dead 8 ways

Nhu Y Ca 8 Mon Restaurant
10830 Warner Ave
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
(714) 963-1700
http://www.nhuyrestaurant.com/

price: $$
verdict: tasty, try it!

if you've ever had 7 course beef from a vietnamese specialty restaurant, then just think of this as the fishy equivalent plus one. yes, 8 course fish. why do you need 8 ways of eating fish you might ask? well, why do we need 7 ways of eating beef? i suggest you go ask god when you finally meet him because i don't have any answers here. i just eat.

i took my mom and company to nhu y ca 8 mon restaurant to try their 8 course fish. you see, no matter how amazing she is in the kitchen, 8 course fish just ain't something you make at home. to top that off, there's very few places that actually serve this so nhu y ca 8 mon is a find. once you enter the restaurant, you may feel a bit thrown off by the cheesy plastic decor a la michaels arts and crafts. but if you have any vietnamese blood in you, then you will know that plastic flowers are the vietnamese people's number one choice in decorating anything. this is not the place to patronize if you want to have mood food.

our foursome were immediately seated in a booth. one order of 8 course fish will actually serve two people (enough for a taste) so even though the servers tried to push one order per person, we DIDN'T submit because we knew it would be too much food. each order rang in at $21.99. we ordered two orders for the four of us amongst other things. the meal started with the fish salad. crispy pieces of fried battered fish were mixed with shredded cabbage, red onions, peanuts, mint, and basil with a sweet dressing. the salad was topped with large pieces of shrimp chips that you usually get at chinese wedding banquets. i love those shrimp chips (!) and the dish was rather delicious.

next came the fish spring rolls. i really liked this as well. what really sealed in the flavors for me was the shrimp paste dipping sauce with minced pineapple. in theory, the sweet pineapple should counteract the extremely salty shrimp paste, but i warn you the sauce is still extremely potent. if you've never had it before, you might gag a little, but if you like really bold flavors, this is the best sauce to dip everything in. it was my sauce of choice for the meal.

then came the fried fish strips, fish egg rolls (also fried), bbq fish, and fish wrapped in edible leaves. all four items were served on one plate, but in order to perpetuate the image of bad asian service, our server dumped an extra serving of egg rolls that my mom had ordered on top of this plate because we did not have enough space at our table. in that split second, i felt like i was eating from a trough. anyways, rice wrappers were provided for these items. here, you dip the rice papers to soften them. then you place your preferred item in the middle with a helping of basil or lettuce. wrap, dip, and consume. yum.

next came the sizzling fish fillet on a hot plate. i found it rather greasy and the fish was dried out from sizzling too long. the flavor was bland too. the fish died in vain for this one.

the last fish dish to end our 8 course fish was a favorite as well, the fish rice porridge. it was very light which was a nice way to cut the grease collected from the other fish dishes.

my mom supplemented the meal with that extra order of egg rolls (the ones i mentioned that were dumped in the trough) and sugar cane shrimp. i believe it is shrimp cake rolled around a piece of sugar cane and then fried. this wasn't very good. again, pretty greasy. they might be put to better use as bludgeons to whack bad people. it's a thought....

we walked away with fat bellies that day. this is not a meal to indulge on a daily basis, but a good experience to be had. 8 course fish...do it.