Basilleaf’s Delight

When thinking about our dinner at Basilleaf, a BYOB Vietnamese restaurant at 2808 South Eagle Road in Newtown, I keep coming back to the word “delightful.” First off, it’s a friendly place, with everyone from the wait staff to the kitchen staff showing up at your table to make sure your service is good. Then there’s the food, which is fresh, imaginative, flavorful and subtle all at once. With entree prices ranging from about $9 to $21, you can have a wonderful meal there without spending a lot of money.

Lynne and I visited with Sally and Arnie (I owed Arnie dinner for going beyond the call of friendship when he helped me schlep a desk from my old office in Trenton to home.) For an appetizer, we shared an entree-sized bowl of hu tieu, a pork broth with clear noodles, served family style. Dinner was pan-seared flank steak, spiced colossal shrimp, an outstanding tofu in diced tomato sauce, and grilled lemongrass curry chicken with rice.

Note the guy who considers himself a carnivore first used the word “outstanding” to describe the tofu. But it was. Lightly fried and served in a not-too-spicy tomato, garlic and bacon sauce, the tofu was infused with the sauce’s deep flavor. Like everything else we tried that night, the flavors were a delicate mix of spice and freshness. We clearly tasted vegetables, meats and spices all at once.

We’ll be back. A lot.

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