District 1

I went here quite a while ago, just after the Storey Bridge event in fact! I want with Manda to the event thanks to some leftover passes from Dandelion. We walked there from the CBD and were late for our midday session, we barely got through 1/3rd of the Storey Bridge before we had to wrap it up and head home! As a result, we were pretty hungry and I was in maximum seek out mode for the best feed possible. Something that was near impossible considering the sheer size of the crowds that day.

That day was the day I broke my brand new phone as well, I'm not even sure how it happened. One minute I put my phone in my pocket, at the end of the bridge I pulled it out and the screen had fine spiderweb cracks all over it. It's a mystery what on earth happened to it but I was getting super hangry as a result!

So off we went to find food and we stumbled upon District 1, the then darling of Brisbane Instagram for its roast pork belly roll. Manda wanted something light and flavoursome so in we went!

This place!

It's got a mural of all the Instagram photos taken at the restaurant covering their front counter!

I love previewing meals

They also have cute succulent plants in recycled tinned lychee cans.

Lycheesssss

This was their specials menu when we went. Otherwise Zomato has a nice menu.

Manda got the lemongrass beef which came with the usual assortment of Vietnamese herbs, caramelised pineapple, carrot, cucumber, lettuce and bean sprouts as well as a side of nuoc mam. I found the colour of the beef to be quite bland and the flavours used in the marinade to also be quite one dimensional, it had lemongrass, soy sauce and onions. Boom, done. Manda enjoyed her meal but I wasn't impressed.

Meh

Same goes for this roasted pork belly banh mi which consisted of an admittedly great, warm and crusty baguette, mayonnaise, cucumber, coriander, pickled carrot, house made pate, caramelised onion and what I suspected was Sriraicha sauce on top. The pork belly had crunchy crackling but lacked flavour and meat for the rest of it. It was like they had trimmed off most of the meat for another dish and left just the crackling and rendered fat for this dish. Crackling and fat are great but you need that meat in there for contrast and body!

So much fat, and I love fat!

I got their coconut water and lychee frappe as well. As soon as I had a sip, I knew that they used the Thai brand of super sweetened young coconut mixture. I have no idea what its called, but its an iconic drink/cooking ingredient that I'm sure most Vietnamese children would have grown up with. This was blended with lychees, mint, ice to form a chunky lychee and coconut flavoured frappe. Chunky like I stop to chew all the bits of young coconut every few seconds chunky.

Why am I chewing my drinks?

District 1
Atmosphere: 5, tiny little shop packed full of busy tables.
Service: 5, counter service!
Food: 5, passable. I didn't think it was anything special but I'm super, super picky with my Vietnamese food. I wouldn't bring Mama Pham here. You think my complaints are bad, you should hear her in full swing.