I'm pretty sure Ovan's is quite new. I don't know how but it just appeared one day with a distinctively more modern design than the rest of the Vietnamese restaurants in Footscray. The inside partially reminds me of the reputation of Hoi An - designed to look authentic but really just a front for tourists. Ovan's does however seem to be quite authentic inside - the patrons I saw were Vietnamese, the staff are Vietnamese (and may not speak much English), and there was another review claiming issues of hygiene (which I only just saw). How authentic to Asia can you get...
In any case at about 845pm on a Monday, they were still open and willing to serve even though they probably close around 9pm. I like how the menu on the wall is only in Vietnamese. I like how the waitress commended me on my pronunciation of bun thit nuong. It's these little things...
The waitress heard me being indecisive and suggested that day's special of bun bo hue and the xoi. I wasn't in the mood for rice and she thought the bun thit nuong was better than the bun cha.
- Bun bo hue $11 - a nice clean and flavoursome broth with a bit of spice but could have used more. The noodles were thin soft circular ones and not the thicker more chewy hole in the middle that are typical;
- Bun thit nuong $12 - interestingly the nuoc mam sauce was much more savoury than the tangy version I'm used to everywhere else. Perhaps they are Northern and it is different there? The pork was intensely flavoured and absolutely delicious. I would have liked more herbs to really diversify the flavour;
- Che Thai $6 - a nice dessert with durian (on top, which I don't like) and bits of jackfruit, palm seeds, jelly and coconut milk. Next time I'd ask for it without the durian.
I thought the food was overall very good and definitely not inferior to the other places around. I'm very keen to try the Xoi next time.
07-2016 & 08-2016
I found myself there again twice in the next month. I managed to test a few more dishes and form more opinions. On both occasions the place was still quite quiet.
- Coconut pandan sticky rice with fried chicken $10 - the serve was quite small for 3 chicken wings on fluorescent green rice. It tasted ok but I suppose the dish couldn't find a place between savoury chicken and sweeter rice. I think a savoury chicken rice dish would be better for me (which they have as chicken rice from Ha Noi);
- Bun mam nem thit quay $10 - vermicelli served in its own bowl with a very flavoured pork mince slices and some herbs for balance. Quite nice;
- Bao burger nem nuong $4.5 - they have recently changed the price and so I thought it said $1.5. Sadly not. Now it is $5. It was a little bao and nothing worth getting again;
- My quang ga $10 - a bowl of soft wide noodles, boiled chicken and tiny prawns and a few peanuts thrown in. Overall a nice tasty dish.
I'm still a fan even though not all the dishes are my cup of tea. It definitely has some different things to the other places around and even though I can't say any are exceptional, the flavours are still nice.