Newly discovered Vietnamese food at “Hoi An” in Poppelsdorf

Bonn · "Hoi An" means something like "peaceful gathering place" in German. This is also what Le Minh Dan's restaurant is supposed to be for its customers. The menu features traditional Vietnamese appetizers, main dishes and desserts.

  Specialties from Vietnam: bartender Pham Ngoc Anh (left) and chef Vuong Thanh Tien (on his right) with customers.

Specialties from Vietnam: bartender Pham Ngoc Anh (left) and chef Vuong Thanh Tien (on his right) with customers.

Foto: Horst Müller

"Hoi An" roughly means "quiet community" or "peaceful gathering place". Hoi An is also the name of a coastal town in central Vietnam with a population of around 75,000 and a picturesque old town crisscrossed by numerous water canals. Owner Le Minh Dan has now opened a small Vietnamese restaurant called “Hoi An” on Poppelsdorf's gastronomy mile (Clemens-August-Strasse) in a space that used to house a pub.

After extensive renovation, the former pub space is hardly recognizable: there are inviting wooden tables, white walls with colorful lights and large-format, colorful pictures from Hoi An and Vietnam. The wooden bar with lanterns woven from reeds is an eye-catcher. There is room for 40 people inside, and soon the terrace in front of the restaurant will also be opened, providing additional seating for 40 persons.

The extensive menu includes, for example, a spicy coconut cream soup with shrimp (7.50 euros), classic Vietnamese appetizers such as Goi Cuon Special (summer rolls with shrimp and chicken strips, lettuce, herbs and homemade dip) for 7.50 euros or Nem Ran (fried spring roll with chicken) for 5.50 euros.

Vegetarian main courses include Bun (cold boiled rice noodles with seasonal salad and tofu) for 13 euros or banh canh (fried wide wheat noodles with garlic, soy sauce and tofu) for 12.50 euros.

Meat alternatives include fried rice with beef strips, egg, bean sprouts, carrots and mushrooms (13.90 euros), boiled rice noodles with crispy duck and salad (15.50 euros), with an optional grilled salmon (19 euros). Hoi An specialties include Mi Quang Hoi An (ribbon noodles with shrimp, beef, boiled quail eggs, chicken and pork belly meat) for 14.50 euros, or Ngu Hanh Son (various meats with roasted vegetables, Vietnamese basil, rice and Hoi An sauce) for 18.50 euros. Desserts include baked pineapple or apple (three euros each) and Banh Bia Sai Gon (cold, mashed black beans), also for three euros.

All beers are from the bottle, e.g. Saigon Beer (0.33l for 3.20 euros), Gaffel or Früh Kölsch (0.33l for 2.70 euros), Paulaner or Benediktiner wheat beer (0.5l for four euros each).

Particularly noteworthy are the fruit-based milkshakes Sinh to Dau and Sinh to Bo (5.20 euros each) and the homemade lemonades Tra Da Duong (4.50 euros) and Bae Xiu (five euros). The four tea variants (ginger, green, lemon grass and jasmine) cost four euros each.

Orig. text: Hagen Haas

Translation: ck

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