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| - When writing these reviews, I know that people can't help but compare our local Vietnamese restaurant to other Vietnamese restaurants in L.A., San Francisco, or another urban area with a greater concentration of ethnic cuisine. Maybe Xinh Xinh doesn't live up to a well-traveled foodie's expectations in terms of "authenticity" or flavor or the size of their pho bowls, but the same criticism could be made about any restaurant in this town (i.e., our best restaurant can't compete with New York's best)...and quite frankly, I doubt many people could shell out $300+ and fly to L.A. just to try your favorite Vietnamese restaurant out there. Ok, rant over.
So in terms of restaurants in the Champaign-Urbana area, how does Xinh Xinh stack up? The menu might appear limited, given that most of the items are just variations of banh mi (sandwiches), pho (noodle soup), bun (cold noodle "salad"), and rice plates (usually accompanied by some kind of grilled meat). However, there are usually 7 or more combinations of each dish, served with different meats, sauces, etc., so the menu is pretty extensive if you plan to sample it all. While the restaurant didn't start with many vegetarian options, they've been consistently adding more over time, and the servers are usually helpful in pointing out vegetarian dishes on the menu. You should also speak to the owner (Shai), who can tell you about upcoming dates when he plans to have vegetarian daily specials.
For appetizers, I really recommend the glazed chicken wings or nantaing (spicy ground pork dipping sauce served with baguette slices and shrimp chips). The chicken wings smell a little funky, but you'll overlook that once you get a taste of them. I love the flavor of the nantaing, and I especially love the sound of crackling shrimp chips when they touch the sauce. I usually order the pate ban mih, though many people complain about the strange "metallic" flavor that is often attributed to pate. If you're feeling a little less adventurous, I'd recommend the grilled pork ban mih. I am also really impressed with the bun (noodle "salad") that they serve. Xinh Xinh's bun has generous portions of meat, bean sprouts, carrots, and lettuce (yum!), along with the usual rice noodles and spring roll.
My only complaint is that the restaurant is pretty small, so it usually can't accommodate large parties unless you're one of the only patrons there. With limited seating, Xinh Xinh also fills up rapidly on busy nights, especially for their Wednesday night pho happy hour. I would suggest avoiding peak hours or getting your food to-go if you are impatient about waiting for a table.
If you add Xinh Xinh as a friend on Facebook, you can get updates on their daily/weekly specials. This is really helpful for vegetarians as some of the veg-friendly options (e.g., pho chay) are only offered on certain days.
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