Hue Kitchen, Springvale by Bureaucrat

I don't often head out to Springvale.  I associate it with crowds, parking road rage, poorly designed and maintained public areas, and that je ne sais quoi aroma.

In the last few months, I stumbled upon a Vietnamese eatery that has impressed me enough that I've got back a few times when I'm in the area.  Hue Kitchen is relatively new, clean and the food is definitely fresh and competitively priced.  Inside, it's bright, clean (did I mention that already?) and spacious - it's unlike the many pho shops nearby that are a bit grotty and cramped. It's owned/run by a Vietnamese family and you can often see their young kids playing around the place, and the owner is a nice guy that's happy to have a chat with you (which is also unlike the other pho shops where the service is often surly or nonexistent).


My usual go-to Vietnamese dish is the bun - a warm vermicelli salad with grilled meats.  This was a particularly nice and tasty one.  Generous in serve and I was very impressed with how much mint and basil there were in the salad (most places skimp on this).  The char-grilled pork was deliciously fatty and meaty - juicy!  It also came with lots of fresh salad leaves (none of the limp stuff or the stuff that's gone slightly brown), cucumber, grated carrot, bean shoots and lots of toasted peanuts on top.  I also was impressed with the properly al dente vermicelli.  Yum!

While I've only eaten at Hue Kitchen once, I've gotten takeaway from there a few times. I've tried the other buns (lemongrass chicken and stir fried beef), which were also nice - although my firm favourite is the grilled pork.  I've also had their grilled chicken rice paper rolls which are packed with deliciously aromatic grilled chicken and herbs.

Verdict

We loved it.

Overall

A great Vietnamese place - I strongly encourage you to try when you're in the area.  They have cook-to-order stuff and also bain marie stuff (which I haven't tried but also looks really nice).  Next time I'm there, I definitely want to try their pho.

Find it at

Hue Kitchen
33a/35A Buckingham Ave
Springvale VIC 3171
Phone: 0422 113 016