Nha Trang, Shop 1303, 13/F, Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay, HK. Opening Hours: 12pm-11pm. It's a lesser-hidden secret that I'm a huge lover of Vietnamese food. And my love for it actually began here in Hong Kong. I suffer with terrible jet lag and I'm overall awful post-flight, so for as long as I can remember, our family would go to a tiny little Vietnamese restaurant that was once round the corner from our apartment for a quick bite before going home and battling extreme jet lag. (Seriously, it's the 21st century, why are 13-hour flights still a thing?! Haha.)
Nha Trang is a pan-Vietnamese restaurant, specialising in authentic Hanoi cuisine, combining age-old recipes with home cooking flavours, all in a modern, street-food style dining environment. We decided to go to the Causeway Bay Times Square branch, quietly nestled up on the 13th floor, and it was darn good.
My godmother and I decided on the Pho Tai Nam (pho with beef slices and brisket), a delectable combination of a fragrant broth base, tender beef pieces, beansprouts and soft pho noodles that combined to create the perfect winter meal. I always add a little sprinkling of Vietnamese chilli-garlic sauce to mine, but I did have a few slurps without and can confirm that I'd still happily eat this dish every single day of my life.
"Sides" wise, we shared Cha Gio (classic pork and shrimp Vietnamese spring rolls), pure crunchy goodness served with mixed leaves in the traditional way and a pretty amazing combination of textures! Also tried their Bahn Cuon, a steamed dish that I wasn't particularly keen on. It was a little rice parcel filled with pork and shrimp, but yeah - not for me.
