Shangri-La in Barabashova Market

While visiting the vast maze that is Barabashova Market here in Kharkiv we knew somewhere down one of the isles was a Vietnamese restaurant that we had heard good things about.  Much like Shangri-La it would be an impossible journey to a paradise that, although it was there, could be impossible to find.  But wouldn't you know it, it look about five minutes of random twists and turns down the aisles before Laura said "I think that's it."  If pressed, neither of us would have been able to retrace our steps to find it again.  

The lower level functions as an Asian market but when you make your way upstairs there was, for lack of a better word, a "cafe court" of food that is very difficult to find in Ukraine.  There were windows that sold Chinese and Indian dishes but we went for the Vietnamese windows.  

The ordering processes was that you would walk up to the window and a Vietnamese women standing on your side of the window would help you with the order [the women in the black shirt in the below photo].  She would then shout it through the windows to the cooks in the back.  A Ukrainian woman would then bring you the food once it was ready.

Laura went with Pho soup which she would often order when we lived in Seattle.  

 I tried a chicken dish which had a hint of curry spices.

And we also had communal rice and cabbage salad to share.  

It was all delicious and the best Asian dishes we've had abroad.