Walking down Liberty Street, you’ll find a big red canopy with “Saigon Kitchen & Bar” written across. What once used to be Red Lotus, and before that, Taste Kitchen, is this newly conceived restaurant. The owner, Danny Van, wanted to rework his space into something that represented his Vietnamese culture. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, general manager Dan Poulos discussed how the owners wanted their restaurant to be something that reminded them of home.
“(The owners) did fine dining for a very long time,” Poulos said. “They wanted to get away from that and go more toward their traditional food that they grew up eating and get back to the students a little bit. And get a little more price-friendly and pocket-friendly.”
Saigon Kitchen & Bar is a higher end restaurant with two purposes: bringing Vietnamese culture and flavors to Ann Arbor and making fine dining more accessible to students. In an attempt to welcome more guests into the restaurant, the manager redecorated the interior to shift the atmosphere from the previous restaurant — dark and moody — into something brighter. This started with redoing the floors from a matte black to a warmer, lighter tan, then adding little lanterns all over the ceiling. There are also pictures of Vietnam covering the walls for the owners to show their love and connection to their homeland.
“With Taste, the concept was fine dining but much darker. We redid the floors; the brown tan ceramic really makes the room just feel more open,” Poulos said. “Did a little bit of the traditional Vietnamese lanterns around the area and then just some pieces from Vietnam there and then just kind of brightened everything up. It’s more inviting. It’s more relaxing. It’s more homey.”
Saigon Kitchen & Bar invited me to taste some of their items. I was able to try their vegan steamed mushroom dumplings, pork belly and shrimp summer rolls, roasted pork belly bánh mì and beef pho. For drinks, I tasted the Saigon Switchel. Each of these dishes had their own strengths, but I’ll start with the drink.
The Saigon Switchel is not for everyone, but if you truly love ginger, you will love this drink. Drinking it felt like a healthy alternative to common artificial and sugary drinks, like fountain sodas. The white balsamic was sweet and complemented the lemon really well.
The pork belly and shrimp summer rolls were packed with lots of lettuce and mint. One thing I love about Vietnamese food is that it is very healthy — portions are large but filled with fresh ingredients. The summer rolls were not drenched in thick, oily sauce; it was kept very light, letting the individual ingredients speak for themselves. For a tasty and healthy meal, pair these spring rolls with the Saigon Switchel, as they are both refreshing on a hot day while ensuring your nutritional needs are being met.
The next dish that came out was the roasted pork belly bánh mì. Bánh mì are a staple in Vietnamese cuisine, combining a French baguette and pâté — both of which are from French colonization — with a unique sweet and spicy Vietnamese marinade in the meat and pickled vegetables. The bánh mì were small in portion; I find that many other restaurants give much larger portions so I typically always walk home with half a sandwich. This was not an issue at Saigon. Furthermore, the bread was nicely crisped, creating a lovely texture. The sandwich included a smattering of cucumber, pickled carrot, daikon and jalapeños, all complementing the pork belly and pâté. I appreciated how the peppers were lightly sprinkled throughout the sandwich, as my mouth did not light on fire after each bite. The mayonnaise to pâté ratio was also perfectly balanced, as pâté often runs the risk of overpowering a dish. This is an and delicious meal as long as you’re not looking for a large portion.
Next, I had to try the beef pho — you can’t go to a Vietnamese restaurant without ordering pho. Pho is bone broth with meat, onion, mint, basil and bean sprouts thrown in, whereas many other stews or soups add heavy whipping cream, coconut milk or lots of oil into the dish. This pho was beautifully presented on a wooden tray. It was simple, but had very dark shades of brown that interwove. The broth was light and flavorful — you could tell it had been stewing since the beginning of the day. The herbs on the side were equally fresh. However, the meat had some inconsistencies with texture, as some bites melted in my mouth while others had me chewing for a minute. Each table in the restaurant had chili oil and sauces for people to put in their pho to give it a kick, but I typically don’t add any, as I like to let the bone broth flavor carry its way through. A bowl of pho on hot or cold days will always hit the spot — if I don’t know what to eat, I’ll never be disappointed with their pho.
The last dish that came out was the vegan mushroom dumplings — by far the best dish. These dumplings are in their prefixes menu (the restaurant’s preselected three-course meal), and they were phenomenal. I loved how each bite gave a burst of soup. I was pleasantly surprised that meat wasn’t necessary to keep the flavor and consistency of the dumpling intact. While they were soft, the dumplings didn’t fall apart upon first bite. I would highly recommend them to anybody looking for a lovely treat.
Overall, Saigon Kitchen & Bar was a wonderful experience — every dish was gorgeous and very photogenic. I hate saying it, but the popular phrase “phone eats first” is applicable here because every dish is bound to be posted on social media. The prices on the menu are not outrageously pricey either — a meal for two could easily be under $20 without drinks. The owner did an amazing job bringing “nicer” dining to students. It’s not going to Chipotle for a quick meal, but it’s also not going to Sava’s. The experience made me consider bringing some friends here to celebrate upcoming special occasions.
Daily Arts Writer Natalie Mark can be reached at natmark@umich.edu.
