According to random sources on the Internet, the term ‘bawai’ means maternal grandmother in Vietnamese. I’m not sure if this is true because Google translate just gives me ‘bawai’ when I type it in but hey, if other bloggers say it’s true…
A and I stumbled upon this place by a happy accident last year. We rented out an Airbnb in Tagaytay and while the place did offer a plated breakfast, it didn’t have a restaurant so we were forced to out for dinner.
Luckily the place we stayed in had menus from nearby restaurants and for some reason the sound of Vietnamese food really appealed to us. I’m not a big fan but I do love spring rolls. A is more experienced with Vietnamese cuisine that I am; there’s this stall in Banchetto that apparently sells very good Vietnamese fare.
It was about ten to fifteen minutes away from our Airbnb but the drive was kind of creepy. We went out at around six in the evening and being the noobs that we are, we just decided to use Waze to get to the restaurant. The good news was that it was registered, but the bad news was that there’s this really creepy road that you had to drive through in complete darkness. Becaues it was located in a residential area, streetlamps were few and far in between.
It was a good thing that we called in to reserve a table because Bawai’s Vietnamese Kitchen was, quite literally, a kitchen. It was a residential house turned into a restaurant so the tables were very limited. It was quite shocking, actually, that I got to park in somebody else’s garage.
I’ve quite forgotten the names of what I’ve ordered and I’ve already lost the receipt, but we started off with fresh spring rolls. The rolls were good but the peanut sauce was different from what I expected. Still good though, just different.
I had this beef stew that was so good for a chilly evening. The cook must have stewed this for hours; the meat literally fell apart when I poked at it with my fork. I don’t know what ingredient they put in here but it tasted really fresh.
A had the pork dish, the name of which of course I don’t know. I can’t quite remember the taste but I remember the meat also being incredibly tender.
All in all I really liked Bawai Vietnamese Kitchen and would definitely go back. But probably during the daytime – that drive really was quite spooky.
J.Hernandez Street, Purok 5, Bucal, Silang, Cavite
Call 0920 972 2924
