Wineshark Mystery Restaurant - An Choi

Today we came to this Vietnamese restaurant located at Mercer Street in Sheung Wan. This restaurant was started by a couple who wanted to bring the street foods from their home to Hong Kong and showed customers its unique dining ambience. The façade is eye-catching, with yellow wall and a semi-open dining area facing the street. 

We were seated on the first floor, with the décor modeling after the street stalls in Vietnam, having plastic chairs and stools, metal tables, and hanging light bulbs on the ceiling. The local newspapers and posters added to the experience of spending time eating local food in a Vietnam neighborhood.

We had some beverages to start, with my wife taking Fresh Lime Soda ($35) while I went for Iced Coconut Coffee ($45). The taste was good, with nice coconut flavours on top of the intense coffee notes, appropriate in sweetness. Just that the cup was a bit too small, and with all the ice I almost finished the whole in two sips.

Decided to share, we ordered one pho and one banh mi. There were some special selections on each day of the week, but for Sunday only the usual two were available. We went for Pho Sai Gon ($100), serving in a delicious broth together with beef ball, brisket, tenderloin, bean sprouts, culantro, spring onion, coriander, and white onion. The beef was tender and flavourful, and it was one of the better pho I had in town.

We also had Banh Mi Dac Biet Special ($80). The baguette was freshly made twice every day, retaining a crunchy texture, and stuffed with three different pork cold cuts, together with pate, pork butt, egg mayo, omelet, pork floss, cucumber, spring onion, and coriander. It was good in taste, but I would still rate the small shop I had tried many years ago in Jordan to be superior in quality. 

The other dish was Summer Rolls Goi Cuon with Prawn & Pork ($80). Wrapped in fresh rice paper were rice vermicelli, mint, basil, shiso, lettuce, carrot, radish, cucumber, and chive, with also three dipping sauces including nuoc cham, peanut and a type of shrimp paste sauce. The portion was big, with four large pieces included. At the same time, there were also choices including only prawns, pork, sausage, or green jackfruit. 

Service was good, and the staff offered to move us to another table, so we could be seated more comfortably. The bill on the day was $374. Considering the quality of food and overall dining experience, I would rate this restaurant a Good 70 points, worth trying out.