Kat's 9 Lives

After hearing so much about a fellow blogger, FoodGPS, we decided to meat for a day of food exploration. He had a few places in mind in Fountain Valley/Westminster and I am always willing to try new foods. We started things off by going to Cream Pan for their addictive Strawberry Croissant! The night before, I had just met the owner of Tutto Amore Gelato and invited him along for the adventure. Lucky for me that I bought myself a new GPS to guide me around the area to help find Đinh Thiêng. It's a very indiscreet place without any big signs so be sure to look for the label with the general plaza label.
One reason I was intrigued about this place was the adventurous food it offers. They have a dish that is made with RAW Duck Blood. I have never heard duck blood being served in the US, is it even legal?? lol Turns out none of us were adventurous enough to test it out, maybe next time when Ms. Lin is around and has had a good run of living... so that she will brave trying it out. For the dishes we ordered they gave us nước mắm, fish sauce. This special stinky smelly sauce is made from Fermented Fish so it has a rancid smell but this does not translate to taste. It is not too bad if you get over the smell. They also gave your typical Sweet & Spicy Garlic Sauce and a Salt & Pepper with Lime Sauce.
Even though we aren't adventurous enough to try the raw duck blood, we somehow compromised and got the cooked Duck Blood & Intestinal Blood Sausages. TL said that it did not taste like duck's blood but not quite pig's blood. The texture was more gelatinous like a very very soft tofu. Did I try this you might ask? HECK NO! If someone paid me, sure we can negotiate. From the discussion, I know I didn't miss out. I stuck with eating my Fried Quail! This is what caught my attention because of Craftsteak and Alize I have been in love with quail. The flavor was pretty good and the meat was tender. It was a great mixture of saltiness with a sweet tangy kick.
FoodGPS also wanted to try the Sizzling Venison. The preparation must be the same as how they normally season/marinate their barbecue. There wasn't a lot of meat on the plate and they were the ribs so not much meat. I thought it was very tender and flavorful, sort of like a Vietnamese Curry seasoning. It is almost indistinguishable that it is venison because there was no gamey flavor since the seasoning was much stronger. This can be a good and a bad thing because you never know what the flavor is masking... say the freshness of the meat? Also, it could hide the true identity of the meat! lol
All in all the food was not too bad. It was definitely and interesting adventure. The best part was to share this new experience with new friends. When we asked for water, they automatically gave us bottled water... this was a bit frightening.... I tried to turn a blind eye to the choppy English, the inability to communicate, the questionability of the food, and more... still I lived! That is an accomplishment in itself. I think I would feel safer if I had some Vietnamese friends take me here because they will probably get better service and better food. Another reason why I think the food wasn't too bad was because I had very very low expectations after arriving at my destination. As I have mentioned many times before, the first step to failure is trying... the first step to bad food is thinking that it will be good! The lower the expectation... the better it will seem by default... this applies to all aspects of life ^_-
I have enclosed the check for anyone who can decipher and tell me which item is which. **besides the drinks** I did look up some of the translations but they are not very helpful, so any insight would be great!

Đinh Thiêng