Dave and I recently discovered a restaurant that will definitely become part of our regular rotation. Ugly (and even kind of skanky-looking) from the outside, Saigon Bay Vietnamese Restaurant serves a meal that I cannot live without: Tofu bun. In graduate school, one of my favorite places to eat was Fortune Pho, a cheap Vietnamese restaurant where I first met, and then subsequently became addicted to, tofu bun. Words cannot describe the deliciousness of this meal. Tofu bun consists of a big bowl of vermicelli-style rice noodles covered with sliced cucumbers, tofu chunks, sprouts, mint, and crushed peanuts, and then doused with a thin, reddish sauce that my friend Camille would call “crotch sauce” because, she asserted, it smells like crotch. Well, crotch or not, I love this meal. After moving from Austin, Dave and I were never able to find tofu bun that tasted exactly like the kind I got at Fortune Pho… And then we gave Saigon Bay a try one day, and the rest is history. I had been missing tofu bun for about 7 long years, but now it has come back to me. My only problem with it is that I’m pretty sure the crotch sauce isn’t vegetarian. I think it’s fish-based. Ah, delicious fish crotch.
Oops! I had forgotten to give the location. Saigon Bay is at 2373 E Fowler Ave, Tampa, FL 33612. It’s in a strip mall that also houses a Jimmy John’s (but that’s the only other store I can recall at this time).
Where is Saigon Bay?
The “Crotch Sauce” is in fact Fish Sauce. I can’t handle the smell. I gag every time, which sucks because it tastes really good on dishes.
As luck would have it, I have been craving Vietnamese, so I took a trip over to Saigon Bay today.
It was good. I got the Bun Thit Nuong Bi Cha Gio (that would be Charbroiled Pork, Shredded Parok, and Fried spring Roll over Vericelli) and Greg got the Pho. I will say, if you thought the outside of Saigon Bay was skanky, close your eyes when you go to Pho An Hao.
I didn’t have the same reaction as JB to the outside. It didn’t seem skanky to me, just another restaurant in shopping strip mall.
The last few visits I ordered the charbroiled pork bun and soaked it in Sriracha sauce. Mmmmmm.
michelle – for some reason, the smell of the fish crotch sauce doesn’t bother me that much… and we went back to saigon bay yet AGAIN yesterday. so yummy!