Vietnamese and Thai restaurants

 Excerpts from netnews.pgh.food: 17-May-94 Re: Vietnamese and Thai res..
 Russell [email removed] (523)

 > We tried Thai Place  restaurant in Shadyside, its just off Walnut on
 > Belefonte.  We only ate numerous appetizers which were OK, nothing to rave
 > about.

 The Siamese Kitchen, on Forbes in Squirrel hill (it's upstairs) is much better.

 Michael
 -------
 Michael Witbrock. [email removed] <a
 href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/Web/People/mjw/mjwhome.html">this is a
 NCSA mosaic hyper-document URL.</a>

 Someone wrote:

 : Does the Vietnamese restaurant serve the large bowls of soup with various
 : ingredients, usually various vegetables?  Soup is the main meal and not the
 : first course.  Several, in other parts of country, provide sprouts with herbs
 : on a plate for you to add to soup with various meats and noodles.

 My Ngoc, on Penn Av in the Strip, has the soup you describe: various meat
 options, with vegetables in a great broth. They serve it accompanied by a
 plate of fresh basil, bean sprouts, and lime. Also a plum sauce and a
 chili sauce. Makes an excellent, filling meal.

 The menu still carries the rather unfortunate name of the old
 establishment: My Dung. My friends LOVE that!

 Scott T. wrote:

    Someone wrote:

    : Does the Vietnamese restaurant serve the large bowls of soup with various
    : ingredients, usually various vegetables?  Soup is the main meal and not the
    : first course.  Several, in other parts of country, provide sprouts with herbs
    : on a plate for you to add to soup with various meats and noodles.

    My Ngoc, on Penn Av in the Strip, has the soup you describe: various meat
    options, with vegetables in a great broth. They serve it accompanied by a
    plate of fresh basil, bean sprouts, and lime. Also a plum sauce and a
    chili sauce. Makes an excellent, filling meal.

 Kim's Coffee House, the Vietnamese restaurant on Penn near Roup Street
 (near Negley), serves pho' only on Friday through Sunday nights. Their
 pho' is pretty good, and if you show up on any kind of semi-regular
 basis, Mrs. Kim will remember you and be really friendly.

 Their pho' is served without those small ceramic ladles -- just
 chopsticks and shallow 'standard' metal spoons, with Sriracha chili
 paste on the side, plum or hoisin sauce on the side, but no side plate
 of sprouts, green chilies, and mint leaves; the leaves and sprouts are
 already in there. They also have only one recipe (rare sliced beef) ...
 there's no pho' tai nam ... but it is good, and a large bowl is, I
 think, less than $6. This large bowl, along with two of their NICE goi
 cuon, is almost too much to eat.

 Kim's kimchee recently became very mild, I don't know why; theirs also
 features crunchy veggies (carrot slices) and is just sort of unique, not
 like the (great) bottled stuff at Sam-Bok in the Strip.

 Kim's also offers plum wine, some varieties of sake, domestic wines, and
 bottled beers ranging only from Tsing-Tao to American domestics. I
 believe they also have no problem with brown-bagging, but I am unsure of
 that.

 The ambiance is that of one small room with meeting-hall chairs, one
 overhead light, vinyl tablecloths, and very quiet background music.
 You'll hear the kitchen talk. This is all OK in my opinion and is only
 mentioned here for completeness. If you've never been, you might find it
 hard to find due to its small facade; it is on the same block and side
 of the street as a KFC (that KFC used to be an Eat&Park, aeons ago).

 I also like Kim's for take-out. They're fast and consistent.

 As far as comparisons between Kim's and My Ngoc, well, My Ngoc is a
 better place to go but is pricier and sort of, well, aseptic compared to
 the more familial feeling I get at Kim's. I think My Ngoc has a much
 lengthier menu, but if you describe what you want to Mrs. Kim, they'll
 make it.