Mekong - Richmond, VA

[JesseMcG]

I have been meaning to post something here about Mekong in Richmond, VA since I visited in February, but it continually slipped my mind until this:

http://www.craftbeer.com/pages/news-and ... ars#mekong

My wife and I drove down to Myrtle Beach in February to visit my parents, so I could golf with my Dad, and she could shop with my Mom. We decided to spend one night on the road, so I decided that I had to find somewhere with good beer along the way. I had read some great things about Mekong on BeerAdvocate... so we decided to go a little bit out of our way so we could pop in.

Mekong is on the outskirts of Richmond - it's not in the downtown core, which I've heard is nice. It's actually in a sort of strip mall in the middle of nowhere. This worked out really well for us though, as it was just off the highway. Perfect since we were getting right back on it in the morning.

We stayed at an old Days Inn that was down the road from Mekong, about a 5 minute cab ride. It was freezing cold and really windy, or we probably would have walked. The Days Inn wasn't great but it was cheap and it did the trick.

We arrived at Mekong with the intention of eating dinner, and hanging around long enough that I could taste as much good beer as I could. On arrival we were greeted by probably 20-25 people in the front hall/foyer of the restaurant waiting for tables. We probably arrived around 8:00pm. Almost everyone was really young (college students), and right away you could tell it was a very popular place. My wife slid her way up to the hostess and asked to be put on the waiting list. We came from all that way, we were staying in a hotel 5 mins away... not a chance I wasn't getting to try this place, no matter the wait. My wife returned to tell me that we were on the list, and that there was a bar at the back that we could wait at, and they would come and get us when it was time. PEEERFECT. We couldn't see the bar from the front hall... and all those people were just hanging around so we thought we'd have the same fate. Nothing I read on BeerAdvocate mentioned that there was a bar.

So on the way to the back room we got a peak of the restaurant. It's very modest looking... nothing fancy at all. The walls are adorned with beer posters. The rest of the theme is Vietnamese. The closer to the back room we got, the bigger the space became. The place is pretty huge overall, complete with a large bar, large lounge tables recessed from the bar, and a large stage for bands. I'm pretty sure there was a wedding reception taking place in a private room attached to the back as well. Huge place.

The first thing I noticed on the menu boards were the sours. There were 5 sours on tap, which we found out later on, is always the case. There are always 5 sours on tap. Awesome. My wife loves sours too, so we ordered a BFM 2012 Bon-Chien and another I cannot remember.

My wife and I sat at the bar, and I was served the beers by An Mekong, the owner and operator of Mekong. I didn't know it at the time. I think it was $15 for the two sours. When he set our beers down, he promptly half-filled 3 other glasses with the 3 sours we didn't order, gave them to us and said "you might as well try all of them!". So other than dinner, and the 1 beer I had with dinner, we didn't pay for another beer all night.

We returned to the dining room a little later (still with a bunch of the sour beer we hadn't finished yet), had an awesome, inexpensive Vietnamese meal with a Cigar City Jai Alai... then returned back to the bar. We stood at one of the large lounge tables beside the bar while we looked over the menus. An (the owner) saw us and immediately brought a pint of their "Tom Yum Saison" over for my wife. The base beer was the saison from The Bruery, and using The Randall it was infused with fresh ginger, centennial hops and kaffir lime leaves... it was incredible. An hung out with us all night talking beer... he knew every single person who came into his bar... probably the most friendly guy I've ever met. We met a bunch of his friends and had a great time. And we didn't spend a dime, he just kept on bringing my wife and I beers... we tried at least 5 different Dogfish Head beers that they had on tap...also a bunch of Hardywood Park stuff (local to Virginia). I tried Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA for the first time... he brought me a bottle of this at around midnight... this one put me over the top... we didn't quite get on the road as early the next day as we originally had planned. But it was so obviously worth it.

To top it off, An's friend gave us a ride back to the hotel at the end of the night.

So, my intention with this rant is to try and get you guys to visit if you're in or around Richmond. Even if you're remotely close, make an effort to support this place... I won't ever miss a chance to return.

http://www.mekongva.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/ansbeertv?feature=watch
http://www.facebook.com/mekongrestaurant

[austin]

Great story, not that i'll be in or around Richmond anytime soon but I love hearing this kind of stuff, thanks. I'm sure there thousands of bars and restaurants that have the unusual tap or bottle, somewhere off the beaten path.

[JesseMcG]

I didn't really talk much about what beers they serve... I have lots of pics on my phone that I'll post when I figure out how. But this is a good indication of what they have...this is their current tap list as of the last hour:

What's on TAP
Allagash White, Confluence and Curieux
Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
Dogfish Head Burton Baton, World Wide Stout and 120 Min
Green Flash/St Feuillien Friendship Brew
BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon Chien
Hardywood Park Singel and Bourbon DIPA
Duvel Single
St Bernardus Abt 12
Lips of Faith Tart of Lychee
Urthel Saisonieres
Bockor Cuvee des Jacobin Rouge
Duchesse de Bourgorgne
van Honsbrouck Gueuze
Petrus Aged Pale
Triple Karmeliet
Chimay Cinq Cents
Banhof Leipziger Porticus
Van Steenberge Gulden Draak
Dark Horse Scotty Karate
Great Divide 2010 Hibernation
and the famous:) Randall -Scotch thru oak and coffee beans

Focus is certainly on Belgians and American micros.

From the same post:

and if you want a beer blend
Chief Beer Officer suggest
* World Strongest Black n Tan
a blend of World Wide Stout and 120 Min
*Tart of Darkness
a blend of Leipziger Porticus, Gueuze and Bon Chien
* Triple IPA
a blend of DF Head Burton Baton, 120 Min and Ballast Point Sculpin
BEER IS THE ANSWER