Bamboo House
676 Belmont Ave., Springfield, 732-0741
Hours: Sun.-Thu. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-11 p.m.
Entrées: $5.75-$25.50.
It’s certainly not the décor that makes it worthwhile to eat at Bamboo House in Springfield. But this little Vietnamese restaurant puts out rich and subtle soups and refreshing salads vibrant with fresh herbs. When it’s hot outside, this is the kind of food that energizes rather than weighs you down.
Sometimes, as is the case here, less energy wasted on fancy dishware and pretty wall hangings means more attention dedicated to providing excellent food. So the carpet’s a little shabby and the tables and counters show some wear, but you hardly miss the distraction of soaking up atmosphere, since many of the dishes require your active participation in selecting condiments and garnishes from a gorgeous pile of fresh vegetables and herbs and rolling them up together in a rice paper roll or lettuce leaf.
Not surprisingly, take-out orders make up a large portion of Bamboo House’s business. They go to great lengths to pack food to go so that nothing arrives soggy or overcooked, but this means some assembly is required. For instance, when I ordered banh hoi chao tom (crushed shrimp on sugar cane skewers) that is eaten folded into a rice paper roll, I discovered I would need to first soak the thin, round wafer before filling it with the delicious morsels of shrimp cake wrapped around sweet and pulpy sugar cane, cucumber, vermicelli noodles and Vietnamese coriander.
Pho comes in many variations, many of which include paper-thin slices of very rare beef added to the soup at the last minute. If you get a quart to go you’ll have the pleasure of performing this step yourself, and the Thai basil, bean sprouts and noodles come packed separately, too. Their version of this classic beef soup is deeply satisfying and delicately spiced.
Rare beef makes another appearance in a cool salad (bo tai chanh) tossed with fresh onion, cilantro, lime and chili sauce that instantly transported me to Southeast Asia.
Just about everything I sampled comes with a dish of nuoc cham, the basic Vietnamese table sauce made of lime juice, fish sauce, vinegar, sugar and chili that brings out all the other flavors in a dish. It complements all kinds of seafood, vegetables and meats, and works particularly well with scrumptious fatty bits of grilled pork on rice vermicelli noodles in bun thit heo nuong.
Many of the more familiar Vietnamese favorites are also well done here, like cha gio (fried spring rolls) and goi cuon (fresh summer rolls with shrimp). You can also try more exotic seafood specialties like canh chua ca bong lau (hot and sour catfish soup) or luon xao lan (eel in curry sauce). Bamboo House also offers a full Chinese menu that I was interested to note is generally more expensive than the Vietnamese menu.
Everything on the menu is translated and numbered, and most of the dishes are even pictured in decent photographs that make ordering far less daunting than it might be otherwise. But my favorite way to order in ethnic restaurants is to see what the locals are eating and then follow suit, which is how I arrived at the best part of the meal: a frosty coconut shake.
—carolinepam@gmail.com
