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| - You know you're in good hands when the person who greets you at the door takes a look at your sleeveless top and insists that you sit on the other side of the room because it will be warmer for you as the air-conditioning is very cold! Dan is the proprietess at Bolsa Restaurant, a motherly figure who is obviously well-liked by her regulars.
I am early so I sit at my table, play a game on my phone and watch as patron after patron is greeted by name or even with a hug by Dan. I peruse the menu and find that it is interesting that the pictures in the menu aren't of the dishes. At each corner of pages are pictures of beautiful women modelling the National costume of Vietnam or else pictures of the beautiful scenery of the country. (see photo) It is an extensive menu; each item given its Vietnamese name and then a listing in english of what the dish is made up of.
I order an appetizer of Deep Fried Vietnamese Rolls, It is 5 for $5.95. When trying a restaurant, I always like to order at least one of the staples to test it out. My philosophy is: you can tell if the food is going to be good if they can do a standard dish of that cuisine well. The springs rolls arrive just as my guest seats himself. They are nice and hot, a bit over-fried but the filling is a good balance of meat, vegetables and vermicelli. The next test is the Noc cham. It is a sauce made from fish sauce, vinegar or lime juice, sugar and sometimes a dash of hot chilli paste. This is an everyday condiment, and determines how good the Bún or spring rolls are going to taste. The sauce is everything I can hope for. This is a great sign that the rest of the food will be good.
Dan is obviously proud of her establishment and food and tells us that we must try her food and then go around to all the other restaurants and then make up our minds. She is sure that she has the best! We elect to have Bún which is a choice of meat or spring rolls or both served over rice vermicelli and shredded vegetables (usually bean sprouts, lettuce and carrots). I opt for the Bolsa Special which is Vietnamese sausage, Ground Shrimp and BBQ pork and Spring rolls. My companion has the Combo which has BBQ Shrimp, beef and chicken. There are 2 sizes at Bolsa. This is fairly unusual as most restaurants will only have the one size for Bún. The regular is $10.95 and the XL $12.95. The regular is a bit on the smallish side in comparison with other restaurants but tastes great. Vietnamese sausage is bit like spam but more al dente in texture. The pork is well seasoned. There is less vermicelli in the dish than I have seen in most other restaurants. The dish is still filling and leaves one satisfied. My companion had no complaints about his meal either.
While we were waiting for the Bún to arrive, Dan would make sure she stopped and showed us the dishes that were going to other tables and tell us: "See, it's good food, taste great!". Along the way she stops to tell us that it's a slow night. There has been a steady stream of customers from what I observed. She tells us it's slow because it's the Tuesday after a long weekend, during the weekends the line up is out the door and around the corner. She suggests that next time I come I should taste the hot pots. It seems to be a common dish being ordered by other patrons; I nod my agreement.
If you're a fan of Vietnamese food then this place is a must for you. It's great to see a family-run place. The dining experience is made complete by the friendliness of the owners and staff. Who doesn't want to go somewhere where they'll get to know you by name? I'm looking forward to my next visit. Bolsa is located at Macleod Plaza which is between Macleod Tr and Bonaventure Dr on 94 Ave SE.
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