Vietnamese restaurants? This town has plenty. Apart from enjoying steaming bowls of pho, though, most local diners know more about the rules of curling than they do about Vietnam’s cuisine. Menus at places like Mi Linh—theirs stretches half a dozen pages—don’t help much. What? You’re deliberating whether to go with the goi cuon nen nuong or the bun ga chay? You can’t even pronounce a third of what’s coming out of the kitchen here, let alone know what’s good.
The thing is, Vietnam’s food—with its spectacular mélange of Chinese, French, and southeast Asian ingredients and preparations—is as rewarding as it is exotic. And while you might not know your tom nuong from third base, Mi Linh is a fine place to get a taste of Saigon.
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Fried egg rolls—the crunchy pint-size cousins of the heftier Chinese versions—are perfectly authentic here and a good starter. Minced pork and shrimp, slivered carrots, and mushrooms are all stuffed inside a crackling golden shell. It’s the dipping sauce that’s special. Many local Vietnamese eateries use a Thai fish sauce as a base, making their sauce too salty. Mi Linh makes its own. It’s delicious. The spring rolls are pearly logs of moist rice paper, chubby with shrimp, pork, and thin rice noodles, with a satisfying bite that’s like chomping into a fresh sausage.
Mi Linh’s garlic butter–slathered chicken wings have drawn raves. They deserve it. A dusting of tapioca flour before frying gives the skin an ethereally light crispiness. The garlic butter is silky and fragrant, and the wings are perfectly cooked. The most authentic starter, though, is the dau hu chien—fried tofu with a chili-sharp soy-sauce dip.
Soups are nice for a beginning course, though they make for substantial meals as well, loaded with various meats. All share a similar broth. Unlike the days-long efforts needed for pho broth, the process of making this is a quick one, with pork and aromatic woody herbs. There’s a choice of noodles: rice, egg, or clear cellophane. At our waiter’s suggestion, we went with the egg noodles, which lend the soup a distinctive Chinese texture. We opted for the Mi Linh Special soup and found it wonderful. The broth and the chewy noodles combine with shrimp, chicken, balls of ground pork, and other meats, along with bean sprouts, cabbage, and chives.
“When you eat, check the pots” is a Vietnamese culinary proverb—go with the kitchen’s specialties. Since Mi Linh advertises itself as “authentic,” you’ll do well to focus on the chef’s favorites. We did and found most worthwhile. Clay-pot braising is a classic Vietnamese technique; fatty cuts of pork lend themselves to slow stewing with black pepper, garlic, and chilies. Here, the chefs use pork chops, to good effect. The meat caramelizes and the juices thicken; it’s served in the pot, with a side of rice, sliced cucumbers, and lettuce. The stir-fried tofu (dau hu rau cai), however, was disappointing. The presentation is lovely and authentic, featuring the five colors (ngu sac) that mark a balanced Vietnamese main course, with bok choy, carrots, and mushrooms. But the oyster sauce is cloying and tastes like a more generic Chinese presentation.
Bun bo xao, another house specialty, is superb. A tub-size bowl of bun, or noodles, is topped with a garden’s worth of vegetables and herbs: sliced onions, bean sprouts, cilantro sprigs, mint, sharp basil, and slivers of beef. The meat is quickly marinated with fish sauce and minced lemongrass, then grilled so the edges char nicely, with the center still pink. This is Vietnamese home cookin’ at its best, combining hot and cold ingredients, and Mi Linh’s presentation is wonderful.
Com tam—“broken rice”—refers to the fractured grains that farmers used to eat because they couldn’t sell them. A generous hill of com tam appears with a variety of meats; the best is com tam thit nuong—with pork that’s sliced thin, then grilled with soy sauce and just enough sugar to bring out the meat’s natural sweetness. This rice accompanies several other dishes here and is completely worthy, cooked with a nutty aroma and a tender texture.
Duong Chau is Vietnamese for Yangzhou, so when you see the words paired with com chien (fried rice), you have a good idea of the presentation. Forget the super-salty dish you know. This Chinese standby is delicate, the rice stir-fried with nibbles of chopped carrots, peas, and cha lua, a flavorful sausage of pork kneaded to tenderness and spiked with garlic and black pepper.
Discussing a Vietnamese restaurant without mentioning its pho is unthinkable. The versions here are from the south: The broth has the multi-layered tastes of cinnamon, star anise, cloves, and caramelized onions, clearly different from the simple beef stocks of the north. It’s one that many St. Louis diners seem to prefer. Go with the dac biet, a combination of meats with basil, mint, and bean sprouts. Or consider a particularly rewarding alternative, the pho duoi bo, or oxtail, which is unusual and satisfying.
Banana fritters are a pleasant dessert. Even better, though, are the smoothies; though they might seem as Vietnamese as sauerbraten, they’re popular street snacks in that country. The flavor you want is sau rieng, or durian, a fruit that’s the subject of much notoriety, but which actually tastes like a custard-rich combination of bananas and strawberries.
Service is unflaggingly friendly and attentive; the staff is eager to explain how to eat many of the offerings. Huge murals of the Great Wall of China and startlingly red flower petal–shaped lamps are reminders that the place was of late a Chinese eatery. At a small bar off to the side, cocktails are inventive and amusing.
For your first taste of this cuisine or your 50th, Mi Linh is a good place to try.
The Bottom Line: Affordable and delicious Vietnamese fare is served at a comfortable midcounty location.
9737 Manchester
Rock Hill
314-918-8868
Lunch and dinner Wed–Mon
Average Main Course: $9
Reservations: The moment we say “not necessary,” you’ll encounter a waiting line, so yes.
Noise Level: Dancing lions and firecrackers at Tét New Year’s celebrations aside, it’s quiet and convivial.
