Bay Tinh
Dining at Bay Tinh is like a trip down memory lane. While I can’t claim to have been dining here for all of its twenty-eight year history, I have spent many an evening in the (previously putrid pink) space, albeit mostly when it was in the hands of predecessor and founder, Tinh Tran. In the ensuing three decades, Sydney’s Vietnamese offerings have come a long way. Celebrity chef Luke Nguyen has taken them fine dining, Misschu made hawker food hip, Great Aunty Three turned the humble banh mi into a Newtown icon, and a few doors up the road, Bau Truong took Vietnamese tapas-style. So what you’re coming here for is a look at the origins. You’ll find home-style dishes like Dau Hu Don Thit ($18.50) – plump, golden-fried pork stuffed bean curd swimming in tomato sauce – alongside the usual suspects like crispy pancake and prawn-wrapped sugarcane. Craving salad I skipped over them in favour of Goi Du Du ($18.50), a green papaya salad littered with prawns and thinly sliced roast pork. By chopping the black fungus finely, Tom Xao Lan ($22.50) – a creamy coconut prawn curry – lacked the textural pleasure I was expecting, but it went down okay with a glass of the 2012 The Pawn Cassia Pinot Grigio ($7.50) and Garlic Rice ($7.50).
Bay Tinh
318 Victoria Road, Marrickville
Ph: (02) 9560 8673 baytinhrestaurant.com.au
Vietnamese $$
