Restaurant 88 – Wellington

Felt like Vietnamese last night, but not my favourite Bahn Mi or Pho.  I wanted some more “sophisticated”.  So V and I decided to go to Restaurant 88.  With Restaurant 88 you always know that it is always going to be good.  It has become a Wellington institution in terms of dinning.  Interesting though that they have not really changed their menu since most “restaurants” will change their menu at least once a year.

Ga Xu – Saigon Lemongrass Chicken with Coconut Rice Noodles

I decided to try something different, something more salad based. As when I have been here in the past I usually go for the Salt and Pepper Chicken.  I ate the small side salad first, which was a like a coleslaw but had a more vinegar taste to it.  It was very nice and refreshing.  I then tired some of the noodles and dam they were good.  Noodles cooked with coconut or dressed with coconut, either way they were really good.  I finally tasted the chicken and it was nice cooked and moist and had a very nice flavour to it. After trying the noodles and chicken separately, I then decided to mix it all together and discovered there was finely sliced cucumber under the chicken. Mixing it together was just perfect, it was a very nice dish.

Muc Chien Dua – Crispy Coconut Battered Calamari

This was V’s dish and wherever we go she has to eat the calamari.  This is usually a entree dish we we asked for a main size.  V loves the dish and was very impressed with the size of the dish.  I tried some of the calamari and as it is always here, very nicely cooked with fresh calamari.  However, I felt that they put too much sweet chilli sauce on top of the calamari and it drowned out the coconut flavour from the outer skin.

Bahn Flan – Vietnamese Coconut Creme Caramel

This is a very nice creme caramel.  It was very smooth and the palm sugar syrup give the dish a slightly more savoury sweetness to the dish.  The Coconut ice-cream was awesome.  A very nice strong flavour of coconut and worked very well with the creme caramel.

Overall this place has not changed at all and is still as good as the first time I went here. I can see why this place is a favourite for Wellingtonians.  It has good service and good food.  What else do you want.

Website; Restaurant 88