I had a very enjoyable dinner at Le Soleil in the Stonestown Galleria on Friday. Le Soleil opened recently in July. This location is a second Le Soleil, the original is in the Inner Richmond.
The menu has a lot of pan-Southeast Asian fusion dishes.
Margarita Mami ($14)
lime leaf, lemongrass, agave, aperitif wine, citrus
They had run out of the “Wake Up Saigon” Vietnamese egg coffee cocktail I was eyeing, so instead I had a Margarita, which was good. It had a bit of Southeast Asian twist with the lemongrass.
New Caledonian Blue Prawn Aguachile ($24)
碧海藍蝦
nam jim jaew, cilantro
To start I had the prawn aguachile, which was delicious! This had four jumbo prawns that were raw and sweet with a nice texture, sauced with a zingy Thai nam jim jaew that was sour, sweet, spicy, and salty. It seemed like the Thai dish kung chae nampla maybe?
Phở Risotto ($32)
越式牛骨烩意大利饭
rib bone, chimichurri, pickled fresnos
And for a main I had the “pho risotto,” which was also delicious. This was like a pho flavored risotto. The rice was creamy and cheesy with a bit of a flavor profile of a pho broth with anise and maybe cinnamon and cardamom. There were two bone-in short ribs on top that were super tender and had a bit of a sweet glaze, and a drizzle of chimichurri sauce that brightened everything up.
Matcha Tiramisu ($6)
And for dessert I had a piece of matcha tiramisu, which was more of a cake with a creamy matcha flavored top layer.
