Merivale Noodle House refreshes its look and flavours

It’s rare that I land at a Vietnamese restaurant and not order a bowl of Pho. That’s what happened on this occasion, but I did make up for it with an appetizer which, while common in the Vietnamese kitchen, is not often seen in Ottawa’s culinary scene.

Merivale Noodle House underwent renovations a while back, and I was eager to see if a facelift would also mean a change in kitchen output.

Always on the lookout for singular spring rolls, I was heartened by the appearance of these three large, well-made rolls.

When you order pork spring rolls, you do expect a sufficient pork flavour and these, while tasty, were 90 per cent vegetables and noodles. I also feel I should add that the oil in which they’d been fried tasted clean and not bitter — a good sign.

The fun of eating quail is that it’s best done with your hands. It’s a little like eating wings, only with different moving parts to separate. Try eating a quail wing, however and you may find that it has greater utility as a toothpick.

You’ll find this appetizer in a few restaurants around town, but not often. As these are grilled, you do get that delicious summer BBQ char flavour. These birds had been thoroughly marinated, and the grill treatment had left them moist and tender.

Few dishes have me thinking of summer more than a fresh salad. Particularly, Vietnamese salads that feature chilled shrimp and green papaya. 

More than just the crisp flavours of lettuce, cucumber, papaya, carrot, cilantro and mint, it’s the fact that this dressing is done without oils and is both sweet and savoury. 

You have your choice of dried beef or pork in slivered jerky form and I enjoyed the firm but salty punch this added, along with the toasted peanuts for topping. 

I thought I would go with a fried noodle dish on this visit. Steamed rice vermicelli bowls or Pho are the more typical noodle dishes from Vietnam, but I was craving something a bit different and ordered a fried seafood rice noodle.

Sometimes it pays to stick with your go-to items. The noodles and vegetables were fresh and plentiful, and there was a light sauce, but it didn’t taste of anything. I honestly can’t tell you what it might have been.

There were nicely cooked shrimp but the remainder of the seafood came in the form of surimi, fish balls and a few bits of pineapple cut calamari that were inedible.

The element that stood out however, was the beautifully, perfectly executed white button mushrooms. Cooked all the way through, they still had a little resistance and biting into them, they exploded with warm mushroom essence. I wasn’t expecting that and if only all restaurants could give the humble mushroom this treatment. 

A fun family way of dining is with rice roll-ups, where you are served a plate of cooked and raw ingredients, which you then roll into the accompanying steamed rice paper. As with so much in Vietnamese cuisine, it’s full of flavour and low in fat and calories. It’s also a bit of work.

Unless you have experience and are adept at this, you may want to give it a pass. My lunch companion, however, was keen to give it a try and after the experience, will likely never go through the trouble again. 

If you do get the hang of making your own fresh rice rolls, Merivale Noodle House offers 16 different combinations and the BBQ pork and shrimp were simply delicious. The sweet char of the proteins married so well with the textures and flavours of the fresh vegetables, herbs and rice vermicelli.

Merivale Noodle House offers good family dining with considerable portions at fair prices. The food coming out of the kitchen was expertly prepared, and the service was both kind and attentive, particularly if they suspect you may not be familiar with this food.

I, for one, will be happy to return.