Vietnamese food at Present Restaurant

Present opened up a few years ago and I've known a lot of people who have dined there and the reviews for the restaurant have been quite good. With it being only a few minutes from us, it was one of the places that I've wanted to try for a long time. We finally went there for dinner last night and I did have some pretty high expectations, mainly because I've been so spoiled at having Tuan's mom make us really delicious Vietnamese cuisine at home, so I wanted to see how it compared to home cooking. The restaurant itself was not what you expect from the outside. You walk in and the decor is a really neat combo of modern and traditional. And I loved the wood work on the wall and the orchids everywhere. One thing I found really amusing were the names of all the entrees, I've never seen such naming conventions like "Fish Swimming in Spring Water" or "Blue Paradise Summer Roll" but found it really neat.

So we ordered 2 appetizers and 2 fish entrees. When the waiter was running through their daily specials, he had mentioned this fried rock fish and we both salivated over that. As for the appetizers, we got banh beo (steamed rice cake with dried shrimp) and cha gio (a crispy spring roll with a pork and shrimp mixture). Our waiter talked us out of getting the normal cha gio and told us to get their special cha gio wrapped in rice thread paper instead.

The presentation of the spring roll was really cool and it was recommended that we roll up the spring roll in a lettuce leaf and add a mint leaf. I love cha gio and the crispiness of it and the delicious pork and shrimp mixture on the inside. I think the one we ordered with the rice thread paper had a little too much going on; the rice paper was a little too intricate and I felt that it was taking a lot away from the flavor of the meat mixture on the inside. Wrapping it in the lettuce with the mint leaf and dipping in the sauce did give it some flavor, but I kinda regretted letting the waiter talk us out of ordering the normal cha gio.

Next up was the banh beo. Again, I was very impressed with the presentation. I think I made the mistake of trying to compare this to the version Tuan's mom makes. It was good, but not what I was used to and it was a little difficult to eat since the rice cake was clinging to the little bowl it was served in. But all the similar flavors were still there.

For my entree, I ordered the Fish in Shallow Water - caramelized fish in a clay pot. When it came out, the waiter warned me to not over do it with the sauce since it was salty. I love salt, so I didn't heed his warning and scoop a lot of sauce and slathered my rice with it. And man, it was salty. The fish itself was cooked very well, but the caramelized flavor was a little over powered by the saltiness of the sauce.

Tuan got one of the specials as his entree, fried rock fish fillet with a ginger sauce. That entree was enough for 2 people, it was a huge fillet! And fried to perfection. The chef had filleted it from tail to head and all we were left with was a huge piece of delicious fish! The sauce that accompanied the dish was really good too, it was a light soy sauce with ginger, onions and shallots. I think this entree was my favorite, how can you go wrong with a classic - fried fish and rice!

Overall consensus, the food was good, but I think my tastes are a little biased. The rock fish was really really good and I enjoyed every bite of it. I think though that we should have tried a few different items. But all in all, I did enjoy my dinner and the prices were super reasonable. I had heard the desserts there were really good, but we actually had a pretty big dinner, so didn't really plan well and save room for dessert. Oh well, there's always next time!