The Gossiping Gourmet:

What a pleasure it is to be able to dip into the treasure trove of restaurants that is Little Saigon. For those of you who have never tried the delights that await you there, we hope to tempt you. For those of you who know it, we hope to point you to new finds. The food is not only scrumptious, but affordable as well.

One of our very favorites is Xanh Bistro, tucked into a strip mall at the edge of Fountain Valley. This storefront restaurant is small and casual, decorated with photographs of Vietnam. The kitchen is presided over by Haley Nguyen, chef and cooking teacher, who also conducts local market tours of Little Saigon. She seems to be on a mission to expose and educate people to the joys of healthy Asian food.

Her cuisine is traditional Vietnamese with a contemporary touch. We find the appetizers and salads so irresistible that we are tempted to make a meal of them. The rice flake shrimp has a very light coating of crunchy rice flakes, reminiscent of Rice Krispies without the sugar — thoroughly addictive. The good-sized shrimp were very fresh and juicy. They come with a tangy, sweet plum dipping sauce, which was very tasty but not even necessary because the shrimp themselves were so good.

Classic is the deep-fried combo of shrimp and yam. We have had this mixture elsewhere “tempura”-style, but here it is simply deep-fried without batter, making it lighter. Once again, the excellent shrimp appear, this time nested in perfectly crisp shoestring yam fries. The way to eat this is to compose a “wrap” with a large lettuce leaf, adding shreds of pickled turnips, carrots and Vietnamese mint leaves. Roll it all up and dip it in the special light fish sauce, seasoned with sugar, garlic and chili.

We were particularly impressed that the dish was virtually greaseless for something deep-fried.

The juicy lime leaf chicken skewers are simple yet complex. The chicken is covered with kaffir lime leaves and then grilled. The leaves impart a unique aroma and special flavor to the chicken, a little like lime zest but more subtle.

Lightness is the hallmark of Vietnamese salads. No exception is the banana blossom salad with shrimp and pork. Banana flower may be unfamiliar to some of you, but it has a very delicate, slightly fruity taste and a wonderful, crunchy texture that, when paired with a lime cilantro dressing, is truly superb.