So I had been to Ba'get once before, and enjoyed a reasonable Bahn Mi and a delicious pastry for lunch. I was unaware that they had been planning an expansion into evening tapas and cocktails, however I was pleasantly surprised to be invited to attend a preview dinner to eat through their new menu. And you know what? I thoroughly enjoyed the unique tapas and cocktails Ba'get have on offer.
The menu contained the following:
- Battered and fried white bait with herb aoli;
- Build-your-own rice paper rolls with char siew pork that had been sous vided before being grilled;
- Deep fried chicken wings with coleslaw and chilli-vinegar dipping sauce;
- Fried calamari with siracha mayo;
- Pork and taro spring rolls with herbs and lettuce for wrapping;
- Chicken and pork salad with prawn cracker 'bowls';
- Fried prawn trumpets with herbs and siracha mayo;
- Five spiced sweet potato fries; and
- Grilled meat balls with salad.
Accompanying the tapas were two kinds of cocktails a Vietnamese take on a Mojito with rum, Vietnamese mint and coriander, and an absolutely delicious gin, ginger and chilli concoction that was sweet, fizzy and fiery all at once. I thoroughly enjoyed these and think that for the price ($10) you would almost make a detour past Ba'get just for these even if you didn't feel like a snack to go with them.
Working my way through the menu was exciting and tasty.
The white bait were crisp and nicely spiced and didn't have too much of that overpowering 'fishy' flavour that I generally associate with white bait. However they certainly weren't my favourite of the dishes.
The build-your-own rice paper rolls were a fun experience. A cool little gadget was brought to our table that allowed you to wet the rice paper roll and then get it onto your plate prior to assembly. I think Baget would do a roaring trade if they started selling those for $15 a pop. The pork was really nice, lean and chary as anything. Our host explained that it had been sous-vided prior to being grilled, and although I cant verify whether this had any appreciable effect on it versus non sous-vided pork, it sure was delicious.
The deep fried chicken wings that came next were apparently made to the old family recipe of our host's mother and were one of my favourites for the evening. The batter was light and crisp and the flavour was intense. I am a big buffalo wings guy and these were right up there with some of the best hot wings I've had, with the key advantage of not being soaked in a thick chili sauce.
The fried calamari was as advertised, fried calamari. It was nice and clearly quite fresh, however it wasn't particularly 'Vietnamese'. It would make a good bar snack with a beer or cocktail though.
The pork and taro spring rolls were an interesting choice. Taro is a sweet-potato like substance that makes it way into a lot of Asian dishes, and it went very nicely with the pork. I am not sure how many of those I could eat in a row however, They were quite rich and there wasn't enough chili in them to cut through that richness. Perhaps they would work well for a big group where everyone had just one.
The chicken and pork salad was a nice touch, it was light and refreshing and the idea of making it easy to share out between friends gy giving you extra large prawn crackers to use as edible 'bowls' was a pretty cool twist. It had a great herby/citrusy/chili twist too it which I enjoyed as well.
The prawn trumpets which came next were ok. They had lots of nice prawn in them, however I think by that point I was a little over fried spring roll type dishes. Had at the start of a meal, I think you would be very satisfied with them.
Finally came the grilled meat balls. These were probably my favourite dish of the night. They were caramalised on the outside with a sweet sauce that gave a crisp toffee-apple-esque hard shell on the outside that shattered as you bit through to reach the wonderfully spiced and fresh pork on the inside. Along with some salad and herbs to be wrapped up in lettuce leaves and a hoysin and chili dipping sauce these were fantastic. I would highly recommend getting a plate to yourself if you go as they will fly off the plate if you are sharing with friends.
To the public each of the tapas and the cocktails will be $10 and are great value at the price.
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