Rocs & Rolls is a small Vietnamese diner located inside Wiley Park Hotel, serving delicious stir-fried SNAILS 🐌 We have been binging Max McFarlin and Sonny’s BestEverFoodReviewShow a lot lately, and with travel restrictions sticking around for a while, we were drooling when we discovered this authentic delicacy.
The idea of snails may sound daunting but when cooked up with our herbal garnishes and umami sauces, it tastes addictingly good 🤤. We’ve been twice in April-May, taking our parents on the second occasion because they miss Vietnam the most and love to ‘nhau’ (i.e. drink alcohol with delicious, fried foods).
The idea of snails may sound daunting but when cooked up with our herbal garnishes and umami sauces, it tastes addictingly good 🤤. We’ve been twice in April-May, taking our parents on the second occasion because they miss Vietnam the most and love to ‘nhau’ (i.e. drink alcohol with delicious, fried foods).
Food
One of our favourites was the stir-fried pipis with sweet and savoury sauce, garnished with onions and spring onion shoots. This was one of the easiest dishes to eat because pipis are crustaceans with soft, fishy-like flesh. The sauce was leaning towards sweeter than savoury, with earthy notes from the vegetables.
This dish was sea snails cooked in tamarind sauce. The snails were a lot harder to eat because they were curled up inside their shell. Just remember not to eat the end part of the snail – that’s their poop 😂. The sauce was too sweet for our liking.
This was razor clams tossed in umami, chilli sauce. These clams were a struggle to eat because they were shut very tight. They needed more time on the wok to open up more. The accompany sauce was moderately chilli with a peppery taste.
The scallops was another favourite and easy-to-eat dish. These delicious bad boys were steamed then fried, and garnished with Vietnamese coriander (rau ram), peanuts, fried shallots and garlic, and spring onions soaked in vegetable oil. The scallops had a creamy texture, elevated by the aromatic peanuts and earthy coriander. Traditionally they should have ground the peanuts but the staff may have been busy/lazy that day 🤷🏻♀️.
Next was another snail dish, stir-fried with butter corn and Vietnamese coriander (rau ram). The snails were chewy and delicious but the highlight of the dish was definitely the corn. They were very soft, sweet and creamy.
This was definitely not a dish for the average Joe but if you’re a foodie, and want to have an authentic taste, try this stir fried duck fetus in tamarind sauce 😏. Vietnamese people love duck fetus. There’s something delicious about the soft, palate body, the chewy yolk and the crunchy unborn bones. There were a lot of textures masked well by the thick, overly sweet tamarind sauce.
Our final dish was prawns and vermicelli noodles in XO sauce. The noodles were light and soft. The prawns were flavourful and filling, but nothing extravagant about them. This was a reliable main dish that was well executed and delicious.
Service
The staff were very friendly but that might have been because we spoke Vietnamese to them. There was no table service because this “restaurant” is located inside a pub/hotel.
Review
Overall this was a casual dine-in spot, perfect for those who crave a Vietnamese delicacy. This restaurant is more ideal for those who enjoy a strong umami flavour or odd textures. The food was good but we wouldn’t make it a regular thing unless we have another random craving.
Happy eating ….🐌
Happy eating ….🐌
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