Rice Paper Vietnamese Restaurant

So much potential - unfortunately disappointed.

Situated next door to one of my favourite Pho destinations in Melbourne (Meekong ) I considered that Rice Paper Vietnamese Restaurant would have to be pretty decent in order to survive. And to be fair, the food was actually quite tasty. The reason for my unfortunate disappointment was that I woke up the next morning with an allergic reaction to what could only be attributed to copious amounts of MSG in my meal from the night before.

The venue was decent enough - not overly crowded, clean and the type of setting you'd usually expect from a cheap and cheerful Vietnamese cuisine venue.

To eat, I had the pork and prawn rice paper roll ($2.80) and the chicken pho ($9.50) - a cheap eat! The rice paper roll was quite delicious (although they gave me the wrong dipping sauce) and the pho was quite tasty - although I thought the bok choy was an odd addition (and didn't think it worked) but I am no pho expert and perhaps that what's expected from a traditional bowel of pho.

What I didn't expect was to wake up the next day with puffy lips and eyes - a dead giveaway of lashings of MSG.  Considering I usually associate Vietnamese with fresh and healthy ingredients (sodium in the soups aside), I was rather disappointed to wake up in such a state.  It is safe to say that next time I will be sticking to Meekong next door.

Verdict: Don't Bother