What a nice surprise today, lunch at Xanh Bistro in Fountain Valley! My buddy and I both thought that Xanh’s restaurant was modern, simple and vibrant. Loving South East Asian cuisine, we felt right at home as we jumped into the menu.

http://www.xanhbistro.com/
Quite a selection of appetizers, salads, noodle bowls, specialties, soups, rice plates and desserts. We ordered a spring roll appetizer which consisted of seared ahi tuna with mango tightly wrapped in rice paper with vermicelli and herbs. The spring roll was nice and light, nice pairing of mango and ahi tuna. In the spring roll there was an purple Vietnamese herb which looked similar to fresh mint, it had a strong and unique flavor, I’ve learned that its purple perilla. I suspect that getting used to this herb could be an acquired taste, as I personally prefer the Vietnamese mint. The next dish was amazing, a great presentation–it was the banana blossom salad with pork and shrimp. This salad was refreshing and truly addictive. I loved the flavor of the Vietnamese mint, peanuts, lemongrass and of course the lime and cilantro dressing which tied it all together.

fillet mignon cubes
Our next dish that we ordered was the popular the “shaken beef,” which was tasty. the fillet Mignon was lean and not covered in too much sauce, in fact the meat was lightly seasoned with salt, pepper, sugar, lime and maybe a little soy sauce or oyster sauce. the cubed beef was placed gently onto a bed of yam fries, yummy.

ginger chicken
The fourth dish was my favorite, it was the cornish hen in a lime and honey sauce. The cornish hen was seasoned properly and rested on a bed of herbs and mushrooms. The lime honey sauce was a unique blend of sour and sweet. We had a wonderful lunch discussing the ingredients and catching up. The service was pleasant and prompt.
I went back to Xanh Bisto with my wife the next day. It was busy, they had just finished up a cooking class which occupied half of the restaurant. I realized the word on Xanh Bistro is out there, no longer a secret. Anyhow, we ordered the veggie spring rolls, fried egg rolls, banana blossom salad, orange roughy over green mango and desert. All the dishes were perfectly executed, my wife and I had delightful experience.
Thanks for letting me share,
Brent, guest contributor