Triple Coconut Tree Restaurant

Triple Coconut Tree Restaurant
4124 Hastings Street
Burnaby, BC

There are areas in Metro Vancouver that I do not visit often due to several reasons – Vancouver West Side and Kitsilano “just because”, Coquitlam and Surrey due to it being “far”, Richmond because of their crazy drivers and so on. There is an area that I have not blogged much about for absolutely no reason, other than probably laziness: North Burnaby. So, during that week where an arctic front was hitting Vancouver and I was looking something to warm myself and, rather than go to the usual places for a bowl of noodles/ramen/pho, I decided to go to North Burnaby. The place I ended up going? Triple Coconut Tree Restaurant.

Sure any place would have warmed me up: A hot cup of tea after the meal, anybody? True but, unlike Mafalda, I have no problem with soups, I might as well go for that.

It was just past noon and there were already a couple of customers inside – some Asians, some non-Asians. I guess this is a place where everybody can have their meals no problem at all! While I only saw a waitress during my whole meal, it seems she had everything under control. From taking your order, cleaning the tables, managing take-out orders, filling your cup of tea, etc. nothing was left unattended. OK, to those of you who wants to hear that “is everything OK?”, no, she did not ask me but, then again, when was the last time that happened in an Asian restaurant? Anyway, to the food.

In what seems to a trend for me, I ordered their spring rolls. And what seems to be a trend in all Vietnamese restaurants, they came while I was halfway my bowl of pho. Is this a conspiracy or what? In general, it looked pretty much like the rolls from Bao Chau or Le Petit Saigon – two places I believe have quite good rolls. It was crunchy and had a nice balance of the wrapper and filling. However, there was an interesting twist: it had a hint of sweetness. I couldn’t hit what it was at first until I noticed how orange the centre was. Somehow, the carrots really went “through” that frying process and gave up some of it sweetness.

As for the pho, I went for the all-but-kitchen-sink bowl of pho. Or, in this case, rare beef, well-done beef, tendon and tripe. The side of bean sprouts was smaller than some other places but suit me fine. After all, why serve a large quantity if some people might not eat even half of it? One thing that struck me right away about this bowl was the taste of the broth. No, it wasn’t bad; rather, it was different. While we all know one of the ingredients in the pho broth is star anise, usually it plays along with other components, like cloves. However, in this case, the star anise was quite strong at the beginning. I know this might be too much to some people but, after a couple more spoonfuls, it started to balance out. Could it be I was a bit over sensitive that day?

As for the rest, the noodles were average, though, it wasn’t bundled together. The beef (both rare and well-done) were OK. The tripe had a bit more bite than some other places but, since I don’t mind that way, it had it happily. The curveball was the tendon. See that piece to the left? For a moment, I was contemplating if that was a piece of tendon or a big piece of marrow/fat! Why? It was really soft, softer than the ones I am used for tendon. Even some of the pieces at the bottom weren’t as soft as this single piece! However, in the end, I ate it and tasted good.

Aside from some minor details, I found this place quite good. Might not have the best pho but it was quite acceptable. The spring rolls were also on par, if not above par compared to other places. Because of this, if I am in the area, it is a place I would come back.

Tagged under: Burnaby • Pho • Vietnamese