7 Courses of Beef at Anh Hong, Milpitas

After her Lenten prohibition on eating red meat, Theresa was ready for some red meat.  What better way to celebrate the lifting of the prohibition by doing seven courses of beef, Vietnamese style. Off we went to Anh Hong, which has 3 restaurants in the Bay Area: San Fran, Berkeley, and Milpitas. We opted for the Milpitas one, which is located in a strip mall/shopping plaza off Calavaeras Blvd.

The seven courses are: beef special salad; beef fondue in red wine vinegar sauce; steamed beef patty; grilled beef sausages; beef wrapped in hawaiian leaf; beef rolls with onions and lemongrass; and beef rice porridge.  All of this is served with rice paper, lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, bean sprouts, and large sprigs of mint so you can create your own wraps with the various ingredients.

Condiments included chunky hot pepper sauce, fish sauce, and a slightly sweet shrimpy sauce (first time I have come across something like it), allowing you to mix your own dipping sauce and set your own spiciness/heat level.

Course #1 – Beef salad – Slices of cooked beef over shredded daikon, carrots, sliced celery, topped with peanuts and mint, and dressed in a light fish sauce based dressing. A nice, clean, fresh way to start off the meal.

Course #2 – Beef Fondue in red wine vinegar sauce – A hot pot of vinegar based braising liquid warmed by sterno was brought to the table along with slices of raw beef.

You dip the raw slices of beef into the steaming liquid until it’s medium rare…………

then you can wrap it in rice paper or lettuce with the accompanying veggies and top or dip in the sauce of your own making.

A note about the rice paper, which come to the table in its dried form along with large bowls of warm water. To make the paper pliable and edible, you need to quickly soak them in the  warm water. Getting the right amount of soakage to obtain the right pliability takes a bit of experimentation. Creating a nice looking wrap can also be a challenge as the paper becomes really sticky and adheres itself to your plate. I guess i am still a newbie at it, but with some experience, I’m sure it becomes a lot easier.

Or if you don’t want to bother, you can go the low carb route and just use the lettuce and other vegetation to create your wraps.

Courses #3,4,5,&6 – Two types of beef rolls, grilled beef sausage, and meat cake (which actually is more like a Vietnamese meatball or meatloaf).

Rolls can be eaten standalone or in your own homemade rolls. Dipping sauce is optional as they are tasty without it.

 Course #7 – Beef Porridge – To wrap up the meal, a hot steaming bowl of porridge with bits of beef.

I was expecting this to be fairly heavy meal, given the name, but having a good mix of fresh veggies, grilled meats, and finishing with a rice soup made it nicely balanced overall.  It was also a great way to sample different types of Vietnamese cooking and Anh Hong pulls it off well, all at a reasonable price.  Good for larger parties with the added fun factor of customizing your own food. I would characterize the seven courses as a “sampler” type of menu item. While the menu states each order can feed two, if you have  bigger eaters, you might want to order something else like a starch or other dish as a supplement, as each order comes with a small portion of salad,  2 or 3 rolls/slices of each type of beef, and a single bowl of porridge.   If you are only getting the “seven courses”, Theresa’s general rule of thumb for larger eaters is to take the number of people in your party and subtract 1 to get the number of orders you need. Anh Hong should definitely be on our rotation of places for satisfying the hankering for beef.