Quick lunch report from earlier today. I’ll state up front that this is not worthy of its whole own thread, but a search did not reveal any mentions of Phinista previously so I couldn’t tack on to anything, nor do I remember what quarter it may have opened in.
I’d been meaning to check this spot out- it’s been a revolving door of locations since Brueggers Bagels closed, so I was hoping something would stick and Vietnamese cafe seemed as likely as anything (more likely than the recently failed Acai bowl spot which may or may not have been the most recent eatery to fail in that location).
The menu has chicken, pork, beef and tofu, which you can have on a bahn mi, a rice bowl, or as a salad. There is also an egg/breakfast thing and a couple of sweet crepe options. There is a separate coffee and tea menu.
I went with a salad bowl with barbecue chicken, and my dining companion had a rice bowl with chicken. My meal was … fine. The chicken was well-seasoned to the point of being salty, depending on taste. All the entrees were served (to my dismay) in black plastic to-go containers, even for dining-in. It was a small, round container with a pile of field greens, the chicken, and shredded carrots and daikon. Sauce on the side. I was honestly still hungry after eating, but my companion donated some of her rice from her bowl. A latte was good. The house special Vietnamese coffees are made from pre-made cold brew, which can be heated if you prefer a hot coffee. I don’t know if this is usual, but the thought didn’t appeal to me. There is no decaf available, even for espresso drinks, so my companion had tea.
I simply can’t abide the wastefulness of dining somewhere with plastic take-out containers which are thrown into a mountain of landfill at the end of every single diner’s meal, so I won’t go back. Your mileage may vary.
I don’t think it is unusual for Vietnamese coffee to be made with pre-brewed coffee. In the UK, they make a show of putting the little metal filter on top for the coffee to drip through for hot Vietnamese coffee, but I’ve been to Vietnam 3 times now and haven’t seen that done there. Honestly, it takes so long to prepare Vietnamese coffee with the drip method that café patrons would probably get impatient or the café’s business would be negatively impacted if they made each one individually.
Thanks for weighing in. I honestly didn’t know. I’d be interested to give it a try in warmer weather when an iced coffee sounds appealing, as long as they’ll let me bring my own reusable mug. The cafe on the whole was cute so I don’t mean my review to be overly negative, but I am incredibly frustrated by dine-in joints using single use plastic, especially in Cambridge where recycling is required and the town makes such an effort to be sustainable.
I would be similarly disinclined to give custom to a place that used single-use containers for service. Maybe you could write to them pointing out how unsustainable and environmentally unfriendly their practices are? And that they would be losing customers who are increasingly aware of the need to be eco-friendly?
I don’t have time to reply as thoughtfully as I’d like, but like @Parsnipity (who knows me well enough), having your food served in a takeout container when you’re eating in would drive me batty. We are of the same mind in that respect. Chez digga, we never get takeout except for pizza and sushi (our local joint uses aluminum containers, which we use to death for various purposes) because we can’t stand all the takeout containers.
There is a local company, Recirclable, that I’ve joined but haven’t actually used yet (reusable takeout containers). I learned about them through Roasted Granola in our neighborhood.
@medgirl I’m sad to hear that coffee shops in Vietnam no longer do the slow drip method. When B and I have visited a couple of times—probably eons before you’ve gone because I’m part dinosaur—all the coffee shops that we visited in Hanoi and Saigon did the slow drip method. We bought 2 filters as souvenirs on 1 trip. It was so wonderful sitting there for a looong time, waiting for our coffee, watching the world go past. Everyone is in a hurry nowadays. For what reason, I dunno.
My hubby and I stopped by for lunch last weekend and every table was full of (college?) kids on their laptops. Many had finished their meals but they looked like they planned on hanging out for awhile. It definitely had a coffee shop vibe in that respect and I am curious if allowing laptops will help or hinder their business. We ended up leaving without getting food because we had hoped to eat-in and that did not look like it was going to happen anytime soon.
@Granola_gurl I think I remember someone with your username on Chowhound? Or is my memory incorrect? In any case, welcome! The Greater Boston crew is a friendly one, with great taste and lots of knowledge about food.
Oh, believe me, I spend a fair bit of time writing and calling and otherwise making clear my views on single use plastics! I’ve been a longtime member and organizer with the Surfrider Foundation and one of our main initiatives concerns our [Ocean Friendly Restaurants] program (https://www.surfrider.org/programs/ocean-friendly-restaurants) and single use plastics.
Oh wow! Great memory. I was on Chowhound like a billion years ago. Just moved back to Boston after a decade of living elsewhere. Happy to be back and connect with my fellow foodies!
Let us know if you need any help navigating the Discourse platform. When I first joined, I found it quite user-friendly (but you may already be familiar with it).
Apologies @Granola_gurl—my post wasn’t clear. Hungry Onion uses the Discourse platform/software (other forums, eg, Food Talk Central does, so I wasn’t sure if you might already be familiar with using Discourse if you had visited FTC [I hadn’t when I joined HO so Discourse was new-to-me]).
So, long story short, there is no separate Discourse group. If you need help with HO (eg, posting photos, or replying to specific posts/people), give a shout-out!
