Sitting on the corner of Elizabeth Street and first, Elizabeth Street Café is a restaurant with both a unique menu and a quirky design, fitting in with the downtown Austin vibe perfectly.

A mixture of French and Vietnamese cuisine, Elizabeth Street Café has a fusion of cultures unlike many other restaurants in Austin. The menu features many Vietnamese appetizers such as fried spring rolls, vietnamese wanton soup, and more. As for entrees, the restaurant serves several variations of  sandwiches Báhn Mì, Bún, and Pho with your choice of meat or vegetables. Their drink menu is just as impressive, including several Vietnamese beverages and teas.

Upon our first visit to Elizabeth Street Café, my family and I ordered the pork fried spring rolls and the shrimp and yam fritters for our appetizers. The spring rolls had the perfect balance of crunch on the outside and tenderness on the inside and were served fresh out of the fryer. They yam and shrimp fritters were just as impressive, coming out of the kitchen piping hot with a crunchy exterior and soft and tender potatoes on the inside.

As for entrees, my family and I each ordered pho with different broth flavors. I ordered the lemongrass and chicken pho and I was thoroughly impressed. The chicken and the noodles were cooked perfectly and the broth was full of flavor. The portions were large and I definitely could have shared my order with another person and still leave full.

Despite all of the things I had already eaten, I had managed to save some room for dessert from Elizabeth Street Café’s array of French pastries or “Bon Bons”. My mother ordered a delicious coconut cream puff glazed in chocolate and full of fresh coconut flavor. I ordered a Pistachio éclair both filled with a pistachio cream, and iced in a pistachio glaze. Our desserts were so good that I ordered four of their daily special macarons, two blueberry vanilla, and two lemon chocolate, which I treated myself to the next day.

Overall, Elizabeth Street Café  was very impressive. Between the environment, the location, and the cuisine, the restaurant was a total hit with my family and it is definitely one of our new favorite local places to eat.