Mountain View is a small town located close to Palo Alto and they have a main road called Castro Street that houses a plethora of great restaurants. As such it is deemed, restaurant row. Our first visit there landed us at Xanh, a modern Vietnamese restaurant. We liked it so much that I decided it was time to return for a second visit.
It is quite impressive inside with an entire wall housing a beautiful waterfall cascading over river stones. There are several rooms and each is decorated differently. This time we were seated in a nicely spacious room with a wall of white waves and light which was both beautiful and serene. It was much more conducive to relaxing and conversing than the more populated room we sat in the first time.
The wait staff is very on-task and plentiful. We were attended to by several people for order taking and serving and it was well monitored, although a bit cold. There was no real personal interaction, just polite, prompt service.
I wanted to keep the meal light so I opted to stay away from their meat options. We began with spring rolls of which they have many choices. Ours was their Rolling Duck rolls with peking-style duck, rice noodles, mango, fresh lettuce, cilantro, mint, cucumber in soft rice paper served with crispy shallots and nuoc cham vinaigrette. Fresh, light and delicious! A perfect starter.
We enjoyed their green Papaya Salad so much the last time, I had to order it again, going against my normal rule of always trying something new. I’m a bit sorry now that I did because it wasn’t as impressive as I had recalled. It is made with poached shrimp, green papaya, carrots, sliced mango, cilantro, mint, caramelized shallots served with roasted peanuts and nuoc cham vinaigrette. Although it was still very good, it fell a little short on flavor this time.
Along with the salad we enjoyed their Spicy and Sour Soup made with Basa fish, tomato, bean sprouts, chilies, pineapple, crispy shallots, and herbs in a tamarind seafood broth. Everything is so delicately and perfectly sized such as their tiny pineapple chunks. Just enough to add a burst of flavor, but not too much to overwhelm your taste buds. It was very interesting and tasty. The fish looked like a dumpling and was just as mild and subtle. The broth had the same qualities, lending itself as a perfect base for it’s partners.
For the main attraction, we were served Miso Salmon prepared with a roasted salmon filet marinated in miso, red onions, cilantro, garlic, then baked and served a with side of glass udon, bell peppers and pineapples. Are you sensing a theme here? Another delicate, mild flavored and well balanced dish with flavor surprises and textures to delight the senses.
An addition of vegetables was needed so we added their String Beans in peanut sauce with shiitake mushrooms. We voted them the best dish of the night! Isn’t it funny how sometimes the more simple items are the most successful? Packed with flavor, they were sensational!
A wonderful dinner at Xanh for the second time! In retrospect, I felt as though we could have been very satiated with about half of our meal as we were both quite full upon leaving. Wish we lived close enough to stop by more often trying out different dishes and not feeling as though we had to pack it all into one trip. Consequently, my takeaway is to always travel with a cooler in the trunk. That way we can taste it all and pack the rest up for the following day!
I should note that with two cocktails and quite a few menu selections, our bill was what I would consider quite reasonable for the quality and the ambiance. This one won’t break the bank!