Nep Cafe offers an innovative take on modern Vietnamese cuisine, blending traditional flavors with contemporary culinary techniques. They have two locations. One in Fountain Valley and the second in Irvine, which was the location we had lunch at.
Nep’s approach to Vietnamese cuisine is innovative, moving beyond traditional boundaries to present a contemporary Vietnamese dining experience. The cafe is the destination for those seeking to explore what’s current and what’s to come in Vietnamese cuisine. Most of the traditional Vietnamese dishes are available at Nep, but they’re presented in a modern and upscaled way.
Our lunch started with a seafood ceviche appetizer made from scallop, shrimp, calamari and bended with a tom yum sauce made from Thai chili, mango and coconut. It was paired with some rice chips for use as a container. Put the ceviche into the chip and then eat the whole thing. Extremely tasty!
Up next was the Nep’s garlic noodles. Made with garlic butter soy, lemongrass sate, and garlic, this dish will remind you why Vietnamese cuisine is among the best in the world. The dish is offered with your choice of shrimp or crab meat. We went with the shrimp. It was charred perfectly and goes great with the noodles.
The final dish was the reason we came to Nep in the first place: the Bánh Mì Chao. This dish includes various meats (most popular one is usually beef bò né), sausages, eggs and pâté on a skillet eaten with loaves of bread. It’s basically a deconstructed Vietnamese sub.
Our Bánh Mì Chao came with filet mignon in a black peppercorn sauce, two sunny side up eggs, pork roll, pâté, and tomatoes. The bread come on a side basket. You can eat it separately or combine it with the main dish.
Lunch for two came to just over $40 per person, which is higher than a typical Vietnamese restaurant, but still offers decent value for the level of quality and service. Irvine is not short on Asian restaurants. It takes a lot of stand out in this city. Nep Cafe has managed to do that with its unique take on the taste of Vietnam.
