Vietnamese rice bowl

Zao Vietnamese Bistro's Zao Bowl features two of its most popular dishes on a bowl of rice or noodles (your choice). The crispy spring rolls are made of minced pork, glass noodles and mushrooms. Minced spring onion (scallion) and crushed peanuts are spooned over the charred barbecue pork and chicken. And everything is served with fresh bean sprouts, lettuce and basil, pickled carrots and turnips, and a small bowl of Vietnamese dipping sauce. Yum!

Pink salad

Pomelo (Citrus grandis or Citrus maximus) has two names in the Philippines depending on what region of the country they, or the speaker, are from. The ones from the province of Quezon in Luzon are called lukban (there is a town named Lucban there too) and its flesh is usually yellow. The ones from the Davao region in Mindanao are called suha and are pink. The pink variety is sweeter and more easily available in Manila so the name suha is also more commonly used. Americans usually observe that the pomelo looks like a grapefruit. Never having seen or tasted grapefruit myself, I can't compare the two, but friends who have tasted both say that the pomelo is sweeter. During the past decade or two, pomelo started appearing as a salad ingredient in restaurants here, and I will forever be grateful to the person who started it because it's very refreshing. The pomelo and shrimp salad of the Vietnamese restaurant Zao is unusual in that it has more pomelo than lettuce but it was also very good.