Tag Archives: review

Saigon Sandwich: Vietnam comes to Sønderborg

It took Sonderborg Nyt till 1st of June to report about it, and us till the middle of June to spot it (I know!). But we have spotted it, and we have visited and tasted! With the help of some friends we went to try out Saigon Sandwich earlier this week.

Saigon sandwich is a Vietnamese restaurant/take-away on jernbanegade 46, close to the wool shop and what used to be Blockbuster. On offer are a mixture of cold sandwiches (inspired by the French baguette, the French having colonised Vietnam from 1862-1954) and warm dishes. Between the four of us we ordered summer roll for starters and a mixture of the warm dishes for mains.The starters were, of course the first to arrive, together with a peanut dipping sauce. Unfortunately, our reaction to them varied from OK to ‘wouldn’t ordered them again’. So the start was not that promising.

Luckily for us, the main course dishes were a much bigger success! I absolutely loved my dish of stegt oksekød med pebersauce, which I ordered on the recommendation of the owner. The indbagte kylling and andesteg got also similar raving reviews, with the indbagt rejer getting a great (though not as impressed) review. The portions were also huge! I managed to eat mine, but only just (and with a bit of help from our son). A downside to our mains was that they all arrived one by one, with the last of us four receiving his plate when the first had nearly finished.

The drinks were also a success. I had (2 glasses!) of homemade citronvand. I also tasted the coconut juice one of the others had and liked it (though not all did). After dinner, one of us also got the Vietnamese ice coffee with condensed milk. Another great tasting dish!

So my recommendation would be: steer around the summer rolls (will try the spring rolls next time) to take your pick from the main courses. Also make sure to try out the Vietnamese drinks. Some of them might not be to everyone’s taste, but I sure liked them all!

Would we be back? Well…I still need to get a glass all to myself of the Vietnamese coffee (and I don’t even drink coffee!), and I need to taste the soups, and oh…get another glass of that citronvand. So I guess, the answer to that is a big yes! But only when I have some time.

Restaurant Review: Curry Leaves

Leave a reply

Over the past few months the restaurant scene in Sonderborg has seen some changes. First there was Danish contemporary with the opening of Huset Blom close to the new year. This was followed by the opening of the Japanese Niso Sushi close to Easter. Now that the summer is close, it is the turn of an Indian restaurant: Curry Leaves.

Curry Leaves opened on the 4th of July close to the harbour (where there used to be an Argentinian Steak House up to a few months ago). We visited Curry Leaves with some friends of ours on the Saturday to see what the restaurant will offer.

First of all I would say I quite liked the decor. Quite Indian/South East Asian without being over the top in your face all the time. Also, the space was bigger than I imagined the restaurant to be looking in from the outside.

For the first week the offer was that rather than ordering from the menu you could get a free mango lassi welcome drink followed by a buffet of a variety of dishes. I thought this was a great way of introducing the people to a wide variety of dishes they might want to try at a later point, as well as encourage them to be adventurous with their choices; if you don’t like it you can try something else.

Although the buffet worked well from a selection point of view there seemed to have been some problems with supply. It could be that there were more people than they expected, with the restaurant being quite full. This meant that items constantly had to be replenished. They were doing a good job on the replenishment but, we were doing a much better job on the eating.

Nevertheless, the food tasted good. I particularly liked the butter chicken and the pallac paneer (a spinach dish). I would have liked the food to be a bit more spicy, especially the vindaloo, which I expected to be super hot. However, considering that they were trying to cater for so many different taste buds (including kids) I think it was a good compromise. They also promised us that when it is a regular restaurant from next week, you can ask for spices to your taste level.

So some teething problems, especially with the buffet concept they had on for this one week. However, we should probably return after they have settled into the serving restaurant concept in a few weeks time and see how they perform then. After all, the food was tasty (if not spicy enough for me). Oh, and if you go, do try the mango lassi! It was an inspired idea to offer them for free in the first week as I am sure many people will have them again and again on future visits… including me!

Book Review: Xenophobe’s Guide to the Danes

1 Reply

Before my first visit to Denmark, around 4 years ago, Michael had sent me Xenophobe’s Guide to the Danes to ‘prepare’ me for what I was going to find. Now that I am permanently living here I thought it would be useful to read it again.

The book offers a light-hearted look at Danes, their characteristics and their foibles. Having visited Denmark regularly over the past years, I feel that the book accurately dissects the Danish psyche and exposes it without any indication of malice; in light of all the strong feelings written about foreigners and Denmark, it is uplifting to read something about Danes and foreigners that is not completed skewed one way or another.

The best thing about the book, though, is the quotes. When reading the book you will find gems that you will chuckle over for quite some time and you will want to remember and recite whenever you feel the need for sanity to return to your world! Reading quotes such as:

Pollution is generally frowned upon. Smoking is not. The atmosphere in many living rooms is thick enough to cure herring.

which perfectly illustrate what I have been thinking (and said in previous posts) was definitely heart-warming. I think you might find a few of these quotes sneaking in to posts in the future!

So if you are coming to Denmark, or in any way want to understand Danes better, I do suggest you read the book…you can also get a sneak preview here. On the other hand, if you are already here, I think you might find this post by a Danish blogger/historian interesting. And finally if you want a more serious and in-depth book about coming to Denmark check out Worktrotter’s Guide.

Review: Asian Wok House, Nordborg

4 Replies

Just down the road from Nordborg Bio is Asian Wok House. Having heard very good things about it from several people we decided to give it a try.

Asian Wok House is, as the name implies, an Asian restaurant. We were greeted warmly by our waiter and led to our choice of table. Surprisingly even though the restaurant officially opens at 5pm, there was already another table there when we arrived at 5:15, happily tucking in to their food, and the restaurant soon filled up with people.

The restaurant offers both an A’ la carte menu and a buffet (as well as a take away menu if for some reason the decor of the place doesn’t entice you to stay once you are in, or you are in a hurry). Wanting to have the opportunity to sample as many of the delights as possible, we opted for the buffet.

On asking if this is our first time, our waiter graciously took us over to the buffet area where he explained to us all that was on offer. The buffet is actually split into a normal buffet area and a Mongolian barbeque area, both of which you can sample as part of the buffet menu.

What I found to be a nice touch is that the waiters help you choose the sauces for your Mongolian buffet choices based on your choice of meat as well as preferences in terms of amount of spices, garlic etc. For a Mongolian barbeque virgin as me this was excellent. The meat, vegetables and noodles are then cooked on a big grill by the chef on hand for this purpose.

On the recommendation of the waiter we started our meal with a bowl of hot chicken soup, followed by a sampling of the Mongolian buffet and then the buffet. My favourite was definitely the Mongolian buffet noodle option I had with crab meat and squid, the fried prawns and chicken and the spring rolls.

My main issue with the restaurant is the same one I have with all the Danish restaurants I have been to so far, that the food is too salty for me. But then I guess that is really my issue rather than the restaurants’ now that I am in Denmark, since the Danes around me always seem to love it! Nevertheless, the very good service you get at this place and the taste of the food makes it a place to visit if you are looking for food in the area.

Photo by Dome Poon aka MoHotta18.

Review: Bed and Breakfast in Sonderborg

2 Replies

As we could only move into our apartment on the 1st of December we needed temporary accommodation in Sonderborg for around 2 weeks. After looking at the options our choice fell on Bed and Breakfast Sonderborg mainly for its location and facilities.

The B&B is the red building in the top centre

Location

The B&B is located on a road overlooking Als Sund. It is easily reached from the town (around 10 minute walk from the bus station, and just across the water from the train station i.e. around 10 minute walk).

Our room was then on the top floor of the building, making it quite a bit of a climb. If this is a problem for you do make note, though otherwise it should be OK if you are in good health. Nevertheless, there are also rooms in the ground floor if needs be.

Accommodation

The first thing of note on entering the apartment, particularly our room, is the amazing views onto Als Sund, taking in Sonderborg Castle, King Christian X’s bridge, Dybbole Molle and Alsion. The big windows along one wall framed this view perfectly.

The set-up inside is just as pretty, particularly our room: spacious and clean, with lovely wooden beam features. The only downside of the room is that it doesn’t have a wardrobe, though some shelves and drawers are available. However, there are some coat hooks both inside the room as well as outside, which helped.

Facilities

Having a small kitchen area where we could cook our own food was a deciding factor in picking our place. Particularly when living here for more than a few days – eating out in Denmark is not cheap!

Internet

Another thing we look for is, of course, wireless internet. The wifi is decent most of the time, though it does seem a bit busy when more people are using it. We did, however, have some problems on a number of days when the router seemed to completely give up. On the other days, however, we did make skype calls of good quality, so it is more than sufficient for us.

Overall

I would have no problem staying here myself again or recommending it to family or friends. However I would suggest asking for the top floor room with the view if possible – the view is definitely worth the climb, and you know you need the exercise anyways!

Hej Sønderborg

Culture, food, events and life on Als, Denmark