THE little story on Miss Van’s website paints the picture of this new (and very exciting) Vietnamese eating house in Marcus Clarke Street, Civic. 

“With roots stemming back to rural Laos and Vietnam, our family found their way to Australia by way of food. From humble beginnings with farming, opening a Banh Mi street cart to fleeing refugee camps in Thailand, food has always been a source of livelihood, creating opportunity at every turn. Eat, drink Vietnamese.”

The story sums up owner Andrew Duong’s love of food and hospitality. Many will know Andrew as inspiration behind the wildly popular Lazy Su and Baby Su.

Miss Van’s is about filling up your belly and feeling good and the food lives up to that. We did fill our bellies and we did feel good. 

The lunch set menu ($39 for four courses) began with two snacks. The lamb on sesame leaf, with ginger and scallion made our tastebuds stand up to attention as did the Lao sausage with Jeow Bond tomato salsa on charred cabbage. This salsa is commonly found in Laos – think sun-dried chillies, galangal, garlic, fish sauce and other secret ingredients. Bam!

Old ways meet new traditions at Miss Van’s and we trembled with excitement when the Vietnamese curry cauliflower arrived, one of the dishes inspired by a recipe of Andrew’s grandmother (does food get any better than that?). It was a hot bowl of comfort packed with flavour and simply out of this world. 

The second main – grilled flank steak – was beautiful (although we found the long slices of tender beef a wee bit challenging with chopsticks). It was thinly sliced, and sat in a thick (but not too thick), rich, heart-warming gravy and perked up with Thai basil. 

Lao sausage with Jeow Bond tomato salsa on charred cabbage. Photo: Wendy Johnson

Vietnamese coffee and salted caramel ganache in condensed milk ice cream with wild rice. Photo: Wendy Johnson

Grilled tiger prawns… with tomato curry and shellfish oil. Photo: Wendy Johnson

Vietnamese curry cauliflower… a hot bowl of comfort packed with flavour. Photo: Wendy Johnson

We were inspired to explore and so ordered a grilled tiger prawn each ($9), scrumptious with tomato curry and shellfish oil.

There was no way we were going to give “The Dessert” a miss ($11). We shared and ooh-ed and aah-ed with every bite. The Vietnamese coffee and salted caramel ganache was decadent (but not overly sweet), the condensed milk ice cream “smooth as” and the wild rice a welcoming crunch.

The lunch menu is petite at the minute but that’s smart. Andrew says it will expand when Miss Van’s has everything down pat. 

Miss Van’s liquor licence wasn’t approved when we dined, so BYO (there’s a shop just around the corner) was free. And hat’s off to Andrew for stopping by when we had finished to ask for frank and open feedback (a follow-up email came also). So often dining establishments don’t bother, but they should because it shows they truly care about all aspects of their hospitality offering.