District Môt, Saigon Street Food, Mitte

So District Môt.  On the former site of Chi Sing and from the people who brought us Si An Trà Café and Chén Chè Tea House.  The design is like being whacked in the face with a bag of obvious.  

It’s street food – so the whole place is meant to emulate that.  I’ve eaten street food in Vietnam and the experience is really not complete without the stench of Durian, a table of expired canines piled high with an oblivious boisterous puppy frolicking happily next to it (which makes me think the Universe is not a nice guy).  Oh and your eyelids should be stuck firmly open with sweat, so that to blink means to exert super human power.  For good measure, there should be a street urchin circling around you trying to sell you a) a bottle of tap water, its seal deceptively but meticulously glued back together, b) what looks like the Rough Guide but inside contains blank pages (actually fell for this), c) a tour.

You’re not going to get authentic and that’s fine.  If you can still get good.

But can you?

There were some dishes I liked at Chi Sing.  Enough that I took some friends from London the winter before last.  But the food was bland at best and plain old bad in other cases.  And the service was obnoxious.  That’s how it was with Chi Sing, I never knew which side of the coin I was going to get.

What to expect with District Mot?  More of the same I believe.

I went for lunch, ordered three small dishes (€4 each).  The green mango salad was in fact ripe mango salad with what looked like Mickey Mouse ears, delicious all the same – although fish sauce and lime juice could probably make styrofoam taste good.

Asian Noodle Salad

Just because the summer is over, doesn’t mean you have to forgo salads.  There are still plenty of options out there.  It’s so easy to fall into the sandwich trap here in Berlin.  Every corner store has a bakery, all you have to do is nip out and buy a “brotchen”, smear on some butter or mayonnaise, some cold cut or other and basta!  Don’t get me wrong, sandwiches can be the bomb!  A BLT with responsibly sourced bacon can totally rock your world but a “woops it’s lunchtime, need fuel” sandwich is depressing!