This eclectic restaurant recreates a Vietnamese alleyway inside its dining room

Streetside’s Google listing doesn’t tell you much, other than that it’s not a BYOB.

Ring the bell (yes, you need to ring a doorbell before someone will let you in), and you’ll walk into a space that seems to be peddling absolutely everything. Sit down, and you’ll be presented with a precise menu of homestyle Vietnamese classics, from tiny pork and chive dumplings to a hearty beef pho and banh mis.

Streetside (also sometimes styled “Street Side”) is curiously under the radar, though the small, 30-seat restaurant has now been open for 12 years. It’s part restaurant, part bazaar, and part playhouse.

Upstairs, there’s a private room that can be rented out for karaoke parties (come with your playlist loaded into your YouTube channel and they cast it to a smart TV).

Its downstairs dining room walls are hand-painted with vignettes: the storefronts of a hair salon, tailor, and flower shop decorate one wall. Next to the “flower shop” is a diorama of an electronics shop, lined with cellophane Mid-Autumn festival lanterns, CDs, a boom box, and Christmas lights.

Then there’s a gift shop wall, with items you rarely see for purchase in restaurants: handbags, toys, purse charms, hats, stickers, and cute stationery. The gift shop is manned by a “3D mural” of two people on a tandem bicycle, real sneakers dangling from the painted pedals, printouts of faces pasted onto the wall above painted heads.

“Humans need playfulness, which too often focuses on children, but even adults need playfulness — to relax, recharge, and reconnect for health and well-being. Play enhances our social connections,” said Amy Huynh, 38, the general manager of Streetside.

Huynh is also the artist behind that 3D mural. She started painting the walls during the pandemic — when actual travel was off the table — to transport curious Philadelphians to Ho Chi Minh City. The couple on the tandem bicycle are her parents; their printed-out photos are from their wedding day.

“When you walk into our space you are immersed in a whimsical multisensory interplay of flavors, textures, and aromas,” said Huynh. “Everything is designed to be playful, from our food, to our music and intentional plastic, toylike dishware, brought back from Vietnam, to our decor.”

Streetside is Huynh and her family’s way of bringing Vietnam to Philadelphians. They opened a restaurant on the other side of the city from Philly’s concentration of Vietnamese restaurants on Washington Avenue, intending to spread their flavors in a neighborhood less familiar with them.

You’ll find the expected summer rolls and crispy fried spring rolls (which are exceptionally tiny and delicate ), but also a large selection of small plates like baked mussels, banh mi fries, Kroeung (a Cambodian spice paste) beef skewers, and smashed cucumbers. There’s a small selection of French and Italian wines available by the bottle, as well as a house red and house white by the glass. A tight cocktail menu features a Vietnamese espresso martini made with condensed milk and cinnamon, and a mezcal and vermouth concoction called “Dung Ha,” named for the infamous Vietnamese lesbian mob boss.

In another nook of the dining room, there are strips of single-serving Pantene shampoo packets hanging from the ceiling. “In Vietnam, these are huge,” said Huynh. “The middle class has been growing so now people can afford full-size, but historically, they could only afford to buy shampoo and soap for the week or even the day.”

At Streetside, the shampoo is for decoration only.

“It’s been hanging there so long I can’t guarantee the efficacy of it,” said a laughing Huynh.

The food is prepared by her entire family, as well as hired cooks, each dish representing a different family member. “The pork and chives dumplings are my grandma’s recipe,” said Huynh. The cocktails are inspired by her and her husband’s travels through Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and the speakeasies the couple has fallen in love with over the years.

“Streetside reflects the vibrant streets, beats, hospitality, and taste of Vietnam, but also take inspiration from other Asian countries because we have extended family from the region,” said Huynh.

They also take requests — especially for parties in their upstairs dining room. If you’ve fallen in love with a street food you had in Vietnam, they might prepare it for you.

“We’ll work with you and try to make it come to life for you,” said Huynh. Just as she and her family has done in every other aspect of their restaurant.

Streetside is open for takeout on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are open for takeout and dining in on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on Friday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

On Saturday, they’re open for takeout and dining in from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on Sunday, from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Reservations are not taken for the downstairs dining room. The upstairs private room is bookable through Instagram, email, or by phone.

Streetside (Not BYOB), 165 W. Girard Ave., 267-737-9165, streetside.my.canva.site