Lac Viet Bistro – Colonial Dr
Lac Viet Bistro, located just past Bumby Avenue on Colonial Drive in a stand-alone yellow house is reknown for their Vietnamese cuisine offerings, having won best of Orlando awards in the past for Vietnamese food.
Lac Viet continues to be one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants in the area because of its beautiful decor and unique Vietnamese dishes. On this evening, I dined out with my friend Judy, who had never been to Lac Viet before.
The decor inside is subtle, light, earth tones with slightly dim lighting. Paintings of Vietnamese women hang on the walls, historically reknown for their beauty, elegance, and veracity (one of Vietnam’s national heroes are a pair of fighting sisters: The Trung sisters who fought off Chinese invaders and established their own dynasty). Each of the painted women wear the traditional outfits of Vietnam from Ao Dai from the south to the Ba ba in the north, playing string instruments or combing their hair in pose. The ambience is beautifully delicate and peaceful.
For our appetizer,we order the banh uot cha lua, or rice crepe noodles with pork roll slices. It is actually a entree, but I like to have it as a appetizer because of its bite-size good-ness. The banh uot is white chewy rice noodle-y deliciousness and the cha lua was a great accompaniment to the noodles along with sliced cucumbers and soy bean sprouts. Don’t forget to season the noodles with the provided fish sauce mixture.
Tonight I order the Bun Cha Ha Noi which is a unique vietnamese rice noodle dish stemming from the north in the capital of Vietnam Hanoi with a side of cha gio (vietnamese spring rolls). However when it arrived I got bun cha tom (fried shrimp paste) and cha gio instead. I asked the waiter kindly, is this bun cha hanoi?
He replied oh no. I told him it was ok since they already made it and he brought me out a bowl of grilled pork to make up for the mistake. score.
huge bowls of rice noodles: not what i ordered but still good…
I like Lac Viet although the prices are a bit higher than most of the other Vietnamese places in the area. They also have a newly renovated outdoor dining option where you can sit outside and dine in a straw-laced setting (just like you were in Vietnam?)
Tasty Chomps RATING
4 out of 5 TASTY CHOMPS!!!!
Lac Viet Bistro
2021 E. Colonial Drive
Orlando, FL 32803
(407) 228-4000
http://www.lacvietbistro.com/
