My
friend Thu and I spent the afternoon in Clearwater today. We read great reviews (and
saw mouthwatering photo) for Green
Mint Asian Grill, so we went there for lunch.
It
is a casual restaurant located in a shopping plaza off US Highway 19. They serve a variety of Vietnamese cuisine,
including banh mi sandwiches, pho, lettuce wraps, and boba teas. They have a large chalkboard menu – along with
a gallery of photos of the menu items.
While
ordering we noticed a little box at the cashier’s counter. We asked what it was for, and we were told to
put a coin on it and press the button. A
cat peeked out of the box and grabbed our coin – very funny!
Thu
is Vietnamese, and she said one of her favorite things is bún noodle salad. We both ordered the Green Mint Bún – which is made of grilled shrimp,
pork, and spring rolls served over vermicelli rice noodles, fresh mint leaves,
bean sprouts, lettuce, cucumbers, pickled carrots & daikons, crushed
peanuts, and sweet chili sauce. It was
incredibly fresh and had the perfect mix of ingredients – I think that bún is now my favorite Vietnamese dish
as well.
We
also each ordered boba tea – ice blended fruit smoothies with sweet tapioca
pearls. Mine was coconut and Thu’s was
Thai Tea flavored. We took them to go
with us and headed to the beach.
It
was a hot afternoon, so after a few hours of tubing and laying out at the
beach, we were ready for something else to cool us down. We stopped by Rita’s Ice on the drive home and got some
kid-sized Gelatis – a blend of Italian ice and frozen custard. Thu had mango and I had lemonade. The creamy custard mixed with the slush tasted
a bit like a creamsicle.
