What’s better; Thai or Vietnamese? For The Nanjinger, it has to be the latter, but perhaps only because we recently popped in for lunch to Rice Paper.
Located in the newish Sasseur Outlets in Jiangbei New Area (pictured above), better known to the Chinese (and probably everyone; what kind of a name is that, anyway?) as “Shazhichuan” (砂之船), the first hint of authenticity is not hard to miss.
Cane furniture.
The genuine nature of the operation happily extends to the tastes served up by Rice Paper; real Vietnamese food has such a distinctive tang that qualifies as an adventurous escape for the taste buds from the banal predictability of the likes of Thai or Malaysian fare.
Using a combination of their paper menus (yay!!!) and WeChat mini program, The Nanjinger ordered up roasted pork with citronella, Vietnamese style (¥9 per skewer), Pho with carpaccio of beef (¥29), sautéed chicken with green beans and basil leaves (¥36), and that termed rather generically on the menu as a food platter (¥68).
Nothing could really be faulted. But Pho is Vietnam’s signature and at Rice Paper, it’s the real deal. And one particularly for readers in need of their lemongrass fix.
On the drinks front, no virtual visit to Vietnam would be complete without coffee, meaning we indulged in a quintessential Vietnamese drip coffee and a Vietnamese ice coffee (both ¥10).
