Basa on Frankfort

Nice post, Annie. Welcome to the forum

I have been there. Gave me a Asiatique feel. It was decent for me. Service was knowledgable and good. Nothing really knocked my socks off but nothing was bad. Nice place. Dont know if I will make it back but it's worth a try from all.

Gave me a Asiatique feel.

I am not a big Asiatique fan at all, so this is disappointing. In what ways is it like Asiatique? The food? The wine selection? The decor (I hope not!)? I thought this place was a little more traditional than Asiatique?

Gave me a Asiatique feel.

I am not a big Asiatique fan at all, so this is disappointing. In what ways is it like Asiatique? The food? The wine selection? The decor (I hope not!)? I thought this place was a little more traditional than Asiatique?

They are not as flashy as Asiatique is with their presentation but the tastes were close but I thought Asiatique to fit my tastes better and the decor was very similar. You should at least try it out though if you are interested. You may not agree with me.

The decor was very similar.

Asiatique's textured glass bar downstairs makes me want to set myself on fire. That might seem like an extreme reaction, but it is the ugliest thing I have ever seen in a restaurant. Please tell me basa doesn't have anything like that?

The decor was very similar.

Asiatique's textured glass bar downstairs makes me want to set myself on fire. That might seem like an extreme reaction, but it is the ugliest thing I have ever seen in a restaurant. Please tell me basa doesn't have anything like that?

No they dont try to be overly-trendy.

We ate there tonight and it was WONDERFUL!

It is a fusion-style, which reminds me of Asiatique, but Asiatique is Pacific Rim fusion, while Basa reflects the true, upper-class Vietnamese/French cuisine.

The decor is striking, more like NYC than most of Louisville. The flat walls & ceiling (and floor) do lead to a fair amount of noise, but that was the only minor negative of the evening.

We had the crispy rolls, which we rolled in lettuce leaves (with mint) and dunked in the sweet/hot sauce. They were perfect! Hot, crispy, a tad spicy, and filling. The calimari salad (our other appetiser) was possibly the best calimari I've had in some time, flash fried, crispy, not overly breaded, and virtually grease free with a daikon/carrot salad.

(forgot to mention that the shrimp crisps with Sambal-accented tomato salsa that come out instead of bread are a delight)

For dinner, we had the soup (a very high-class version of Pho, with beef tenderloin, noodles, veges, and mint/lime add-ins) and the Japanese eggplant with noodles (a very filling, yet light and flavorful vegetarian dish). These were possibly the two least expensive items on the entree side, both under $15, and we ended up taking some home! Another time we'll try the duck a la orange, or one of the fish (or other wonderful sounding) dishes.

While many of the desserts sounded interesting, I went with one order of green tea ice cream, which was a beautiful plate of two perfectly creamy scoops of ice cream, shavings of a bitterweet chocolate, and a spun sugar crown on top.

All in all, a very fine, reasonably priced restaurant which we will be visiting again soon. I would expect even the C-J to give it at least 3.5 stars, as the French dishes make it much more accessible than many of the other Vietnamese in the area; personally, we'd put it above that level.

That area - the restaurant is across the street from Bourbon Bistro, just down from Volare - is growing to be a "can't go wrong" area to eat!

One thing you should know: the handicapped ramp is at the back of the building, and we didn't see handicapped parking (but may have missed that).

I had to add more input!

Everytime we have returned, Basa has gotten better. Their Shaking Beef dish is one of the tastiest things in the world. My favorite part about dining there is how fresh my entire meal tastes.