La Mint
Editorial
Take a restaurant from French colonial Saigon and mix it up with Sydney spunk and you have La Mint. Sitting at the end of a narrow col de sac, just a few metres shy of busy William Street, this Vietnamese French fusion restaurant captures a touch of colonialism, a dash of French “oh la la” and a whole lot of Vietnamese spirit. Residing in a heritage-listed warehouse, it is decked out in earthy tones – wood tables and floors, beige cushions and grey tiles – with furniture of various heights imported from Saigon herself. A few cheeky vintage French artworks adorn the walls lending a relaxed charm and making La Mint a rare Sydney find – a Vietnamese restaurant that finds a balance between fine and casual dining.
The cuisine follows in stride with an elegant French-influenced Vietnamese menu that changes every three months to introduce new tastes to the palates of its guests. Among more inventive dishes are entrees like the “papillotes aux deux fromages” (crispy wontons filled with Camembert and cream cheese) and ”escargots a La Mint” (snails baked in their shells with a touch of mint, tomato, chilli and baguette). For the second course it is hard to resist the signature dish of ”pave de porc” – a melt-in-your-mouth pork belly that spends six hours slowly cooking before it hits your table, although the slightly more hands-on “campfire beef” (which requires diners to assemble their own rice paper rolls) is a delicious, and authentic, selection. Alternatively on Tuesdays La Mint offers another irresistible treat – a seven-course degustation menu for $49. If you can’t get enough you may also like to enquire about the in-house cooking classes. There is even talk of an overseas cooking experience, so stay tuned…
Agnes Gajewska, January 2010
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