If you’re like me with a sensitive stomach, moody digestive system and a gut that shows it’s true size when it meets gluten then you’re at the right place. I often put myself and dinner companions through the trouble of customising my every order- ‘No pork, can I change those to rice noodles and naturally can I replace those fries for roasted and some fresh parsley/coriander for digestif’. Sam hates going out to dinner with me and everyone else is probably too shy to say, until I found this heavenly place…
Ta daaaaah! La Colonial has everything a picky eater is looking for- freshness, lightness and taste. A Vietnamese restaurant with French influence, hard work goes through everything cooked and served. The kitchen starts cooking their broth at 6am (a home made recipe) and add coriander (cilantro for my American chums) and lime to almost everything. Dream! They use the perfect amount of curry on light rice paper wraps, steamed meat and gentle stir fried glass noodles. You will never go back feeling bloated, tired or suffering from any food babies/comas. 
The atmosphere is equally elegant.
The restaurant manager has shared with us how he’s seen his little customers morph into adults over the years.. so it’s definitely a spot that’s become many people’s regular hang outs for dinners. Other than that, there’s the writer that parks his car outside for an afternoon meal and coffee almost every day while enjoying all the great people watching on that block. Speaking of people watching, this spot is only a block away from Oak street, so you’re never too short of inspiration or runway on the street at Le Colonial. The restaurants interiors are very colonial and calming, you would think you’re on a Caribbean holiday with the dinning room adorned with louvered shutters, lush palm and banana trees, tightly-woven rattan chairs, lush palms and tropical banana trees and slow-moving ceiling fans.
I felt immediately transported to another time and place, Greg Jordan (the designer) has managed to capture the romance and spirit of french colonial south-east Asia from the 1920’s.
Lunch is served daily from 11:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Dinner is served at different hours during the week/weekend, check it out- one of my Chicago musts!
