Vietnam Palace Restaurant in Goodwood Adelaide

Around Xmas time last year I had arranged to meet a good friend of mine, Sammie, for lunch to celebrate the festive season. Now, Sammie is a keen Apple fan and had just purchased an iPhone 4S and was now living his life according to SIRI.

SIRI told Sammie to meet me at my Head Office when I had said to meet me in my city Shop. Clearly SIRI isn’t as good as it is said to be. So, here I was waiting for my mate when I got a text saving, ‘Just coming in through the door.’ Well, I had a quick look around, but unfortunately no Sammie, so I texted back...’I can’t see you, I hope you are not invisible today or have gone to Head Office.’ But the next text confirmed that he was indeed at my Head Office, 5 kms away from the city through dense Xmas traffic.

So I headed off like a bat out of hell on a search & destroy mission to collect Sammie and to try to find a decent restaurant in what is really an industrial wasteland at the edge of the city. Out had gone my plan to find an elegant little restaurant in the city...oh, the Xmas joy!

So I found Sammie sitting at my reception, cursed at him, shook his hand and then we took off at great speed to find somewhere to eat. Now, I don’t know about your town but in Adelaide around Xmas you can’t get into a pub (Hotel for other regions) for a meal due to all the Xmas shows. We tried a couple of South Road but we couldn’t even get into the car park let alone join the queue to get a Snitzel and chips!

So exhausted with that street we head into the Goodwood Road, Goodwood village heart to find somewhere to eat. About midway we found a Spanish/Mexican Restaurant that had the open sign flashing, so we thought we would be in business. Unfortunately for us the owner was in, but he couldn’t be bothered opening today. So we headed along the road passing a couple of foccacia style cafes and as we became desperate at the end of the road, low and behold we found a restaurant with the ‘open sign’ on and movement within restaurant!

With trepidation we crossed the threshold into the Vietnam Palace and were informed that it would be a pleasure for them to serve us today...great success.

So, we settled in with a couple of 333 beers and a cold roll while we contemplated the menu. It was recommended us to try the ‘Roll your own Rice Paper Rolls’ and the Shanghai Duck. So we signed up and waited for the delights to arrive.

And let me say that the food was a true delight. The waiter showed us how to roll our own rolls which is a combination of:

· Dipping the rice paper into a hot bowl of water

· Adding in some steak & cabbage from the sizzle plate

· Adding in some vegetables such as pickle, carrot & cucumber

· Placing a mint leave & lettuce leaf on top

· Rolling the rice paper around the food

· Dipping the roll into a spicy sauce

· Then eating it!

The other dish, Shanghai Duck, was a half a duck cut into pieces covered with a delightful BBQ sauce. Combined with rice this was a great contrast to the rice paper roll.

I enjoyed the experience with Sammie so much (the food part that is, not the SIRI fustrations!) that last night I took my family to the restaurant to enjoy the food and flavours of Vietnam. We live on the other side of town, but were in the area around dinner time. Now, I have three children ranging from 4 to 10 and they can be quite loud and the girls are fussy eaters. But the staff helped my wife and I with their demands and before we knew it the cold rolls and chicken satay sticks arrived. They say the proof is in the pudding and all three ate all of the food without complaint!

Next arrived the Roll your own Rice Paper Rolls and the Shanghai Duck with mountains of rice. No noise from the table suggested to me that everyone was enjoying themselves. In fact I think that the food was just as good as my first experience.

So, if you are ever in Adelaide and want to get a taste of Vietnam, then hunt out the Vietnam Palace at 108 Goodwood Road, Goodwood right next to the tram stop on Goodwood Road. I am sure that you will enjoy the service and food. This morning my children asked when we were going to go again?!

Oh, and by the way, the next time I met with Sammie I gave him specific instructions about where to go and to not use SIRI! Cheers Michael