Adida lacks in meat but packs in taste
It’s hard to go wrong with a restaurant that has a rotating menu of over 300 dishes, though meat lovers may be a little disappointed.
I was told you could count the number of exclusively vegetarian restaurants in Ha Noi on one hand, so the addition of Adida, which opened just under a month ago, is welcome. Tucked away in a small street on the far north-eastern side of the Old Quarter, Adida offers a twist on Sino-Vietnamese cuisine that may not test the most adamant steak eater’s resolve but is worth a try if you’re looking for a healthy alternative with hardy food.
The rotating menu is based on what vegetables and fruits happen to be in season or what’s available at the market, which is a subtle way of saying that two visits will unlikely result in the exact same dining experience.
This may be a problem for people that like the cookie-cutter approach to restaurants in the Old Quarter, but for the little more adventurous it’s nice to see new dishes on the menu – it also means the chef actually put some thought into what will be served that day.
Even the owners admitted during my second visit that they’re still experimenting with the menu, so it’s constantly being improved upon and updated.
"The thing is that we’re trying to find the right balance between Western tastes and Vietnamese," says Bui Thanh Huyen, the wife of one of Adida’s co-owners, "so right now we are still trying to get the menu just right."
Though fish, chicken and beef dishes are listed, it really isn’t meat. It is instead a tofu, rice or vegetable compound that is made to look and, to a limited extent, taste like meat. The owners added these fares as an attempt to satisfy people who absolutely had to have animal flesh with their meal, like me.
More often than not, eating mystery meat in Viet Nam is like playing Russian roulette with your stomach where losing means spending the next few days performing the one-man tango with the toilet, but it was Friday and I had a whole weekend of nothing else better to do.
Plus, with a place like Adida it is a good bet that the "meat" fares are safe, if not yummy.
Diving into a plate of ga quay, or roasted chicken, was an interesting experience. The gelatinous masses looked a little like boiled chicken breast, but the texture and taste were completely their own. The "chicken slices", primarily made of finely ground rice, are meant to be served cold and, at first waft, smell a little like Gouda cheese.
This isn’t a dish for the timid, but the chewy tidbits do have a strange appeal.
A safer bet would be the ca tim chien, deep-fried eggplant. Freshly made, this entree is served right out the frying pan. Crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside, it’s kind of hard to have just one.
The slices of eggplant also come with a chilli dipping sauce, which plays into that old Asian concept of balancing opposing flavours – this time sweet and spicy.
I would also highly recommend the rau xao, sauteed vegetables, which is actually a series of smaller dishes ranging from steamed Chinese cabbage with mushrooms to pickled aubergine.
I like rau xao because it gives a diner a little taste of everything.
To wrap up a meal, try the taro porridge. For those unfamiliar with taro, it’s a root that has a similar texture to a potato when cooked. The big difference, though, is that taro is heavy in starch and when boiled releases a lot of natural sugars into whatever you are cooking.
The porridge is served hot, which is great during these colder months, and after finishing a bowl it’s hard not to take a nap. To balance out the taro’s flavour, the dish is good with a cup of traditional Vietnamese tea, or even some rice crackers to dip into the purple-ish sauce.
Adida is co-owned by two amicable brothers – Trinh Tri and Tran Hong Son – and was designed by an in-law who had decided on a modern-Chinese theme with dark hardwoods and a neutral pallet for the wall colouring on the restaurant’s two floors.
I was told that if Adida proves to be successful, the brothers will convert the building’s top three floors to accommodate patrons, but for the time being they continue to be unoccupied apartments and studio space for Trinh Tri.
Another great thing about Adida is that it has a family feel where the owners and wait staff easily remember a familiar face. And, if you’ve been there enough times Trinh Tri will likely ask you to sit for one of his portraits. On my first visit, I sat towards the entryway, which is fine if you’re eating alone. For a more intimate dining experience though, I suggest getting a table towards the back on the ground floor, where chairs are arranged close together in an intimately-lit room.
Like many other colonial-Vietnamese townhouses, there is a central open-air shaft in the centre of the complex that lets in natural light. At the bottom is a fish pond and small rock garden, which to one side has a platform just big enough to fit a musician.
The owners said they want to keep with the look and feel of the restaurant, so expect to hear live traditional Vietnamese music on certain evenings.
All in all, Adida is worth more than one look, even if you are not a vegetarian. The rotating menu keeps the dining experience fresh and the brothers are a friendly bunch, even when they don’t know you’re a reporter.
AdidaAddress: 37 Nguyen Khac Nhu, Ha Noi
Phone: (04) 927-2430
Hour: 8.30am-9.30pm
Price: VND15,000-60,000/dish
Comment: Vegetarian delight that meat-eaters will enjoy
Dear Ngoc
Maggie and Ian Rogers (UK)