A Taste of Old(er) Saigon

Nam Son is a Saigon rarity: a restaurant that's been around for decades. Our friend My, who's in her mid-thirties, remembers eating there as a young girl. In Saigon, which is remaking itself by the minute, a thirty-plus year-old restaurant seems antique.

Back when My's parents brought her here Nam Son was a relatively upscale restaurant, and it's obvious from the peeling paint and nicked floors that this place has seen better days. But it's got a certain vintage appeal, and the second-story dining room offers a fine view of Saigon's legendary traffic through a veil of its trademark tangle of telephone and electrical lines.

The food here is mostly Chinese Vietnamese (the Chinese characters on the restaurant's facade mean 'northern mountain') and the menu is short. We were in town to research canh chua (sour fish soup) and so that's what we ordered, along with a plate of mi xao.

We slurped up alot of canh chua that week, and Nam Son's version made with ca loc, or snakehead fish, was one of our favorites. For a canh chua it's simple, almost austere, with minimal pineapple and no tomato. The emphasis at Nam Son is on spongy bac ha, or taro stem, which has little taste of its own but is a great absorber of flavors, making it a perfect soup ingredient. The fish lurked under the vegetables in the form of a meaty, albeit slightly bony, steak. The broth was fish-flavored and stridently sour (a plus in our opinion) and the dish was garnished with lots of chopped paddy herb. An enjoyable bowlful, one we'll certainly revisit on our next visit.

Mi xao is often described as Vietnam's version of chow mein. The dish does indeed consist of deep-fried egg noodles topped with stir-fried mixture of protein and vegetables. Nam Son's version, which is accompanied by a saucer of vinegared sliced chilies the likes of which often accompanies Chinese noodle dishes in Malaysia (but much spicier), includes squid, prawns, pork, liver, and lots of mustard greens in a comforting meat-flavored sauce spiced with black pepper. It's a deeply tasty dish and Dave and I ended up sparring over the last bites.

As we were finishing our late-afternoon snack a family - dad and mom, maybe mom's brother, and two kids still in their school uniforms - sat down and ordered a proper meal with rice. The scents wafting over from their table led us to wish we had time in our schedule to return for dinner. Nam Son serves just the sort of simple but honestly good food that puts big silly grins on our faces.

We'll be back in Saigon in a month or so. Nam Son has not seen the last of us.

Nam Son Restaurant, 702 Nguyen Dinh Chieu (corner of Nguyen Thien Thuat), District 3, Saigon. Don't be fooled by the Nam Son imposter next door! The Nam Son you want is the two-story corner shop.