Brother and sister Pauline and Luke Nguyen along with Pauline’s husband Mark Jensen are the minds behind Red Lantern.

Through family recipes, skills and cooking techniques, this family owned restaurant produces some very good quality Vietnamese food in Sydney.

Now I have been to Phamish before and found their food impressive – however, Red Lantern is a few levels above the quality of service and presentation. But does that matter? Well, read on to find out.

I called up Red Lantern on Tuesday, to reserve a table for 4 that same week Friday. I was told the last table available was at 8:30 – “I’ll take it!” was my reply.

After a couple of drinks at the Dome Lounge at the Crown Hotel (just around the corner from Red Lantern) – we strolled along and arrived in time – worried that even a few minutes delay could make us to loose our table. As we took our seat, a waiter with a French accent was assigned to our service, and presented us with a extensive, but not overly confusing wine list and food menu.

As we ordered our wine, we immediately looked at the menu to humour ourselves by attempting to read the dish names in Vietnamese (the alphabets were in English). To start off, we ordered 3 entrees – a vegetarian rice paper roll with glass noodles (Cha Gio Chay – $15), and another of the same but with roast duck instead (Goi Vit Cuon – $16.5). Along with the rice paper rolls, we also ordered a salad of papaya with crispy tofu (Goi Du Du Chay – $17).

I must say that the tofu and papaya salad left and impression on me and is one that I highly recommend. Don’t get me wrong – the rice paper rolls were great, however I believe I’d had better at Phamish.

Our mains included a whole snapper shallow fried (Ca Chien Don – $38), beef cooked in lemon grass and Asian sauces (Bo Luc Lac – $29), Vietnamese marinated crispy skin chicken (Ga Chien Don – $32) and tofu with Asian vegetable in sesame and soy sauce (Dau Hu Voi Nam – $23) – all this served with Vietnamese red rice.

The food in itself comes with some very bold and authentic Vietnamese lemongrass citrus taste. Add that to the various textures of soft meat, crispy skin and well cooked vegetables and you have a mouthful of some very tasty Asian food.

The food felt decently light even after a reasonable second serving, so much so, that I was looking forward to dessert – banana fritters coated with coconut shavings, served with vanilla ice cream (Chuoi Chien – $14). The ice cream was my favourite element in that dish, while I found the fritters a little too crunchy for my liking. The coconut crème caramel would be my recommendation.

Overall, the service was impressive, the food had some memorable tastes, and the interior decor kept simple. Two bottles of wine ($60 and $75) with the above mentioned food (only 2 servings of desserts ordered) comes to about $90 per person.

So let me answer my above mentioned question of whether Red Lantern makes it over Phamish. In my opinion – it didn’t.

You see, there is that impression of Vietnamese food that you have tried before – it’s tasty and it’s cheap. At Red Lantern – it tastes almost the same but it’s more expensive. Phamish allows BYO of your preferred wine (with a corkage fee) and it’s food, while limited in options, is very well priced (mains under $20). Sure you have to wait for a table at Phamish and can’t book in advance – but getting a table at Red Lantern requires a good few days notice.

At Red Lantern, you pay for service, you pay for their margin on wine, you pay for the reputation of it’s chef.

At Phamish, you pay for the quality of food – period.

If you wanted a more comfortable dinning experience for a group of friends and can fork out the extra cash – then go to Red Lantern.

Otherwise, don’t regret waiting that extra longer for a table at Phamish.

Atmosphere – 7/10
Food – 8.5/10
Staff – 6.5/10
Value for money – 7/10