IT'S LIKE COMING HOME

It must be lovely there. It's on the tip of a peninsula facing south, with a pleasant sub-tropical climate, palm trees, and lots of fresh foliage. Plus good fishing. A restful place. And beaches.
I know about the place because I ate lunch there.
Even though I've never visited.


Vung Tau on Vallejo Street. Named after the well-known port in Southern Vietnam, Cap Saint Jacques (Cap Xanh Giac), 頭頓市 ('tau dun si'). There was a picture on the opposite wall.

Phở Vung Tau
頭頓越南粉
708 Vallejo Street,
San Francisco, CA 94133.


[越南菜肴，環境優雅，味美價優。頭頓越南粉熱烈歡迎您的光臨。'yuet naam choi ngaau, waan king yau ngaa, mei mei gaa yau, tau dun yuet naam fan yit lit fun ying nei() dik gwong lam'. "Vietnamese cuisine, elegant environment, refined tastes, good prices. Vung Tau Vietnamese Rice Noodle warmly welcomes your patronage." BTW: 歡迎光臨 is a standard honorific phrase -- welcomes (your) gracious (literally: radiant, glorious) presence. ]


I had decided yesterday to go there for lunch today. What I ordered was bún thịt nướng chả giò (燒豬肉春捲米粉 'siu chyu yiuk chun kuen mai fan'); barbecued pork and spring rolls vermicelli.
It was very good. Lettuce, beansprouts, mint, basil, carrot and daikon tamarind water with fish sauce, grilled pork, and small imperial rolls with peanuts roasted and crumbled, and chopped chives, over cold rice noodles. Comfort food. With warm Vietnamese style coffee.

The Cantonese speaking auntie at the next table over kept up a running conversation with the waitress and the grandmother while she ate. The grandmother tried to nap in her comfortable reclining lawn chair over in the corner. The white couple behind me discussed cheese.


I very much like the concept of an elderly granny resting or drowsing in a comfortable reclining tropical lawn or beach chair somewhere right in the main space of a place of business.
Surely every restaurant should have a kursi malas.
For the comfort of elderly relatives.
It's a note of stability.

There is no better place to eat than a cozy home-like environment next to the police station.
I'll go there again soon. The waitress remembered me from somewhere and greeted me happily in Cantonese. That's always a good sign.
Plus, hot tea.


好耐冇見！



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