Tamarine

I'm not usually a fan of paying big bucks for Asian food, but I'll have to admit that Tamarine is pretty good.  Although, its best reserved for those nice expensed dinners.  It's actually the same owners as Vung Tau in San Jose, where they offer similar dishes for a much cheaper price.  That being said, it is downtown Palo Alto. 

 The salt & pepper calamari is lightly battered so the crust isn't too crispy.  Tender, but has a good chewiness from the calamari.  I like how the salt & pepper seasoning wasn't too salty, which is usually the case with salt & pepper Asian dishes.  The cilantro dipping sauce was a little too light and sweet for my taste.  I would have preferred something with more kick or spiciness.
 

 I've always been a fan of roti canai (aka roti cane, roti prata).  Its a popular dish found in Malaysian restaurants made of Indian flatbread (roti) served with a curry dipping sauce.  They call this dish banh mi roti at Tamarine.  The roti here is slightly crispy and flaky on the outside with a fluffy warm insides.  It's perfect for ripping apart and dipping into the coconut curry sauce.
 

Giant jumbo prawns flashed fried in a tamarine sauce on top a massive amount of fried rice noodles.  The prawns were huge and tender, but I wasn't a fan of the sauce - too much tamarine flavor. 

Lemongrass and seared garlic sea bass served with a mango and cilantro noodle salad.  At first it looked like the seabass was too seared, but as you flake off the layers of fish, you can see its perfectly cooked.  I didn't really taste much lemongrass, possibly overpowered by the garlic.  Not a fan of the salad, it was bland and didn't seem like it went with the fish.

I'm Asian and I paid $8.50 for this single serving of rice.  It somewhat goes against everything I've been raise on, but I cannot resist runny eggs.  It's probably true that I could make this at home, it's still delicious here.  The waiters really insist on mixing this dish for you here, but I love to do that myself.  There perfectly runny egg mixes deliciously well with the sweet soy sauce and fluffy rice.  Total comfort food.

Address:                  Tamarine
                               546 University Ave
                               Palo Alto, CA

Type:                      Vietnamese

Popular chomps:      shaking beef
                               clay pot cod
                               empress rice
                               banh mi roti
                               lemongrass seabass
                               tamarine prawns

Chomp worthy:         lemongrass seabass
                               empress rice
                               banh mi roti