House Special offers limited-time Specials + Spirits tasting menu

If you've only had Vietnamese food in cheap 'n' cheerful joints, maybe it's time to try out some modern Vietnamese cuisine in chic 'n' cool digs.

There are a number of options to check out, including East Vancouver's Anh + Chi, not to mention forthcoming ones like Chi in Kitsilano.

Over in Yaletown, House Special (which opened in May at 1269 Hamilton Street) is offering a Specials + Spirits tasting menu from Friday to Sunday (July 22 to 24). This four-course menu, with each course paired with a cocktail, is $65 per person.

Here's a look at what the prix-fixe menu includes.

Things start off on a light note with Apocalypse Cow, which consists of beef carpaccio with roasted broccoli and Vietnamese herb purée, complemented by a rectangular stick of crispy rice.

It's accompanied by Apocalypse Now, with New York sour rye, ginger syrup, citrus, pinot noir, and peppered lime. (Delicious and sweet, think an adult Shirley Temple.)

Temple's Fried Quail consists of succulent chicken-fried buttermilk quail with a cube of sriracha gelée, accompanied by a lightly flavoured cilantro and jalapeño buttermilk biscuit which serves as an appropriate counterpoint.

It's paired with the refreshing Hoi An Fruit Stand, a cocktail consisting of watermelon, gin, ginger syrup, and Berliner Weisse. 

XO Cobia and Stuffed Squid is boudin noir stuffed squid with seared cobia served on a delicately nuanced lemon pilaf with mushroom XO sauce.

This dish comes with chef Phong Vo's sake iced tea, perfect for summer sipping.

For dessert, there's fresh soursop sorbet alongside Lemongrass Drop, with limoncello, vodka, lemongrass syrup, fresh squeezed kalamansi, and a lemongrass infused sugar rim.

If you want to try it out, it's only available this weekend.