New Vietnamese Tapas Lounge Opens in Mississauga
Published November 5, 2016 at 4:52 am
When most people think of Vietnamese food, they think of spartan but welcoming pho restos with delicious offerings and prompt turnaround. They don’t often think of swank, bar-style lounges with chic dim lighting and artfully presented tapas dishes.
Well, Dang! Vietnamese Tapas Bar and Lounge is about to change all that.
Located in the Dixie and Courtney Park area, the stylish new resto caters to both lunch and dinner crowds by offering a generous selection of traditional Viet fare and creative, well-presented share plates that boast a lot in terms of presentation.
The resto is family-owned and run and is the first of its kind in the city. In terms of menu items, you can try staples such as pho and rice and vermicelli dishes as well as more exotic items. The tapas offerings include satay chicken cartilage, duck tongue, jellyfish, steamed snails, frog legs, beef tataki and more.
While the lunch menu is relatively generous, the tapas menu is a little smaller and focuses heavily on meat and fish (so it’s not necessarily a good option for the vegetarian crowd, but it’s fantastic for anyone into soft, savory beef). One of most interesting offerings is a seasonal special called the Oc Duoi Phung (sake conch – see picture below). It’s basically an absolutely enormous–and I do mean enormous–snail that’s smothered in a delicious broth. Eating it is a bit of a welcome challenge, as you have to carefully extract the coiled snail from its massive shell. When you’re carefully pulling the soft meat free, you might feel like you’re helping a very large insect (or very small alien) give birth.
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That might not sound appetizing, but make no mistake, the dish is good.
As far as other standouts go, the pleasantly rubbery jellyfish is memorable and the beef tataki is perfectly moist and benefits from the kick of the wasabi. The frog legs, a pretty exotic menu offering, are also flavourful (see below).
While the food is good, the resto also works by offering diners a unique late-night dining option. Open until 1:30 on Friday and Saturday nights, the place might become a popular nighttime go-to in a city that could always use a few more nightlife spots.
Seats: 50+
Licensed: Yes
Resto Type: Full-Service
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