Chi & Em - Review
Vintage Vietnamese
Chi & Em opened up 4 months ago and I got to try it out last week. It is located on Whyte Ave and has all the charm of Saigon in the 60s. The walls are covered in old-school pics from Vietnam, flowers, and anime? This makes sense as their menu features not only Vietnamese food but also Japanese sushi. Is this the new version of Maki Maki? RIP
I wasn’t even that hungry the night I came but was enticed by everything on the menu. Since Edmonton has been in its hot girl era I couldn’t do pho, I didn’t want to get sweaty. So the obvious choice was this delicious vermicelli dish, Bun Thap Cam aka Signature Assorted Bowl. This bowl had grilled chicken and grilled beef wrapped in a betel leaf, house-made grilled pork sausage spring rolls, pickled carrots, vermicelli noodles, vegetables and Vietnamese herbs. I dumped fish sauce all over this and enjoyed the usual tastes of a vermicelli bowl. My eyes widened when I had the betel leaf wrapped around grilled beef, such a unique flavour and something you don’t usually see at most restaurants.
I paired this dish with the Ha Noi Egg Coffee, which was delicious af. The creamy texture of the beaten egg yolk with condensed milk went so well with the strong flavour of the coffee. If you haven’t tried this before, this is worth trying at least once. So yum.
My friend had ordered the Pho Dac Biet which had a 24-hour broth, steak, brisket, meatballs, tendon, tripe and rice noodles. I tried some of this and would have to say the broth had a strong and deep flavour. It was pretty decent tbh and the bowl was quite enormous.
Last but not least our final dish was Press Salmon Sushi. The salmon was seared and served with a creamy sauce which was Japanese probably. It tasted fine but wasn’t as impressive as the other two Vietnamese dishes.
Overall, the food was tasty and I definitely got the vibe of a Saigon alley bar, they only needed short tables and those plastic stools. I kept getting the feeling that this was Maki Maki 2.0, Vietnamese and Japanese offerings in a better location and higher quality. Which is a good thing! I loved Maki Maki at its inception and was kind of sad when it shut down. Going into this meal I was told by others that “it’s not worth the price”. I mean is a few betel leaves or a larger bowl of pho worth $3 more than usual? Probably not, but the location, vibe and quality altogether might be. Chi & Em is slightly better than most Vietnamese restaurants but will come at a higher cost.
Sal says: Just Try It (3.6/5)
Geoff says: The decor and menu seem a bit overwhelming at first but I quickly realize with a couple of $30 pho bowls combined with a variety of Vietnamese and Japanese options that this is intentionally not your typical restaurant. Tried the classic Pho Dac Biet to compare how their pho stacked up and was not disappointed. Enjoyed the extra jalapeño slice kick from the pressed salmon. Chi and Em are best enjoyed with friends and would want to go back to try their other shareable items and see what their $30 pho tastes like.
