Seamoon

It's as if a bunch of rich folk all woke up one morning and asked themselves, "Where can you cadge decent seafood in Saigon?" And they all reached the same stark answer, "Nowhere." Unless all three new joints in town have familial ties or sommit, I can't fathom out what's caused the recent seafood splurge. We checked out the disappointing Fish Tale restaurant and I made mention of the rather good Oceania in the comments, although I've yet to blog it. Seamoon at 212 Vo Thi Sau Street in District 3 is the third of the new seafood shacks. It's going for that garish, neon look that seems to have been 'in' for the past decade in Vietnam. It's the latest sprat on the block having opened only three weeks ago. At the entrance we have the usual two smiling Ao Dai clad zombies.

Inside it's all wicker-chic, water effects, pastel drapes, naff mock Greek plinths and dim lighting. There's an odd piano/violin combo pumping out bar room hits such as 'Roll out the Barrels' at high volume. The occasional pissed up customer joins in on the microphone. A nervous bevvy of waiters descend in force upon entry. The service is scatterbrain and overattentive. It's a kind of unwritten rule that a restaurant serving some eight fish, thirteen prawn and eight oyster, mussel and scallop dishes should expect their customers to take more than thirty seconds to sit down, peruse the menu before placing the evening's order. But, thirty seconds is all we get before the pestering commences. A request for five minutes breathing space is reluctantly granted, but we have to deal with 'annoying waiter-hover', which blights this city like a bad smell, lest we take too long sussing out our order. But, we'll excuse them. The staff clearly need a month or two to relax their collective sphincter.

We hit the crab section first and order two Cua rang me (Dry-fried crab with tamarind) for 22,000VD per 100g. All twelve crab dishes are the same price. It arrives quickly and looks like a winner. Although I do like my crabs 'pre-cracked' a wee bit and these aren't. I generally order my crabs 'salted' and skip the sauce options, but failing that this is usually the second best option on the card. It's fresh and well cooked and there's none of those overpowering palate scrapers to battle with (ginger, basil, garlic - or tamarind) that we found at the Fish Tale.

Next up is this - Ca Tai Tuong Chien Canh Tu (Fried Carp fish in "swallow wing") for 88,000VD. Apologies for the shoddy snaps, but the lighting really is dim... This is an intriguing looker when it arrives. I'm told it's based on the way fish is often served in the Delta. Although I doubt you'll find that intricate carrot latticework in your common or garden Mekong diner or this twisty turny fish fryin' thing they've got goin' on at Seamoon. The fish itself is crisp and the firm flesh falls easily to the tug of chopsticks. I've long been hooked on eating the whole of the frazzled tail on these kinda dishes, since I was told it puts a bit more ooomph in your tank... if you catch my drift. Can't report any added ooomph, but Seamoon serve a tasty crunchy carp tail. It's a smashing dish and I would return here for another serving of this alone. We also ordered plain rice and Cai ro hap dau hao (Steamed Chinese cabbage with oyster sauce) for 28,000VD which arrived cold and didn't do much for either of us, but it was fresh.

The bar zone above is an attractive enough chilled seating area with four sofas. I'd recommend you start here with a menu in one hand, a G&T in the other and let the restaurant's waiters twitch while you debate your scoff-choices. The restaurant has secluded spots for couples and there's a large covered outdoor section at the front. I'm not sure if Seamoon really knows what it wants to be at the moment, it feels somewhat muddled. It's at some halfway house on the road from naff to full-on tacky... or something. I'm equally as confused. What I can state for certain is that the food is leagues better than Fish Tale, although it's not up to the more expensive and classy District 3 neighbour, Oceania at 167A Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street. Dinner for two with drinks at Seamoon came to 405,000VD. Aesthetics and annoyance aside, I'll be back for the seafood. View the business card.

Comments

[Disappointed]

Why do I sense a condescending tone whenever I read your blogs? It's either the Vietnamese are annoying or aggressive sellers and nothing else.

[pieman]

Hello Disappointed - Service in the main tourist haunts of Vietnam is extremely aggressive. OTOH outside of those areas it can be good and often excellent. If it's superb or way better than average I'll mention it. OTOH, if it's 'aggressive', or slapdash as at Seamoon, I'll also mention it.

I'm always amazed, and touched, when people write to tell me they've visited places because I've blogged them. Normally they tell me how much they've enjoyed the scoff, thanks for the tip etc. And if I don't call it as I see it I'd be wasting their time. If anything I'd say I'm too much of a soft touch on some of the bad joints I've blogged.

If you have a different experience at anywhere on the blog, I'd love to hear all about it.

[azine]

pieman offers up the type of perspective of vietnam that's very much missing. sometimes i wish he doesn't mince words when reviewing a bad joint, but i do understand the need to be diplomatic even if you wouldn't feed the food to your dog.

keep up the good work pieman! you have many more fans than detractors for sure.

[anthony]

Poor service is universal and exists in some areas more than others and may be more noticable depending upon where you come from. I've noticed nothing from pieman except for love for the place. His posts consistently had me eyeing off the ticket prices to Vietnam.

Sorry about the third person thing. Now, when you say "oomph in your tank" do you mean "spring in your step", "powder in the barrel", or "lead in the pencil"?

[pieman]

Thx Azine:) nice of you to drop in. Anthony - I guess like most expats here I have a love/hate relationship with Vietnam. But, the food, especially streetfood, has always been on the love side.

As for the sematic slips, we're talking lead in pencils here. Let me state for the record, grilled fish tale is no Viagra. But, it probably tastes better.

Incidentally, in Hanoi I was often encouraged to drink a few shots of deer's antler spirit and/or sea horse hooch and eat pig's uterus 'for stamina' (lead). Invariably, going to these places was more akin to a session at a sex therapist's than nipping out for a drink.

After having my fill, I was also told to refrain from bonking for three full days for the 'effects' to come onstream. Then, apparently, I'd want to go at it like a jackhammer to tarmac with anything that moved. Hmmmm...???

[FatMan Seoul]

On the 4th day, you should have a sticker on your forehead - "Beware - I bonk anything that moves".

Hmmm ... better avoid you on those days.

[pieman]

Playing hard to get, ehh? I like a challenge;)

[santos]

[going to these places was more akin to a session at a sex therapist's than nipping out for a drink.]

going to this comment section is more akin to a session at a sex therapist's than nipping in for a word or two !!!