District Eleven: Asian fusion Vietnamese restaurant in Vancouver
May is birthday month so now I have a bunch of food reviews to write. For my boyfriend’s birthday, we had dinner with a bunch of friends at District Eleven, a new Asian-fusion restaurant that opened in Vancouver recently. They offer a modern twist to classic Vietnamese dishes and I was excited to check them out because they are also open really late – until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays!
Interior
I made reservations for a group of 7. We were seated at the longer bar tables in the back. Now because they are bar tables, I would say it’s actually pretty uncomfortable because the chairs have no back support and for short people like me, you basically have to climb up and down to go to the washroom. A nice element is that they have hooks for jacket and bags so even though it’s bar seating, you don’t need to leave you stuff on the little stool or on the ground, which is nice.
Interior is modern and chic. I like the overall lighting and the decor, just wish the larger table seating had more comfortable options.
Drinks
District Eleven offers full pitchers of beers and cocktails! Definitely not your usual Viet place since it’s more like a bar being open late and everything.
Would Crush Blue Raspberry ($18-22)
They have a selection of beers to choose from but for some reason my boyfriend chose the raspberry beer which is why the colour is so red lol. It is also quite sour so not the best choice imo unless you really like sour/fruity beers.
Yuzu-Lemon Drop ($14) and Moolong Milk Tea ($13)
I ordered the yuzu lemon drop cocktail, which has 2oz of vodka, lemon juice, yuzu and sprite. It is actually a really big cocktail because the glass is really big. I liked the overall taste but it is quite strong for a drink with yuzu in it.
My boyfriend orders the moolong milk tea, which has 1.5oz of vodka with lychee black tea, oat milk and lychee soho. This drink is much stronger than the yuzu lemon drop cocktail, and it had a strong after taste. The initial taste is milk tea, but it may taste too strong for those who wanted a tasty cocktail.
Food
We mostly order everything to share between 7 people, but some people did individually order a pho/noodle soup.
Mussel motoyaki ($4/pc or $26/8 pcs)
The mussels are from New Zealand and are baked with a house motoyaki sauce, lemon, rau ram, grana padano, Jalsberg cheese, mo hanh, lemongrass and white balsamic. I don’t think they taste as good as oyster motoyakis simply because oysters are more juicy than mussels. I think this is a pricey appetizer for the amount of food you get.
Lemongrass chicken taco ($16)
So 1 order actually comes with 2 tacos but my friend ate one already so in the photo there’s only 1 lol. And just to expand on this a little more, I mostly do food blogging for fun because I like to eat. I’m don’t like to make everyone wait and not eat their food just so I can take a photo of it. I try to be quick and just snap some shots before digging in.
Anyways, so this taco is actually really big and inside it is quite unique – lemongrass chicken strips with umami salsa fresca, kawa chicharron, hanh phi and yuzu honey mustard. I don’t think I’ve had a taco with this kind of filling before. It was yummy and unique!
Aburi crispy rice ($16-18/4 pcs)
This is probably their most popular appetizer that I’ve seen on Instagram. What we have here is a bed of deep fried sushi rice and you can choose between spicy imitation crab salad on top or sashimi-grade salmon for $2. We chose the salmon because who eats fake crab by choice… it is topped with chili mayo, crispyy shallots, pickled jalapeno, ponzu glaze and seaweed.
This thing is pretty big so it’s at least a 2-biter and full of flavour. For something that looks like this, it has pretty good structural integrity and doesn’t entirely fall apart when you bite into it. I think this appetizer lives up to its popularity and is a must-order.
Banh Xeo Ebi Tempura ($12/5 pcs)
This is a Vietnamese inspired prawn tempura with banh xeo tempura batter, ebi prawn, ponzu glaze, truffle seaweed mayo and a nuoc cham dipping sauce. I really liked this because it was crunchy and savoury! Also pretty big for a prawn tempura.
Umami bombs ($8/6 pcs)
I really liked the name of this appie and wondered what it tasted like. The dish comprises of marinated skinless cherry tomatoes, house dressing, scallion, onion and shiso, served with grilled herb butter bread. You basically plop one of the tomatoes on the bread and eat it like a bruschetta. The tomato pops in your mouth so there is this sense of “explosion of flavour”. It was yummy but for $8, I would say this is not worth it.
Nori truffle fries ($10)
I love french fries so I had to order this. For $10, you get a giant bowl of fries topped with truffle seaweed mayo and granada padano cheese. I actually really liked the mayo and could taste the truffle a lot in this dish.
Bo kho ($16)
Bo kho is essentially a Vietnamese beef stew. This one uses AA brisket, tenderloin and carrots. I’ve had some bad bo khos before where the carrots were still hard and the beef wasn’t tender, but this one from District Eleven was quite good. You can choose to pair it with rice, noodles or bread (we chose bread). The beef was very tender and carrots were soft.
Pho bo ($16)
Some of my friends order a pho for themselves. It is a classic noodle soup with beef broth, rice noodles, sliced brisket, tripe and rare beef. I didn’t taste any so I can’t comment much on how it tastes, but $16 would be considered expensive for pho noodles.
Bun bo hue ($17)
This is another classic noodle soup but a spicy version with beef, lemongrass broth, beef cuts and thick round rice noodles. Again, I didn’t taste this so can’t comment.
Bo luc lac ($28)
This entree is served with rice or bread (we chose rice) and features wok-fried AA tenderloin beef, mushrooms, butter, oyster sauce, shallots and onions. This was really yummy as the beef was tender and the sauce was very savoury – a very homey/rainy day kind of dish. Great paired with rice.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: โญโญโญโญ
We all had a good dinner at District Eleven. We tried a lot of dishes (most of their menu). Out of everything we ordered, I liked the following the best: crispy rice, bo kho, beef luc lac and truffle fries. I would skip on the noodle soups because I think you can get these at more casual pho places for cheaper.
I think their menu is fun and very much Asian fusion, which is unique. Everything tasted good and there’s something for everyone. Also love how late they are open until and the cocktails and alcohol menu they have, which makes District Eleven different from the pho [insert a number here] spots around Vancouver. District Eleven is a fun bar-like restaurant to hang out with friends.
Sincerely, Loewe