After successfully operating Em Vietnamese Kitchen in Bensonhurst since 2017, husband and wife team chef Ly Nguyen and Patrick Lin have opened their second restaurant: a Vietnamese tapas spot in Dumbo.
Em Vietnamese Bistro’s menu items are “basically seafood dishes and small plates Saigoners would eat on a night on the town back in Vietnam,” Lin wrote in an email. At lunch, those include minced pork, shredded chicken, beef and tofu rice and noodle dishes, bánh mì varieties and apps like crispy spring rolls and fried chicken wings.
Dinner includes ngheu hap xa (clams in lemongrass broth), chao so diep (scallop rice porridge with garlic, butter, scallion and cilantro) and banh xeo (turmeric rice crepe with shrimp, pork belly, calamari, bean sprouts and scallions). A liquor license is pending, and fruit smoothies, aloe drinks and fruit juice slushies are available in the meantime.
Em Vietnamese Bistro is located at 57 Front Street and is open from Wednesday–Monday from noon–4pm and 5pm–9pm.
