Le Tonkin

Le Tonkin
fine cuisine asiatique
6542 Saint-Laurent Boulevard
514-227-7221

The rather unpromising long block of the Main between Beaubien and St-Zotique nonetheless contains a few gems. The Café Sarajevo has moved there, and the bistro Vices & Versa on the east side seems generally well regarded. Recently I tried Le Tonkin, which bills itself as doing fine cuisine asiatique: the menu in the window lists most of the standard Vietnamese items like noodle plates and pho.

At first I thought a soup would be the thing on a chilly evening, but once inside I began to relax. The ambiance at Le Tonkin is a good one, not pretentious, but not a plastic tablecloth noodle den either. The tables are wooden, the chairs comfortable, the lighting low-key. I sprang for a dinner special.

First they brought a bowl of spinach noodle soup, which was as advertised, but with a more flavourful broth than I expected, and then an imperial roll, this one a decent size (not the piddling cigar-sized kind I've seen too often) with a light flaky wrapper. I was also brought a good-sized pot of tea that was both properly hot and reasonably strong, this being a terrific plus in my opinion.

The main dish was a square plate absolutely heaped with fried squid, one of my favourite things when done well. It was closer to Cantonese salt and spicy squid than anything I've had in a Vietnamese resto before, but that's not a criticism. It was good. This and the imperial roll were accompanied by small salads of vinegared carrot and daikon.

This major hit of protein was followed by dessert, a slice of fried pineapple so sweet that my teeth are twanging now merely thinking about the thing.

The bill was $17.00.

Only one other table was occupied most of the time I was there, but there was a steady stream of people coming to get take-out.

I'll definitely be going back to Le Tonkin.