It's too bad that a gem like Ha Long Bay is located in that northernmost suburb of Columbus, a good 20 minute drive from me. What? Polaris/Lewis Center isn't the northernmost suburb? Delaware is? I stand corrected. At this rate, we'll eventually reach Toledo. But I digress, as usual.
Ha Long Bay is tucked away in an unassuming strip mall on Sancus Blvd, just south of Polaris drive. Back when I was a wee lass, we called this area the "sticks." Now there's a Sephora across the street. Progress!
I have this love of Vietnamese food. I love the balance and the harmony and the strange, French influence. I love the wrapping of finger foods with lettuce and basil leaves, I love the plates of condiments and the Sriracha on everything. Once upon a time, I discovered Vietnamese food at the now-defunct Vietnam Restaurant on Bethel Road, and I have longed for good Vietnamese ever since. Enter Ha Long Bay, recently opened and sadly a long drive for me, in the opposite direction from work, with gas prices what they are. It took me 2 weeks to revisit it to conclude my review. (Okay, I've just mapquested it and it's really only 10 miles from me. The same distance as Whole Foods. I will stop whining now.)
The nice thing about Ha Long Bay is their large selection of smaller dishes - each time I went I was able to try three menu items plus hot tea for under $20, with leftovers. Perfect for someone like me who gets bored eating the same thing over and over. I tried two 
varieties of fresh spring rolls (fresh spring rolls are rolled in softened rice wrappers and served cold, whereas egg rolls are wrapped in traditional flour dough and fried); the Ha Long Roll, filled with white fish and shrimp (pictured right), and the deliciously sweet summer roll (pictured at the top of the post), featuring mango and avocado. Both rolls included the traditional filler of thin rice noodles, carrots, and lettuce, and my favorite, the added crunch of fried bits of wonton skins. Rolls were served with Nouc Leo, a sweetish/spicy Vietnamese peanut-based dipping sauce.
Hot and Sour Soup was rocket-hot temperature-wise, owing to a large layer of chili oil on 
top. This hot and sour soup is completely unrelated to the Chinese version, here containing only enough broth to be called a soup, the rest of the bowl taken up with chunks of white fish, tomatoes, bamboo shoots, okra, mung bean sprouts, onions, basil, and pineapple for sweetness. At first I wished it would be spicier, but the spice grew as I ate, always kept in check - in the Vietnamese way - by the sweet basil and pineapple bits. The soup tasted fresh and housemade with care.
Bo La Lot is beef wrapped with wilted betal leaves, something I have never had. After a 
little research, it seems that betal is an aromatic - if slightly bitter - leaf which seems to be used to cure all manner of ailments and can be chewed as a breath freshener. Here it provided a unique flavor profile, slightly bitter and pepper yet aromatically sweet at the same time. Although not spice, the beef benefited from the soothing affect of its bed of slivered, vinegared cucumbers and greens.
Rice crepes - banh, might be one of my new favorite things. Although I knew I should have 
tried a steamed variety, I was much more intrigued by the banh xeo (bon see-OW), the pan fried option. Here, a crepe is made from rice flour, coconut milk and pureed mung beans - it gets its color from turmeric, not from eggs - and panfried on one side. The result is a crisp outer layer with an almost creamy inner layer, filled with shrimp, pork and vegetables. The crepe is served with lettuce, basil and cilantro leaves; cut a piece of crepe and wrap it with the leaves. Add a little of the Nuoc Cham dipping sauce - a slightly sour dipping sauce containing carrots, endlessly interpreted yet essential to the Vietnamese table. It was heaven hot from the pan. This is traditional Vietnamese street food.
I tried one of the lunch items, the curry noodles with shrimp. The shrimp seemed to be an 
afterthought - there were only two - but the noodles were so good and full of other things I didn't mind. Wide rice noodles are covered very lightly in mild curry sauce and stir-fried with with carrots, celery, onions, scallions and bean sprouts. The dish wasn't very spicy, but there is always a nice little pot of garlic chili paste on the table if necessary.
I have heard the housemade lemonade is lovely, but not until my second visit, and my very young (under 21) but nice server (who, by the way, told me my guess was as good as his on pronunciation) offered only pink lemonade, so I stuck to the hot green tea (jasmine and oolong are also offered). On the first visit, my server was a very knowledgeable and polite woman, happy to help with pronunciations. Food on both visits came out fast and hot and service was efficient.
Why didn't I try pho? I don't know. Next time, I promise, and I'll keep you updated.
I might have mentioned before that I do not like cilantro, which can be a roadblock to eating Vietnamese food, so I was relieved to discover that Ha Long Bay relies heavily on mint and sweet basil to balance their flavors, and less so on cilantro.
Those of you living or working on the North side are lucky to have Ha Long Bay in your neighborhood, so support them. They seem to do a lively carryout business for the many offices nearby. Try the pho and let me know how it goes.
Info: Ha Long Bay Asian Kitchen 8489 Sancus Blvd Polaris/North Columbus 614.436.4087
completely arbitrary grade: B
To read my review of Lac Viet, complete with bad camera tiny pictures, click here.
