Here’s a lunch time quickie!
I usually post about different restaurants in Providence but, considering I’m working the East Providence/Seekonk area, I figured I should try to expand outward.
I love to east Asian food and apart from Four Seasons on Reservoir Ave in Providence, RI, I haven’t been able to find the same type of restaurant that serves a multitude of foods ranging from Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Lao foods. After doing a quick Urbanspoon search for a restaurant of the same type in the East Providence, RI, I stumbled upon the hole-in-the-wall Hong Meas.
On my lunch break, I picked up to-go food from Hong Meas — Vietnamese Bee Bong with Beef and a small Hot & Sour soup. Upon walking in, I noticed an interesting smell. It reminded me of a farm almost… I felt conflicted on the inside. Unsure if this meant that the ingredients they used were just really fresh or otherwise… I had plenty of fresh fresh meats before and the food was awesome so I figured I would give the place the benefit of the doubt.
I tried the Hot & Sour soup first and I’ll have you know I love Hot & Sour soup! This soup had a weird aftertaste though. It tasted a little too sour — like it had too much vinegar — and just had a weird taste overall. I was not the biggest fan of the soup so I had to add a great amount of black pepper in an attempt to neutralize the sour taste.
When I opened the Bee Bong, I noticed that there were SO MANY NOODLES. The noodles were okay. The texture was a little soggy (I think they were a little overcooked) but the sauce was good! What got me was the beef. For some reason I just got a bad taste in my mouth. I’m not sure if it was just cooked differently from what I was used to, but it looked fine. It just didn’t taste great. I felt like I might have eaten something that was just slaughtered, though not in the fresh sense… Needless to say, I was unable to finish my Bee Bong.
Overall, I was surprised that my experience was not great as I had expected. I glimpsed over the Urbanspoon reviews and saw that the Projo reviewed it too. Little did I realize that the review was from 2009 or 2010 (I can’t remember off the top of my head). I don’t know if it’s just been a while since the better reviews were written and the restaurant might have gone “down” since, or if I just happened to go on a bad day.
I mean to give Hong Meas another chance and give them the benefit of the doubt that I just went on a bad day, but I don’t think I’ll make that visit for a while at least.
GOLDIE GOES ABOUT 