On Friday night Adelaide Food Central attended the new hottest new restaurant in Mawson Lakes, DISTRICT 1. This modern Vietnamese eatery boasts your favourite dishes, in a way that is exciting and interesting. We fell in love with their too pretty to drink cocktails, which are great for that perfect gram picture.

We tried an array of their dishes including:

HANOI SPRING ROLLS
Pork, carrot, taro, black fungus, & vermicelli noodles rolled in rice paper.
Even before biting into this spring roll you could tell it was going to be crispy. The immediate crunch made you super excited, followed by the flavoursome and hearty filling. The Hanoi spring rolls are the perfect starter to your evening.

SHAKING WAGYU
Wok tossed wagyu beef, green peppercorns, onion, baby king oyster mushroom, capsicum & cherry tomatoes.
A great little stir fry with juicy beef that melted in your mouth. The mushrooms, onion, capsicum and cherry tomatoes were a great combination of vegetables and worked perfectly with this type of protein.

OBAMA
Hanoi spring rolls, BBQ pork patties, chargrilled pork, vermicelli noodles & fresh herbs w/traditional Vietnamese dressing.
This was a super interesting dish, almost like a deconstructed noodle soup. The pork was super juicy, and the thick topping helped to enhance the flavours. The vermicelli noodles paired well with the Vietnamese dressing. We loved the addition of the extra Hanoi Spring rolls that we couldn’t get enough of.

SWEET & SOUR MANGO SALAD
Sweet & sour mango, purple cabbage, carrot, fresh herbs, roasted peanut dressed w/traditional Vietnamese dressing & prawn cracker.
One of the freshest and radiating salads you will try. Flavour, flavour flavour is all that I can say. You couldn’t help but eat more and taste all the zingy freshness of the vegetables. A must try!

CRISPY BARRAMUNDI
Deep fried whole barramundi served w/sweet & sour mango salad & tamarind sauce on the side.
A cool looking dish with the barramundi wrapped all around the salad and pieces of fish. I loved the tamarind sauce and would have loved to see some more. The sweet mango salad worked perfectly with a dish of this calibre.

DA LAT VIETNAMESE PIZZA
Topped w/roasted shrimp, chargrilled pork, pork floss, eggs, corn, garlic, fried shallot, fresh herbs & homemade garlic aioli.
This was my favourite meal of the night. This pizza was like no other with one of the crispiest bases you will ever try. The light but textual base tied all the delicious toppings together. The garlic aioli had so much flavour, which I couldn’t get enough of.

CRISPY BANH XEO
Crispy Vietnamese pancake filled w/chargrilled pork, king prawns, bean sprouts, spring onions, caramelized onions served w/iceberg lettuce, fresh herbs & traditional Vietnamese dressing.
I have never been a huge fan of pancake like dishes but this one was a hit. The egg was incredibly crispy which made the dish exciting to eat. The filing of the king prawns and delicious pork was a great surprise nestled beneath the egg.

WAGYU PHO
16-hour wagyu broth served w/thinly sliced MS9+ wagyu beef, beef tendon balls, beef brisket, ox tail, rice noodles & fresh herbs.
As soon as this dish came out you could smell all the vibrant aromas. Sizzling on the bowl you could tell it was going to be spectacular. The wagyu beef was served raw and cooked in the hot pot. The beef balls were flavoursome and went well with all the delicate herbs added afterwards. A must try!

Thank you to the team at DISTRICT 1 for having us. We were super impressed with everything that you served and we can’t wait to come back.

Words by Tomika Salerno

WHERE: 3/18-28 Main St, Mawson Lakes