolls - 'none of that rice paper rubbish' - and boy do I thank her for that. They were seriously the best spring rolls I have ever had. Beautiful, tender meat, with a lovely dipping sauce. We also had the Crispy Pancake which is apparently a specialty of Bay Tinh. I have to say it is quite unlike anything I have ever had before but was very very good.
We then followed that with the Prawn and Pork Salad, which I think was my favourite, Crispy Noodles, and the Bonfire Beef. The Bonfire Beef was fun, but a bit difficult. They cook the meat in a clay pot at your table, and then you roll your own rice paper rolls with the meat and other ingredients. I have attempted to roll enough rice paper rolls in my time to know that I am not so good at it and I would prefer someone else to do it for me. But all the ingredients were awesome. Overall, the meal was pretty good.

One of the things that I like the most about the restaurant, is that even though the original owner cooked for the King and all that stuff, he arrived in Australia as a boat person. And then when he retired he sold it so another Vietnamese man who had arrived in Australia as a boat person. I think Malcolm Turnbull should go there for dinner, he might change his tune about boat people...