Bun Rieu (crab cake poached in tangy pork tomato broth w/ rice noodles)

by Celia Sin-Tien Cheng
April 29, 2008

TET [CLOSED]
83 Ave A
(5th & 6th Sts)
New York, NY 10009
212-253-0800

Tet is the Vietnamese New Year, the celebration of a new beginning, and it’s a good name for Steven Duong’s new restaurant in Alphabet City. Mr. Duong also owns Nam in Tribeca and O Mai in Chelsea, both longtime local favorites. Nam is one of my top choices in Vietnamese restaurants, especially for the seafood dumplings in soup, so I was eager to try Tet and see what other treats were in store.

Modern, bold and dark, the décor of the restaurant makes me feel at ease while I enjoy the mouth-watering dishes coming out of the kitchen. At Tet, maroon and purple colored walls are accented by beautiful cream-colored, crocheted lampshades. All of which speak of good taste. Likewise, the menu is straightforward and the staff friendly.

I really enjoyed the food. The ingredients are fresh, and the flavors are balanced and subtle. My friend and I started with the chia gio, shrimp, pork, crab and vegetable spring rolls deep fried in rice paper and served with fresh herbs, lettuce wrap and lime dipping sauce. This is my favorite type of spring roll throughout Asian cuisine, and though they seem like a staple on most Vietnamese restaurant menus, good ones are not always easy to come by. Chinatown offers many that are greasy and laden with MSG. Other fusion Vietnamese restaurants often vary the stuffing and lose the balance of flavors. But Tet’s spring rolls are just right. The fried rice paper is thin and light but also chewy. There were only two pieces of lettuce for four spring rolls, and they were used as garnish sitting underneath everything else, which led me to believe that most people don’t use the lettuce as a wrap, but they should, as it tastes so good and fresh with some herbs tucked in.

On my second visit, looking for something a little lighter, I chose the banh xeo(coconut rice flour crepe filled with scallions, shrimp, chicken, bean sprouts, served with fresh herbs, lettuce wrap, and lime dipping sauce) as an appetizer. Though similar, this was even better than the spring rolls. The coconut rice flour crepe is so light and crisp, and the lettuce wrap and dipping sauce are the same, so depending on your mood, spring rolls or crepes are both good starters.

The goi sua, jellyfish, shrimp and cucumber salad topped with peanuts and tangy chili dressing was less spectacular. I like my jellyfish crunchy even though it’s slimy, but the jellyfish in this salad was a bit limp. Still the ingredients paired well, especially the crushed peanuts that added a nutty flavor and the crunch I was missing.

Dinner’s highlight was the bun rieu, poached crab cake, meatballs and rice noodles in a tangy pork tomato broth. In fact, I returned two nights later just to have this dish because I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The juicy little meatballs are made with pork and a crab paste that’s ground and sautéed with lemon grass and hot peppers. Plump pieces of halved tomatoes complement the thin strings of rice noodles in a wonderfully tasty tomato pork broth. But the most fabulous part is the fresh crabmeat coated in egg, which, when poached, becomes incredibly tender and floats delicately to the surface. Bits of Thai basil add a burst of fresh flavor, and shreds of raw cabbage create a crunchy contrast. There are quite a few ingredients here, but the flavors, working in unison, are both luscious and subtle. It’s high-end comfort food at its best.

My companion ordered ga nuong, lemon grass chicken, for main, and, being a food snob, I wasn’t planning on touching it. In my mind, lemon grass chicken is as banal as Vietnamese food can get and the thought of a piece of boring roasted white meat arriving at the table was devastating. However, Tet’s lemon grass chicken is delicious. Both dark and white meat are served sliced, and while by nature white meat will never be as tender as dark, it was not dry and, in fact, very flavorful. Dipping the chicken in the garlic-heavy, tangy lime sauce made it even better. This is a real pleasure to have with white rice. What a pleasant surprise!

The only disappointment was dessert. We ordered a coconut tapioca soup with banana, palm seeds and jackfruit topped with toasted sesame seeds. It arrived lukewarm (it should either be hot or cold but not in between) and tasted rather bland with the tapioca too soft from overcooking. I’m a sesame seed fanatic and these should have been toasted so as to bring out the aroma and also create a crunchier texture. Instead, the seeds were stale.

I am happy to skip dessert, so if we don’t count that blunder, Tet is very good. I look forward to adding it to my list of Southeast Asian favorites, which also includes Fatty Crab and Café Asean.

Also in Alphabet City, Crab, Noodles, Pork, Seafood, Vietnamese