Soup du Jour: Vietnamese Style
I recently heard about Cafe Kim Thuy, a Vietnamese restaurant in East Oakland. What is different about Cafe Kim Thuy is that they specialize in one noodle soup each day of the week. I went on a Friday when they were serving Bun Cha Ca, a fish cake noodle soup popular in Da Nang. I had never had Bun Cha Ca so I was both wary and excited at the same time.
When my noodle soup arrived, so did the fragrance. At this point, I was very excited. This Bun Cha Ca had five different types of fish. There was fish filet, fish balls, and three different homemade fish cakes which offered a great variety of textures. I especially enjoyed biting into one of the cone shaped fish cakes that oozed a sweet fish roe. The rice noodles were slippery and perfect, while the broth was amazing and flavorful. The bowl was infused with various herbs and comforting to the soul.
I also had their fried chicken wings as a starter. It came with fried onion rings which tasted fake and unnecessary. The wings though were tasty dipped in sweet Thai chili sauce.
The soup alone has me interested in visiting on the other days of the week. Here’s their menu:
- Monday: Bun Moe (Ground pork and mushroom noodle soup)
- Tuesday: Bun Rieu (Crab paste noodle soup)
- Wednesday: Bun Mam (Fermented fish noodle soup)
- Thursday: Bun Bo Hue (Spicy beef noodle soup)
- Friday: Bun Cha Ca (Fish cake noodle soup)
- Saturday: Bo Kho (Curry noodle soup)
- Sunday: Closed
I believe my next visit will be a Tuesday!