Even more refreshing is the calm and helpful service. In case there's anyone left who isn't familiar with the ways of Vietnamese dining, the waiters explain how to use the rice paper and which dipping sauce belongs with which dish. And if you order a whole fish, the waiter will deftly bone it at the table. If you judge a Vietnamese restaurant by its cha gio, this one is a star. Meats and seafood grilled on small bamboo skewers benefit from quality ingredients and a hot charcoal fire.
Pork is the best of the grilled options, from appetizers through entrees.
As an appetizer, it is sweet and spicy, with crisply caramelized edges and a smoky flavor, topped with bits of onion that have been fried until they are thoroughly crunchy. Among the entrees is a particularly delicious grilled pork with rice crepe. Seafood choices are mostly routine, except when pork comes into play. Shrimp Saigon Style is fragrant slices of pork and whole shrimp simmered in a thin red sauce that looks hot but is actually quite mild. For dessert, bananas dipped in batter and fried, then flamed with a mixture of rum, honey and sesame seeds, make for a grand morass of crunchy, creamy sweetness.