Cafe Indochine

Restaurant Favorites Throughout Thailand
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2lz2p
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Re: Cafe Indochine

Post by 2lz2p »

Finally had a chance to eat there yesterday evening. Both myself and bf had Pho Tai Bo Vinh (soup with sliced beef and meat balls). As they did at Saigon Bistro, they do have hoisen suace and sriracha hot sauce (you have to ask for them as they usually bring out the Thai condiments that you get with Thai noodle soup dishes. The Pho was 175 Baht. House wine (red or white) is by the glass, small carafe, or large carafe. For a glass it is 105 Baht and 165 Baht for small carafe - I had the small carafe which was equivalent to about two glasses. I don't recall the price for full carafe. For desert, the bf had the crème caramel (55 Baht) and I had the crème brûlée (65 Baht). We both enjoyed our meal and will go back. We got there about 6:30pm and were the only customers - by the time we left, there were about 8 more customers. Their hours are 6pm to 11pm.

I also ordered a Bun dish (vermicelli topped with beef) to take home -- will try that later today; but if same as it was at Saigon Bistro, I will enjoy.
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2lz2p
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Re: Cafe Indochine

Post by 2lz2p »

I made my 2nd visit yesterday evening about 7:30pm. They were busy - about 15-20 people, with people leaving and arriving, there was about the same number when we left.

As an update, there have been a few changes. They now open at 2pm - lady manager said they are just setting up at that time, so better to come around 3pm. They also offer a 15% early bird discount for orders before 6pm.

On weekends, they now have a price fixed dinner available for 345Baht. I had that on this latest visit. Soup of the day (it was vegetable beef) and salad bar - similar to what Olivier's had, but maybe not as many items - it also included a couple of cold cuts (pork, beef) and two types of pâté. There were four main courses to choose from, 3 western and 1 Vietnamese (cubed beef with red/green bell pepper and onion in a flavorful sauce with rice) which I had. Under dessert it listed Panna Cotta with raspberries and Vietnamese coffee. You can also order any desert off the menu for +30 baht. They were out of the Panna Cotta by the time I ordered so the waiter asked me order off the regular menu at no extra charge.

A caution on Vietnamese coffee if you have never tried it. It is strong and good - but it takes forever to make -- there is a filter device placed on top of the cup that holds the coffee and has space above for hot water to be poured -- it takes a long time for the water to filter on through to the cup (in Vietnamese restaurant in USA, I used to order at the start of the meal so that it would be ready at the end - I'm not sure what kind of coffee they use here, but in USA, all my Vietnamese friends used Louisiane (sp?) which was a coffee chicory blend).

The house wine was very reasonably priced - 95 baht for a glass - a carafe (about 3 glasses) for 225 baht - I had the carafe and don't recall the half carafe price, but think it was around 165 or maybe 175 baht.

The menu includes many western dishes including lamb chops and Alaskan King Crab leg (275 baht per 100g) as well as several Vietnamese choices. I again ordered the Bun to take home and finished it today for lunch.

Also, one of the waiters working last night used to work at Olivier's and I saw him not too long ago working at the Italian place that moved into Papa David's old location at the Hanamun Statue. I think he went by the name Nancy - so many will probably remember him.
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Trongpai
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Re: Cafe Indochine

Post by Trongpai »

2lz2p wrote: they do have hoisen suace and sriracha hot sauce (you have to ask for them as they usually bring out the Thai condiments that you get with Thai noodle soup dishes. ....
Damn, I wish I knew that yesterday. I thought the Pho was good but was missing genuine Vietnamese condiments. Thai chili does not work for Pho. The Pho was good but needed the right condiments and the greens/bean sprouts on the side were a little on the stingy side. I looked all around for Viet condiments and did not see any at the salad bar, in visible areas or on any of the occupied tables, no one else had them. It did not occur to me that I had to ask.

I get that this is a French Viet restaurant but pate without French bread or any kind of bread? Or, did I have to ask for that too? They had 4 selections of excellent pate on the salad bar.

I'd rate this pretty good Viet/French with more emphasis on the French but not excellent and not special. I'll also return and next time I'll ask for hoisin and sriracha and stop at Foodmart and pick up a loaf of French and I might like it better.

The restaurant was quite busy and from what I heard and saw from nearby tables, smacking their lips and raving about the food. I wondered why I found it just acceptable.
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Re: Cafe Indochine

Post by RichLB »

Just a minor side note. A friend of mine and I were having a protracted disagreement over the correct pronunciation of "pho". He insisted it is pronounced as it is spelled - ie, "foo" as in dough or row. I swear I had heard that it is actually pronounced "fuh". Which of us is correct?
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Re: Cafe Indochine

Post by lvdkeyes »

How to pronounce pho:

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Gaybutton
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Re: Cafe Indochine

Post by Gaybutton »

lvdkeyes wrote:How to pronounce pho
I wonder why they don't spell it in English the way it sounds. Sound more like "fuh" to me.

The same problem happens with the transliteration of Thai words. The way the word is spelled and the way the word is pronounced are often two very different things. It can certainly be confusing.
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Re: Cafe Indochine

Post by lvdkeyes »

What about through, tough, thorough?
It's not just transliteration.
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Re: Cafe Indochine

Post by Gaybutton »

lvdkeyes wrote:It's not just transliteration.
Off topic, I know, but one of my favorite examples is 'ghoti'. With English letter pronunciation that group of letters could be pronounced 'fish.'
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richsilver
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Re: Cafe Indochine

Post by richsilver »

Gaybutton wrote:
lvdkeyes wrote:How to pronounce pho
I wonder why they don't spell it in English the way it sounds. Sound more like "fuh" to me.

The same problem happens with the transliteration of Thai words. The way the word is spelled and the way the word is pronounced are often two very different things. It can certainly be confusing.
One of the main reasons language transliterations seem not to work is because you are assuming everyone is American. For example, the Germans pronounce V as we do W, the French generally don't pronounce an S at the end of a word, the British pronounce many words differently, etc. So perhaps when a Frenchman sees pho, he pronounces it closer to the Vietnamese.

It's not correct to assume that a transliteration system was created for Americans.
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Re: Cafe Indochine

Post by lvdkeyes »

It makes sense that the French would pronounce pho similarly to the Vietnamese since pho is taken from the French pot-au-fue.
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