Passion
(Vietnam Fusion Cuisine)
Ok so it’s a Wednesday night, you’ve worked later than expected and the thought of making dinner just isn’t doing it for you! Since you’re already downtown why not head to an oasis of tranquility in the core. Such a place is Passion, where Vietnamese food is served with style. Vietnamese cooking with a subtle mix of the Orient and Europe is best described as a fusion of styles. The menu can range from seafood to vegetable curries. Passion is this type of restaurant and will be sure to have something to please anyone.
Located at 611 – 6th Street SW, the brick office tower exterior belies the cool sophisticated décor that greets once off the street. The space is open but not crowded, bright during the day with large windows yet muted at night, all in all a very pleasant space to dine in.
To start our dinner we ordered two favourite appetizers, Marina Rolls which are poached salmon rolls with a wasabi ginger sauce, and Passion Spring rolls, a pork carrot and sweet onion roll served with a spicy vinaigrette. To be truthful I could have just sat and ordered appetizers for dinner as they are that good, and if you have room order the crispy calamari served with a hot mustard sauce, as it’s fantastic! To go with our meal, we ordered a bottle of Marques de Murrieta Reserva Rioja, which while it isn’t Vietnamese fit the food just fine.
If you are in for lunch, the menu features set dishes but since it was dinner we ordered a la carte from the varied selection. This turned out to be Curry Veggies, a spicy green vegetable curry with fried bean curd, plus Crustacean “Yum” and Cashew Pork. Now for those of you that are curious, Crustacean “Yum” is a mix of shrimp, squid and scallops sautéed with asparagus and baby corn in a chilli mushroom sauce while Cashew pork is sautéed pork, asparagus, snow peas, onions and cashews in chilli sauce. This along with a bowl of jasmine coconut rice proved to be just the right amount for two hungry people. However you will need to drop by many times in order to get a true feel for the variety offered here!
Now usually in a Vietnamese restaurant we would be sipping on green tea however since this hadn’t been the case we opted instead for Green Tea ice cream, which is a perfect way to end the evening.
So if you are hanging around downtown after work and are looking for some great food, try Passion, you won’t be disappointed! Oh and by the way, they also do take-out just in case you want to head home anyway. As always any comments or suggestions can be sent to sgourmet@telus.net.
Passion
(Vietnamese Fusion Cuisine)
Food ****
Service ****
Price $9.00 – $18.00
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