Rice Paper, Newtown

I find the only way to cope with the inevitable post-holiday return to work is to plan a whole lot of other great things to look forward to. So besides our (already booked) upcoming holiday to Thailand/Singapore I made plans to catch up with Miss Chicken and Mr Shawn on my second day back at work.

We ventured down King Street in Newtown and ended up at Rice Paper, a newly opened Vietnamese restaurant.  It's good to finally have a Vietnamese eatery on the north end of King Street that's opened for lunch, snuggled in amongst the myriad of Thai lunchtime spots.

Lunch started with drinks, a Homemade Lemon Squash ($4.50) for me and a Vietnamese Coffee for Mr Shawn.  I really liked my drink...it was must less sweet than I was expecting which was nice and there was a perfect tartness to the lemon.

Both Miss Chicken and I opt for the Vermicelli Noodles (or Bun as the Vietnamese say - though I think my pronunciation is more than a little off).  Mine comes with delicious tender Beef and Miss Chicken's with Lemongrass Pork.  Both dishes are served with a small dish of Nuoc Cham Sauce (a mix of Fish Sauce, Sugar, Chilli and Lime Juice...I think) which you pour over the noodles.  I love Vermicelli Noodle dishes and it's normally what I order when I'm having Vietnamese for lunch - it's just such a simple and healthy dish.  This version had the addition of some purple basil (and possibly some mint too) which is something I've not encountered in this dish before. 

Bun Bo Xao - aka Vermicelli Noodles with Lemongrass Pork

Bun Thit Nunong - aka Vermicelli Noodles with Beef

I got to tell ya, I had more than a little food envy when Mr Shawn's lunch arrived at the table. I mean LOOK at all that delicious fried pork chop. Temptation got the better of me and I nabbed a tasty little morsel of pork and it was delicious.

Rice Paper is at 131 King Street, Newtown. Phone (02) 8065 7271.