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Asia Moon (Closed) (Vietnamese cuisine)  $$

 7.25
JaT Rating

385 S Winchester Blvd, San Jose, 95128  (Directions)


408-248-0018


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Upscale vietnamese located right next to Santana Row


Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1012
Reviewed: 4/30/2007
Rating: 7.5
My photo gallery 		After making a quick run to Crate and Barrel at Santana Row, we hit up Asia Moon for Vietnamese cuisine. Never been, never heard of anything, don't even know what to order. We sat by the window and we were one of 4 tables eating in this rather large restaurant. Where the hell is everyone and how does a place like this stay in business with no customers? I will note the other tables were Vietnamese people so that's gotta count for something.

If you've been following my adventures with photography, you'll know I've been in precarious situations. Today was no different as there were 2 attractive females the next table over. The problem is...they are in camera's view and me pointing in their direction with one of the girls having her low rise pants and thong hanging out. Very distracting, all I could think of was that terrible thong thong song. The risks I take for the jatbar readers. I took the shot and cropped her plumber's crack, you'll have to sign up for the premium membership to see the unedited photo.

We came here for food so let's get to it. Started off with iced coffee and condensed milk (image 4). This one threw me off as I wanted the steel tin with slow drip coffee (ca phe sua da). I was a bit upset until I drank the overly sweet condensed milk tasting caffeine arousing iced drink. If they made this into an ice cream, I'd give it a 10. I don't have a menu in front of me but I think it was $4 which is kinda expensive.

crab and shrimp rolls ($7?, image 5) - green leaf, mint, cilantro, carrots, basil, and egg roll looking things. Must have been some high eat as the wrapper had bubbles. The stuff was crab and shrimp but the rolls were so oily I couldn't distinguish the difference. I love all things fried but it's just one of those times where the price doesn't justify as a must order. If someone else is buying, I'd eat it again.

chicken and vermicelli noodles (image 8) - the same green mixture (mint, cilantro, etc) from the appetizer. The white spider webs are the vermicelli rice noodles. The chicken has a sweet marinade (lemongrass, ginger, sugar, garlic, lime, chili?) and cooked over fire. Has great char taste. The chicken is part of the thigh so it's a little fatty and juicy. If you're wondering how I eat it. I take one of the large lettuce leafs, place some herbs, rice noodles, chicken, pour Vietnamese dipping sauce (fish sauce, sugar, vinegar, lime?), and roll it like a taco.

Asia Moon serves authentic Vietnamese food and my bbq chicken tasted great. It was a bit expensive for me and ordering an appetizer and iced coffee didn't help my bill. I think I spent close to $24 with tip. i don't know about you guys but when's the last time you spent that much for a Vietnamese lunch? Maybe I'm becoming a delusional cheap ass that's used to paying $2 for a banh mi? If I could expense this lunch or take a client out, I'd rate a 1/2 point higher.
 


Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 738
Reviewed: 4/30/2007
Rating: 7
My photo gallery 		I heard nothing about the place beforehand but was excited to try an upscale Vietnamese place. We had visited a few and some were pretty good, and some were just so-so. This place is located about a block from another upscale Vietnamese place, so figured it had to be good to stand up to that competition.

We enter and the place is very empty. To be fair, it had the instant feel of a dinner place. I can imagine it being quite full during dinner time. The lunch crowd is a slow lazy type of Santana Row crowd, not the lunch rush type I figure. Which is fine.

I look at the specials menu and notice the Pad Thai. Yeah, not a typical vietnamese dish but hey - they marked it as a special. Jason also orders us the crab and shrimp rolls for appetizer.

The rolls were delivered quick. I sampled one quickly. Wow, this thing was really good. I mean really good. I would love to order this again immediately. It reminded me of a good dim sum item. SOLID.

The pad thai was less of a success. First off, I had no idea that it would have chicken in it, so I had to first pull them out. After that, it was just OK. It had way too much lemongrass in it and didn't take like a good pad thai. The dish was further extra greasy. So I would not recommend this dish. I would return to try something else as the service was attentive and the place was clean. As I said, it felt like a nice place to have dinner after a day of shopping. Hopefully they have some entrees that hold up to the quality of their appetizer.
 
7.5
Agent Rating


Reviewer: wchane
Total Reviews: 147
Reviewed: 5/2/2007
Rating: 7.5
My photo gallery		 Asia Moon's service has been hit or miss recently but the food has always been constant and a bargain considering its neighbors across the street. We often opt to cross Winchester for Asia Moon's crepes and vermicelli plates.

This particular occasion we ordered a seafood crepe, a grilled pork vermicelli plate and a grilled onions rolled in beef vermicelli plate.

The seafood crepe is a huge egg crepe with vegtables, clams, shrimp, scallops (i believe), lots of bean sprouts and green onion. Cooked through on the exterior but the inside is still moist and tender.

The vermicelli plates are served with a 2-3 cakes of vermicelli and an assortment of lettuce, aeromatics, and fish sauce. The main difference is the meat - the grilled pork is always just a bit charred but over all still juicy and flavorful. If you're not worried about your breath the Onions rolled in beef is definitely the way to go; they are fragrent as they arrive and although a bit difficult to eat delicious in every way. The sliced beef is cooked through but not over done, the onions inside have been wilted and cooked just enough to absorb the beef. yum.

Total bill never exceeds something like $12 a person, this was for 2 people.
 
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Jason ate...

Closed

“drove by 2 days ago, appears to be closed. Newspapers on the windows and furniture on the outside.”

11/30/2007 10:58:41 PM