On my hunt to find an authentic Vietnamese place in Manchester, I was told about Saigon Lotus. The restaurant is located on Oldham Road, opposite the Wing Yip and thus is an unconventional place to visit for food. Nestled between several other Vietnamese cafes and hairdressers, I assume the restaurant mostly caters towards the Vietnamese community.
The drinks
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- Home-made lemonade (Nuoc chanh tuoi)
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- Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk (Cafe nau da)
Vietnamese iced coffee is a popular Vietnamese drink but unfortunately, I dislike coffee. My sisters ordered one each and I stuck with some home-made lemonade. Both of these were freshly made and refreshing, although maybe contained too much ice. The wait for the drinks was maybe longer than I’d expected, as the restaurant wasn’t even full at the time we visited.
The Food
Pho Bo
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- Flat rice noodles with well-done brisket & thinly slice rare beef (Pho bo)
Pho is a classic Vietnamese soup noodle dish and this bowl did not disappoint. There was plenty of noodles and meat and a separate dish of chillies, bean sprouts, coriander, lime etc. meant you can add however much or little as you wanted to your bowl. The broth was well flavoured without being greasy and the meat thinly sliced so it cooked in the heat of the broth.
Goi xoai tom thit
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- Fresh mango salad with prawn & pork (Goi xoai tom thit)
I really like this salad a lot. There’s a perfect blend of sweetness, saltiness and a bit of spice. The fresh ingredients mean that this salad is fairly crunchy. The only excessive thing about this are the prawn crackers, which I felt were really unnecessary as it did not add anything to the dish.
OVERALL RATING AND COMMENTS
6/10 -2 for the service as the food takes a while to come out, even when the restaurant was very quiet. -2 for the staff, the lady who runs the restaurant can be a bit curt at times and she edges on being informal without that warm feeling you can get from smaller cafes. Friends have stated that she took an order wrong and then proceeded to blame them for ordering the wrong thing. Despite all this the food has been really excellent and the portions are decent verging on huge for what I normally eat.
WOULD VISIT AGAIN?
Maybe if I had a strong craving for Vietnamese, but my experiences with the owner compounded with the location of the restaurant has made me hesitant to come back. I think going to Thaikhun would scratch a similar itch in my palette if I was craving pho or the salad again.
INFORMATIOn
Address: 146 Oldham Rd, Manchester M4 6BG
4 Comments
Oliver Long
22nd March 2016 at 12:15 pmThere is (or used to be…) another Vietnamese there called Vnam that I used to love! Alternatively, there’s Pho in Chinatown but I stopped going there because the waitress was incredibly rude to use, like HORRIBLE. This looks great! I haven’t had a Vietnamese in a while so I might check this out!
Oliver • http://suedeandsymphony.com
Elsa Lee
22nd March 2016 at 12:25 pmYeah, I don’t really like Pho in Chinatown as I find the pho isn’t as good, or the salads actually. Saigon Lotus is definitely better for the food, just that the service and staff are a bit iffy. I’ll need to give Vnam a go since it’s just down the road from Saigon Lotus.
Zenita Jemella
22nd March 2016 at 2:18 pmVietShack in manchester sell authentic Vietnamese street food but my knowledge of the restaurants is very minimal 🙁 The food and drinks look so colourful. Great post. x x x
Elsa Lee
22nd March 2016 at 3:06 pmThanks Zenita. I do like VietShack but it’s a tiny stall and so busy over the lunch hour!