Parfums D’asie

Voilà un restaurant où si je devais le fier au cadre, à la décoration et à la salle, je dois avouer que je n’y rentrerais pas spécialement…
Connaissant l’établissement depuis mon enfance, je dois tout de même confesser que j’y ai mis de nombreuse fois les pieds, même si c’est plus souvent pour commander. Car de ce côté là, rien a dire, les plats sont préparé avec rapidité et sont succulents. Et puis c’est surtout le rapport qualité-​prix qui est plus que, voire trop raisonnable !
J’accorde également un plus à l’épicerie asiatique qui a ouvert sous le restaurant. Même si ça né paie pas de mine, c’est vraiment très pratique pour chercher des produits asiat difficilement trouvables a Woluwé.
J’y retournerai tant que je suis dans le quartier pour commander mes plats à emporter… Un délice quand on a pas le courage de cuisiner !
At Least One Time… A LOT !

Instead of shooting for chocolate anything, sausage whatever, or pastries for days, my wandering group I were naturally surprised to come across a Vietnamese phở spot in Brussels. Even more of a surprise was a non-​Viet name in Parfums d’Asie, instead of something like Phở So 1 or Phở Sai Gon. Who knew there was a (small) Vietnamese community in Belgium? Not me. Considering the chilly weather and a hankering for noodles (#1), I was all in.
The place is tiny and accessible from a small flight of stairs from a narrow (#1) street. I wasn’t sure what we were in for, considering how much of the menu was non-​phở based. I took the plunge and ordered my trusty phở dac biet (i.e. special combination), which usually is stock full of meats galore, noodles, dressings, and our infamous beef broth.
But to our dismay the broth was bland. It was steaming for sure, but there wasn’t much flavor to suggest that the beef bones had been boiled for days like they should be. The noodles were wider rice noodle variety and the meats were skimpin big time. Was hoping for more, but came away disappointed for the most part.
The service and the charm however, won us over in the end. The meal wasn’t perfect but remembering that Belgium’s namesake isn’t in phở (along with our intense noodle craving) made it all easier going down.
_​_​_​_​_​_​
(#1) This is basically every day.
(#2) Pretty much anything in Brussels is going to be narrow.