Le Do Vietnamese Restaurant
2292 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

Ah… East Hastings… An area I use to frequent but, ever since I quit Magic, I haven’t dropped by at all. It is not that there is something wrong. There are some good grocery shopping places, like Freybee’s outlet store (at Hastings and Victoria) if you are looking for cold cuts or sausages, Donald’s Market is a good option (Hastings and Nanaimo). And then there are “unique” eating places like Bao Chau and Seri Malaysia. Could it be traffic in the area? I don’t know. However, by pure sheer of events, PO and I ended up in that area and I “suggested” we give Le Do a try.

When we arrived, actually other options were considered. For example, Red Wagon which opened recently, as well as the before mentioned Seri Malaysia. However, I chose to visit this place in the end because it has been on my list for quite some time and felt I had to do so. Despite we arrived at the later parts of lunch time, the restaurant wasn’t packed full. But, then again, it was a weekday…

I just realized an odd trend of mine: When in Asian restaurants, I seldom order drinks and fall back into tea/water. Could it be that, for general consumption, it works well? Or because, somehow, when in Western type restaurants, there is that odd need to drink anything else aside from water? Regardless if this is true or not, PO ordered a drink. OK, I will admit I didn’t get the name correctly – salted lemon drink? Just as the name suggests, this slightly salty, a bit citrus-y but overall refreshing. Not something I would have ordered but, regardless, it was interesting on its own terms due to the combination of basic tastes.

To share, we ordered Goi Cuon (or was it Nem Cuon?). In a way, I was distracted when ordering and it could have been the later. The difference in terms of the item in the menu? Both are salad rolls, the former being prawns and pork and the later being listed as “patties pork”. Regardless of the name, it had some nice pieces of sausage-like pork but they were muted by all the rice noodles. The greens inside didn’t help much. Had it had from fragrant herbs – like Thai basil – it would have been better. However, in this case… It was just OK.

In retrospect, had the description been more… Interesting (?), I would have gone for the Le Do Spicy Roll – 1 piece of spring roll wrap with noodle, lettuce and cucumber (spicy). Why? Because the description does not necessarily make it enticing enough! So, what is in this roll? OK, I will let fmed explain it to your here.

Moving to the pho, PO ordered dish #3 from their menu, Pho Tai Bo Vien – rare beef plus beef balls. For the most park, he thought it was OK, not necessarily the best he has had but it got the job done. But, there was something that he kept sort of complaining: the beef wasn’t rare! I guess next time he should order the rare beef on a side so that the soup does not start to cook it… Regardless, it looked like the basic pho so I will trust in his judgement… And, as for myself…

Bun Bo Hue. The first notable? The cabbage. To my understanding, this is something that is added in-lieu of banana blossom. The only other place I recall having this served? Tràng Tiên in Edmonton… Given that Edmonton has better Vietnamese food than Vancouver, I will welcome that addition. As for the rest of the bowl… Well, it sort of went sideways. The basic meats were there but not more unusual suspects like pork knuckles or congealed pork blood. The broth felt more on the lines of the basic pho broth with some hot sauce like oil added on top. But, alas, not spicy at all. The one credit I will give them was that it had some lemongrass flavour to it. However, that didn’t really make it stand out to some other more basic bun bo hue in other places.

After the meal, PO and I compared some notes and, overall, it felt… Average? Sorry, probably I ordered the wrong dishes or it wasn’t necessarily the best time of the day. Regardless, what we ordered didn’t necessarily wow us and left of wanting more. Probably I should go back and try something else? But, if I do so… What? In the meantime, I will just leave it as a maybe

Kim Chau Deli
1327 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC

Thu Hien Deli
1388 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC

After I came back from Edmonton, I wrote their Vietnamese offerings are way better than ones here. In the case of banh mi, while there, I visited and Van Loc and Nhon Hoa (my post here). But now that I am back in Vancouver, I have to live with what we have and back in the search for similar good eats it was. That brought me to that corridor in Kingsway between Frasier Street and Knight Street where you have a huge concentration of Vietnamese shops. And there is Kim Chau Deli, one that lately has been regarded as the place with the best banh mi. And, for good measure (and different eats), I went to Thu Hien Deli, too.

I will take this one out of it right away: Just because we share the same name, there is no preferential treatment for Kim Chau! But, that brings the question of how it was brought to my attention. Well, check this post from Sherman. See, it wasn’t just the banh mi, it is the story behind it. And you thougth The Family Restaurant was “funny”! But, you know what? things like this might have a side entertainment value but, in the end, it is about the food and here is what I ordered.

I went for two of their banh mi – sate (sic?) beef tenderloin sub and their special banh mi. Now, they do not have any seating area. In fact, this isn’t even technically a restaurant, think of it more of a Vietnamese grocery store (and well stocked I must say!). So, to draw a comparison to some of the banh mi shops in Vancouver I referenced in my Edmonton post, I took them home (to cause some transit time degradation) – after I went to Thu Hien that is.

A couple of things is evident out of the gate: The bread looks quite “sturdy” or has a good crust. OK, let me try again: unlike the more rustic version in some places, the bread crust kept its shape even after the internal car shock while I was driving back. That should be a decent indicator of the type of bread used. And then there is the packing. Yup, even after “swinging” the bag and toss it in the car, it just had some wrinkles in the wax paper! Can we say good wrapping job? (On that note, the bread is sliced and toasted before preparing the sub).

Moving to the banh mi itself, the first one is the sate (sic?) beef tenderloin. I will have to admit I wasn’t particularly fan of this one. Hmmmmm…. OK, let me try again: it was a good sub; however, the sate (sic? Sauteed? Satay?) beef had a strange issue. While it was flavourful, it wasn’t necessary a beef taste. In fact, the salty and slightly spicy sauce overpowered the beef. Not necessarily a bad issue just that it could have been any meat! The rest of the sandwich component did complement it: The pickled vegetables provided some good crunchiness and the fish sauce added provided some additional salty/savoury tones. The one component that provided a “good” effect was the mayo. In fact, there was something about that mayo… As in garlic mayo? Missing though was the pate. I guess it wasn’t intended for this sandwich. As an overall package, it was a combination of different flavours and textures that simply worked together. Alas, it felt slightly short in the meat department…

As for the special, it had the requisite cold cuts though not head cheese. Instead, they had something akin to a western type sausage. Pretty much all of what applies to the sate beef tenderloin applies here as well. But, being a different type of meat… In this case, the meat was there but, at the same time, I wished it was more savoury. And, unlike the beef tenderloin, this one had pate but it didn’t shine too much. Now, don’t get me wrong, the combination was good, except that it ain’t better or as good as the ones from Edmonton. In fact, compared to the other shops in Vancouver, it is definitely better, even better than Paris Bakery.

Now, here is the entertainment “side”: As Sherman mentioned, tending the banh mi station might be the “mom” or the “daughter”. If the daughter is there, you will soon find out she is quite chatty. Whether it is the customer or people in the back, it seems she has something to say. Of course, when she saw me there, she just kicked some strange comment as a conversation starter. But there was something I had to ask: is it true that, if her mother was there, only one type of sub was available? Well, actually no. It is not that she will refuse to sell others; rather, it is easier for her to prepare, because she is also taking care of the cash register! Now, this is a nutshell the story but, in between, we did talk about other things!

And here is a bonus of sorts. After I went to Kim Chau, on my way to my car, I stopped at Thu Hien. I could have technically done a banh mi comparison (as they have it); however, it would have been too much. Instead, I ordered banh cuon, something I have ordered previously at Truong Tranh. What is banh cuon? If I were to draw a parallel to Chinese cuisine would make explanation easier: That would be their version of rice noodle roll. How about some visuals?

Yeah, natural sunlight rules! As for the contents, the filling was pork with some mushroom, the plastic bag contains a dipping sauce and the white wrap was fried garlic chips. Was it good? Compared to Cantonese’s rice roll, this one was thinner and the usage of fish sauce/lemon/vinegar in the dipping gave it a different twist compared to soy sauce from the Chinese version. So, if you like the Chinese version, chances are you will like this, specially considering it has a twist. And given it is cheap ($6), I would certainly come back. The only catch is that it might cool down during transit time and its texture might change slightly. Otherwise, worth the drive!

Nhon Hoa
10622 97 Street Northwest (location visited)
10154 82 Ave Northwest
Edmonton, AB

Van Loc
10648 98 Street Northwest
Edmonton, AB

Paris Bakery
1403 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

This is my third post on Vietnamese restaurants in Edmonton. As mentioned in my previous posts on Tau Bay and Pagolac, there is a large Vietnamese community, to the point that, Chinatown might look more on the line of Viet Nam Town! This time, I am falling back into yet another of their stereotypical dishes (from our perspective, that is): banh mi. See, when Stimulant Junkie was in Vancouver, “for fun”, we did an impromptu taste test from several banh mi shops in town – which I will briefly go through further down in this post. During my trip to Edmonton, it was really difficult to notice how many places they had, so it was almost natural I should try banh mi here as well to see how it compares to the ones in Vancouver. And, after checking around, it narrowed down to two places: Nhon Hoa and Van Loc.

First, the contenders in Vancouver: Ba Le, Tung Hing, Chong Lee Market and, a place I had not visited previously, Paris Bakery. Now, because I was a bit too entertained with the tasting, I didn’t take picture of any of the banh mi this time and, to be fair, we did a blind tasting (read: I might not have necessarily “known” which one was which). Conclusion? With the caveat that there might have been some degradation due to the transit time from all these places before the actual tasting (which would have affected all of them the same way), here is what we thought (for easier comparison sake, we ordered their “special”, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink versions):

- Chong Lee underperformed compared to last time.
- The major disappointment was Ba Le. It was gone downhill since my last post. Flavours weren’t there and the only consistent part was the size: It was still loaded but the components were not flavourful.
- Paris Bakery, which looks really ghetto (or, a place where I could feel at home) was actually quite decent. For reference purposes, I will suggest you check Sherman’s post of this place.
- Tung Hing was consistent.

Now, moving to Edmonton. The days I was there were unseasonally warm. Of course, for Edmonton, “warm” in January means something on the lines of -5C (not counting wind chill or other factors). And while the mercury dipped below zero, one thing it did have: Sunlight. Yes, while we can brag about a lot of things here, during winter, it is mostly gray here. So, when I arrived, the sun was out and good time for some good pictures! (Hopefully, that is…).

First order of business is usually what to order and, following an approach similar to the comparison above, I was going to order their “special” just to find out there wasn’t such item in the menu. In fact, all the menu was, for the most part, in plain English! Of course, after ordering is when I realized I overlooked the obvious: the menu which includes the names in Vietnamese was behind the counter, not in the sheet in front of me. Doh? Anyway, by almost peer sheer luck I got it right: I ordered their combo which includes “bacon roll, head cheese, Vietnamese sausage, served with liver pate”.

Before going on, I ordered it in a combo (a possible “WTF?” moment if you are used to the Vancouver shops) and, in this case, spring rolls and a pop. The spring rolls were almost a mini version of the spring rolls found in most Vietnamese shops here in Vancouver, i.e., a meaty filling inside. The “issue” with this one was the fact they weren’t fried to order; rather, these were under a heating lamp. I won’t necessarily be harsh on them for this fact, as I was going for the banh mi instead.

Back to the banh mi, here is yet another “WTF?!” moment. Yup, these were wrapped in a plastic film. I was a bit perplexed at this for several reasons, with the obvious one being that I don’t recall ever seeing it in that form (probably with the exception of the ones found in supermarkets like T&T). OK, that is not much of an issue per-se, instead, is the issue of condensation. Since the bread is toasted prior to the sandwich being prepared (there is a toaster right there), it would create some heat. If it is wrapped in the plastic film, it would certain create some condensation. That was proved later to be true, as I took the leftover pieces with me to test that hypothesis and, indeed, the consistency was starting to get a bit mushy. Of course, -5C would certainly be a factor…

Enough digressing and back to the sandwich. Out of the gate, these sandwiches were obviously larger than the ones found in Vancouver. As for the taste, one bite and… I have to hands it down to them… These are indeed better than the ones we have! It was quite well balanced in terms of vegetables and meat plus there is a good spread of the pate (though it didn’t have a strong taste). Furthermore, the bread… Ah, the bread. At first, based on visuals, I thought it would be quite heavy, but, nope, it was crispy and light. Enough to hold the meats; not too much to make it dense.

Now, I did something stupid here: I had the recommendation for a “siu mai” banh mi for somewhere else but, by mistake, I ordered it here. Oh, well… That “siu mai” was spelled as “xiu mai” which was actually meatballs. In this case, it was more on the lines of ground meat and, while it could hold itself, I preferred the cold cut taste from the combo sub.

Of course, a “battle” post means I had to visit at least one other place and that place ended up being Van Loc, a block and a half away from Nhon Hoa. “Fortunately”, they do have a “special” and that is what I ended up ordering. After paying and getting the goodies, I sat on one of the tables inside which, in its own way look really strange. How so? The glass “windows” were mostly covered, giving a sense of… Enclosed space? As if they had something to hide. Too bad because that meant not enough sunlight and had to rely on the fluorescent light as source. But, back to the food: The bread was more on the lines of a “regular” baguette, which, depending on your preference, it might work for you. However, here is where things started to go a bit in odd ways. The meat was actually even more savoury than the ones from Nhon Hoa. Could it be I am confusing it with a sauce they add? However, what stole the show was the pate: it had a strong taste. In other words, if you don’t like that meaty, almost metallic taste, this might not be for you. Alas (or fortunately?), it wasn’t spread evenly, so not all bites had some of that said pate.

So, which one was better? Pricewise, they are the same ($3.50, which, looking into perspective, it is not that different compared to Vancouver prices). Nhon Hoa’s bread and other non-meat components were better; while the pate stole the show for Van Loc. So, it might be difficult to say which one I prefer, as both had its strengths and not much of a weakness. But, I will repeat it: These were *WAY* better than the ones we have in Vancouver. So, while I can’t say which one was better, and to badly paraphrase Adam Richman (of Man vs. Food fame), “In the battle of Vancouver vs. Edmonton, this one goes to Edmonton…” (But, until restaurants on the lines of Sanpachi, we still have some other better restaurants. However, they are starting to catch up with offerings like Corso 32!)

(Sidenote: After the fact, I was told there might have been one ingredient that, while eating, I didn’t notice but could have made a lot of difference: a mayo prepared for the banh mi. Woops!)

Pagolac
9642 54 Avenue NW
10566 97 Street NW (Location visited)
Edmonton, AB

Another Vietnamese restaurant post of Edmonton? Well, in a way I couldn’t help it. Their Chinatown seems to be more on the lines of Viet Nam Town! So, why not try another restaurant? In this case, I went for dinner for a Vietnamese style set menu: Bo 7 Mon or “beef seven styles”. This isn’t the first time I have encountered this set menu: Previously, I had it in Thai Hang along with fellow bloggers Karl and Sherman. However, with so many Vietnamese restaurants here, I couldn’t help myself try this one as well.

Before you continue, and probably to the consternation of my Vancouver readers, let me assure you one thing: while it is possible you might be borderline saying “another Vietnamese restaurant???” or “another Edmonton restaurant???”, there is yet one more post of Vietnamese cuisine but, on the plus side, that one does “touch” Vancouver in a way. So, to my readers, I appreciate your patience…

For the Bo 7 Mon, these are the “sides” which we would use to prepare the beef. Yes, this is a hands-on meal. So, if you don’t like to get yourself a bit dirty, this might not be necessarily for you. But, then again, considering how “popular” are taco kits, I doubt this will be a problem.

Now, back to the Bo 7 Mon. Here, it consists:

1. Beef Fondu (sic) – Bo nhung dam
2. Cubes of Beef Tenderloin – Bo Luc Lac
3. Beef Congee – Chao bo
4. Grilled Beef (wrapped in “La Lop” Leaf, 2 pieces) – Bo cuon la lop
5. Grilled Beef Sausage (2 pieces) – Bo cuon mo chai
6. Grilled Beef Shish-Ka-Bob in Satay (2 pieces) – Bo Lui Sate
7. Steamed Beef Loaf – Cha Dum

Now, technically, it was listed in this order; I re-arranged them in this order for simplicity. Unlike my previous experience at Thai Hang, this time, I had the whole nine yards… Errrr… Seven dishes, I mean. See, last time we were short one dish. So, the fact we had everything was important for me from a perspective: I was able to finally put everything together! So, moving to the food…

Beef style #1 is the raw beef which would be dipped in broth to cook it – either lightly or well done, and then prepare a wrap. You could eat it directly; however, it might be a bit too acidic due to the broth. So, while it can be done, eating it by itself might not be the best of ideas. Once it has been cooked, you then create your own rice wrap. Alas, my skills were lacking and the results are what you see above. Fortunately, I was taught the “secret” as to how they are prepared correctly, so next time it will be! (Hopefully?)

Style #2 somehow looked more on the lines of a stir fry. I wasn’t particularly excited about it; but, it wasn’t bad. Of course, I might be mistaken here as I was drawing some comparisons with the Chinese versions and not as a dish of its own.

Style #3. In a way, this reminds me of the congee we had at Thai Hang. Rather than the thicker Chinese version, this one was quite “liquid”. However, there was the beef taste so not necessarily a complain but preference. As a role of filler, it indeed did what it is supposed to do.

Style #4, #5 and #6. These were served at the same time. Basically, “grilled” meats in different forms. The “sausage” had the texture of meatball, while the kabob was “stuffed” with onions and cooked until soft. Finally, the leaf version had a really light smoke flavour. Given they were all cooked through with some outside “crust”, their flavours were quite similar. Instead, it was the “extra” which each one has that contributed to the overall flavour and differentiated one from the other. Is there a “better” one? Well, I could choose but, given the similarities, I would rather say the three of them were good.

Style #7 actually made honour of its name: it was literally a steamed-type, meatloaf texture-like dish. If there was one that ended up being the oddball, it would have been this one. Compared to the the previous style(s), where the well done parts represented flavour, in this case, that “element” was absent. As a result, there wasn’t anything really enticing about it.

Overall, despite some minor sidetracking, it was a fine meal. Using Thai Hang as a yardstick, I would have to say it is in-line on what I had (keep in mind, this set meal was for two, the pictures from the Thai Hang post was for several of us plus not exactly the same dishes were said), this one had some good ones but some could have been better. One thing that can be sort of a negative might be the price. It is quite more expensive than Thai Hang’s. However, I had to put something in perspective: this is not Vancouver so such direct comparison can’t be made and the only valid one is what is served on the table. In the end, it was a good experience that I won’t mind repeating.

Pho Century (Kingsway and Sperling)
6701 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post on Pho Century. Almost in no time, Karl of The Friday Lunch wrote back a comment about his subpar experience, not to mention they were opening a second location. Curiosity got the best out of me and let’s just say I had to visit it…

Update: Due to some interesting coincidences in life Sherman shokutsu of Foodosophy, wrote a post of this location as well! Check it here.

Right from the get go, one thing was noticeable. They seem to have spent some moola to make things “clean”. Of course, the fact it is a new establishment has something to do. How long will that last? Anyway, let me get the pictures completely out of the picture first so here is what I had.

Wonder why I put the pictures without much description? Well, this is one of the oddest post you might read. In fact, it might be stuff you will NOT read. Let me try again: if you want to know about the food on this trip, I might as well refer you to my visit to the original Pho Century (again, link here). Why? Pretty much the experience I had in the original location was experienced here. Talk about consistency! So, in the end, the conclusion…

Pho Century
4429 Kingsway, #14A
Burnaby, BC

After I came back from San Francisco, I noticed something really odd: in the last year or so, I have changed a little bit my activities. In the past, on Fridays, I used to go to a game shop in East Hastings to play Magic: The Gathering and, afterwards, it was a search for good eats. Nowadays, well…, just leave it there… Anyway, one night, on my way back home, I was driving back through Kingsway and, as expected, hunger hit and then the usual question: Food, where and what? I was in such a hurry that I stopped by a Marketplace IGA just to grab something quick just to notice a Vietnamese restaurant in the far corner. Well, it is there, it is open, so why not!

Past already 9:00 p.m., I found it interesting there were several customers plus some coming in while I was having my meal. Did I mention it was stuck in a corner and not really noticeable from the outside main street? Well, the question is rather if it delivers in the end.

I started off with a spring roll, the fried version. In a way, it reminded me the ones from Bao Chau. How so? The filling was on the lines of minced meat. But, other characteristics weren’t there: for example, it didn’t have the same “sweetness” level nor it had the same crunchiness. It was good in its own ways but not my first option for spring rolls.

Yes, this picture pretty much tells you what will be next. Before I go there, one word or two about this: notice something interesting? Or rather… Missing? Yup, that’s just plain bean sprout and lime wedge. Where is the hot pepper(s) and Thai basil? Otherwise, it is your default/usual plate of bean sprouts and other components…

For the “main”, I ordered Bun Bo Hue. From the food amount perspective, it is a well sized bowl and, right out from the picture above, the size of the Vietnamese sausage cuts are quite noticeable. However, there was something that visually made me put myself on guard: the broth. Now, I am not Vietnamese food expert and the Bun Bo Hue I have had diverge in some crazy way (which can also be interpreted as everybody does it differently). In this case, what it looked more on the lines of a regular pho broth with some dashes of hot oil/sauce.

Now, drilling down a little bit to the rest of the bowl, it had some actual pieces of pork hock, which I actually appreciated (though, of course, this enthusiasm isn’t usually shared by others). The rest of the meat was a bit of a miss. It was present; however, it had a bit too much gristle and fat. And, as mentioned above, the pieces of the Vietnamese were massive, though I wish it had more spice.

In the end, for myself, I didn’t find anything extraordinary here that would make me want to come back. However, there was something that drew other customers. Even that case, that is not enough enticement for me to come. In fact, I have revisited Gold Train Express for their Bun Bo Hue and, despite my initial thoughts, Gold Train Express’ is better. So, while Pho Century’s bowl did fill me up, that is about it for me.

Saigon Sandwich Shop
560 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA

Once Sherman and I were back from Hamburgers in Sausalito, we took a detour to visit one of the places where FoodBuzz Food Bloggers Festival was taking place. However, while there was a bit of chaos, at least it wasn’t the gong show you would see in open public events like Eat Vancouver! Even then, we were only there to make a token appearance and we left short after. Why the hurry? Well, in a quid pro quo, I agreed to go with Sherman to a banh mi shop in, out of all places in San Francisco, in the Tenderloin area. Considering going to such places does no faze me, hey, why not! The place’s name? Saigon Sandwich Shop.

It is quite evident from the screenshot above this ain’t a fancy place. However, they have a claim to fame: their banh mi/Vietnamese sub/sandwich are supposed to be really good. How good? Well, would you believe there was a queue that stretch out of this shop almost to the corner of the street? Just in case, again, this is in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco and the customers were pretty much from all ways of life. If it can attract everybody, they are certainly doing something right.

Simple menu, that’s all you need to know. OK, this ain’t a restaurant per se, it is a small shop of sorts but I am willing to bet they make most of their revenues from this small menu than the rest. Having said that, we were debating what to order and settled for two to have a good representation (hopefully) of what they were good at. (And this is despite we were partially full already after the burgers from Hamburgers and the stuff we had at the FoodBuzz convention!).

Behold, their roasted pork banh mi and their special combination banh mi . Of course, visuals ain’t too relevant here as, from the outside, it is pretty much the same. Rather, it is what’s inside… In both cases, it was a baguette filled with the appropriate meats and then some vegetables. Sorry, too generic of a description but, let’s face it, it is what it is. Instead, it was how does the final product tasted.

Starting with the bread… Well, it depends on how you like yours. If you are expecting sort of an airy type bread (similar to, say, Ba Le here in Vancouver), sorry, this is a bit denser than that. Now, it wasn’t hard either, just that, compared to the before mentioned Ba Le (and other banh mi found in Vancouver), it felt the baguette was borderline a regular baguette. Not necessarily wrong (no authenticity police running amok here) but different set of expectations. As for the vegetables, it was mostly carrots, though with some token daikon radish and cilantro. Oh, yeah, jalapeño peppers! The oddity, though, wasn’t the proportion of vegetables but the distribution. I gave Sherman the choice to choose first and, in both instances, he chose the side loaded with the peppers while mine didn’t have any. In fact, for the second sub, he played safe by opening the sandwich and removed them before biting into it! And I was wondering why Sherman was complaining it was hot! As for the meats, well, they were moist, full or pork taste. Sorry, won’t go into further details as I might be doing some injustices (in both ways), as while not earth shattering it did make the sandwich taste good. The ham, though was a bit odd, it didn’t add but didn’t detract. One detail I thought was missing was the absence of pate (either that or I didn’t really taste it). While the roast pork does not necessarily had to have it, the special one technically should have but I thought it was MIA. Still, a good sandwich nevertheless. But, given the special had pork and other ingredients, would I go for it rather than the stand alone pork? Actually, I will stick with the stand alone roasted pork because, well, I like pork! If I had to choose, this would be a case where I wanted to savour that one ingredient, hehehe.

All in all, this place is what it is: For $3 and change you get a (Vietnamese) sandwich. You obviously don’t go for the ambiance or service (with such a long queue, it was more on the lines of order and just wait). You go because you believe something good is served. And, from that perspective, they delivered.

Kim Anh
7405 Edmonds Street
Burnaby, BC

Blogging is a labour of love. We do it because we want to, even when people try to bash us for no reason other than probably because we disagree. At other times, it is draining – after all, there are only that many hours a day so there will be compromises. As a result of different reasons or circumstances, blogs come and go. While it will always remain popular, there is that eternal question of who will still be there five years or more down the road. So, to a certain extent, I was a bit perplexed when Karl of The Friday Lunch stopped blogging for a while. See, I believe that Karl to be a down-to-earth guy and, in a sea of Asian born/x-generation Asian descend bloggers, he (along with Jonathan of Food and Tell) stood out because, well, he is your average “white guy” (no offence!). But, fortunately, it seems he is back and has started writing about places here and there. One such place was Lost in the 50′s drive, previously blogged by shokutsu (of Foodosophy). It seems there was a renaissance of sorts and has (re?)opened, and while it had your basic burgers, it also had its share of “F” items (“F” as in fusion…). Alas, the day I went, they were not open yet so I had to turn around and look for *anything* to eat. And suddenly, right next to me was Kim Anh.

Now, this place has no relationship with me, name is purely coincidental. However, what confused me a lot was not the fact they advertise Vietnamese food; rather, it advertised Canadian/Vietnamese food. OK, this might be some sort of undiscovered combination? A new wave of “F”? No, instead it is something similar to Canadian/Chinese restaurants: a diner of sorts serving basic dishes like burgers, sandwiches and soups but, in this case, in a separate sheet, bowls of pho. Do you want pho with that??? Of course, that raised an odd question: Should I order pho and spring roll or should I order a burger and fries? How about a burger with spring roll or pho and fries? In the end, I decided to stick only on the Vietnamese side mainly because the table next to me made an order of that side of the menu…

Starting off, I also ordered spring rolls. At $5, this will be a serious contender for worst $$$/amount category. Of course, if it was good, I won’t argue much about it; however, it was just on the average side. And, as a result, it shouldn’t command those $5. What were the issues? Well, it was your regular vegetable type spring roll that does not have much that made them stand out compared to other spring rolls I have had in the past. Well, probably other than the fact it was well fried, i.e., not much of an oily texture and piping hot when served. But, that is more of a frying skill (which I assume would work great with the other fried dishes from the non-Vietnamese side of the menu), not of the overall cooking process.

This is the dish that the table next to me ordered so I followed suit: their version of bún bò hue. Now, notice a certain oddity: unlike a lot of other Vietnamese places, you will get your plateful of bean sprouts on the side. Here, they were *below* the noodles. In a way, I felt slightly cheated as I was expecting it to be on the side but, instead, it ended up filling parts of the bowl. As for the noodles and meat, it was similar to the ones I have had in other places so won’t comment on that – other than the fact there weren’t some pork blood or knuckle.

However, what completely skew me off this one was the broth: it was a bit sweet. No, I am not referring to sugar-y water; rather, imagine a broth which ended up being a bit sweeter than expected due to the addition of some ingredients (for example, too much corn or carrots in a chicken soup). Whether that was a good thing or not, I will leave it as a personal preference. In my case, I was hoping for a savoury, spicy soup – and it didn’t deliver.

Given that I had only the Vietnamese side of the menu, I can’t necessarily vouch for the rest of the menu; however, if I go for visuals only, another table fries and burger and, well, it looked like your average diner type burger. Is that good or bad? Again, it is a personal preference. But, in the end, what was written in Urbanspoon by the Foodosophy team about Kim Anh is the best way to phrase it: “East Meets West, and East Suffers…”

Delightful Cuisine
1745 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

For good or for bad, in the couple of blocks near the corner of Robson and Denman in the West End, you tend to get more ethnic restaurant than other parts of Downtown Vancouver. For Japanese, you have different ramen places like Santouka, Kintaro and Motomachi, izakaya like Kingyo and Guu. Then you have several Korean restaurants like Kim Bob Chun Gook, Nor Boo Korean Restaurant, Ap Gu Jung and so on. For Thai, you have Khunnai Chang and Tangthai. However, given there is only that much space in the West End, this growth has come to the expense of others restaurants. For example, Rooster’s Quarters in Denman closed some time ago to be replaced by Pomegrante, which failed as well to now be replaced by Dajia, a Japanese restaurant, which over saturates the existing market. Notice I didn’t mention some that, otherwise, would be ubiquitous like Chinese (there is Main Dining Restaurant, Chongqing, Hon’s and Legendary Noodles) and Vietnamese. Ah, Vietnamese, the one that a lot of times is overshadow by the other ones mentioned above. But, then again, their presence in Downtown is a bit muted and it seems they focus more in the Kingsway and Fraser Street area instead. So, to a certain extent, having one nearby seems to be a good thing. When Delightful Cuisine took over the former spot of a French restaurant (which confirms the above), the question was would it fulfill those expectations?

Unlike previous lunches, where I went by myself or with PO, for this one instance, I ended up going with a large group of work colleagues. It seems they were curious as well about this place so we ended up gathering a 5+ group. The more the better?

It was a rainy day and we sat at the corner. After we were given the tea, I noticed something quite odd – it had a light vanilla scent that nobody was able to pinpoint what was the reason behind it. I won’t say it was better or worst than regular tea, just different (or preference). Still, it was… Odd? Moving to the food now, some of us order spring rolls as appetizers and here they are!

Here is their “regular” spring roll and their shrimp/seafood version. I will have to say these ones caught me completely off guard. The “regular” spring roll was actually decent, in the sense it was balanced between ground/minced meat and some vegetables. However, the winner was the shrimp one, as the shrimp was snappy and had some actual shrimp taste! Still, you don’t necessarily go wrong with the regular spring roll (it does a decent job).

Yeah, you could have seen this one coming from afar. They only have that many items in the menu which can be a good thing or bad. In this case, I will lean towards the good side as less dishes mean the kitchen can perform quite well. So, while they had banh mi which we didn’t order, they had your usual pho and curry. Given you see the bean sprouts, pho it was. Now, before somebody asks, in the lime and jalapeño was served in a separate dish.

Alas, I am not Sherman, who has “trained” his dining companions to order different things so he can snap as many pictures as required. In the end, pretty much everybody ordered their pho bo. Oh, well… For the most part, they were OK, they weren’t really that impressed with it.

As for myself, I went for the bun bo hue “just to order something different”. It wasn’t that spicy (had to complement it by eating the jalapeño peppers) and the broth was quite light – no hint at all of lemongrass or something that would have separated it from the other pho shops. The meats were the basic ones, again, with no unique characteristics. It felt… Generic.

OK, one of my work colleagues didn’t really want pho of any kind and ended up going for something “different”, in this case, their curry. Because she was seated on the other side and I was using a 35mm prime lens, this was the only picture I managed to snap. Sorry! What I can tell you is that it is among the blandest curries I have ever tasted. It was mostly a coloured broth. Ouch.

I will have to say that, despite it was generic, you only have that many Vietnamese options in the area (Chau, which some considers expensive and Pho Number One – I won’t count Vina). So, it is a take it or not. In my case, I would rather drive to other places for pho or have other dishes in lieu.

Pho Tam
10302 135 Street
Surrey, BC

In what seems to be a crazy trend for posts on this week, similar to what happened on my post on Tuesday, for today’s post, I ended up in the Whalley area of Surrey. Now, to those not familiar, this used to be (and, to a certain extent, still) considered a criminalised area. However, times have changed and with the SFU campus in the area plus new condo constructions, it can be considered an upcoming area of sorts. After running an errand in the area (which did not involve anything green, leafy or powdery), it was close to lunch time and had to consider possibilities. Given that I am not that familiar with the area, I dropped a text message to Sherman asking for suggestions. After all, he frequents the area so often that have had close encounters with the police! His first suggestion? “Pho Tam”. OK, that was good enough for me!

Upon walking, I realized why Sherman suggested it: This place was packed! I guess it is popular in its own ways not necessarily because of visuals but also (and hopefully) for the food. The fact that the other Vietnamese restaurant in the same block wasn’t full served as a testament somehow of what they could produce!

After I was seated in a two-seater table at the far back (some of the tables were side by side and could, if necessary, connected if required for a larger party) and was provided with tea. Well, a tea pot rather than a cup or a glass and that worked fine for me. Then it was time to decide what to order… For the most part, it had similar pho offerings; however, I realized something they didn’t necessarily mention in the menu: they have a a spring or salad roll plus a bowl of pho for $8.5 (?). Well, that solves my dilemma! Of course, that brings part #2 of the question: which bowl? More of that, of course, in a moment…

After making my order of pho and spring roll, almost in no time, I got this. I usually take pictures of the food “as is”, without any modification or changes or trying to make it pretty. After all, you want to show what will be given to you on the table! Anyway, this is one of the few cases I had to break my own rule. This spring roll was darn ugly! If you look at the two pieces (it was cut into four), you can have an idea of how bad it looked. As a result, I had to show case the filling. And, darn it was a good, meaty spring roll! Shee, skin here does not matter to me, it was the inside, which was on the meaty side rather than the veggie side. It tasted pork… And that is all what I cared for at that point! It was quite hot and had to dip it into the sauce to cool it down slightly but, otherwise, had I burned myself a little bit by eating this, I think I won’t have cared.

As for the bowl of pho, I ended up ordering bun bo hue rather than the usual pho. I am not sure if they were following some sort of trend here but, similar to the roll, this bowl was darn bloody ugly! Just look at all that oil on top! Past that, the broth was (initially) not as hot but it got spicier as I kept on eating. By the end of the meal, I was drenched! >_<

Other than the spiciness, the broth itself was quite light. There was some light meatiness taste plus so lemongrass-like taste. The noodles, on the other hand, was a bit of hit and miss. My main issue was that it ended up quite soft and broken into smaller pieces. Because of this, the droplets of broth was flinging around every time slurped a bit of the noodles (in fact, my shirt had several blobs of the broth/oil when I was done!). The meat was, again, a bit of hit and miss. Some of the meats had some sesame hint (which is good), other is pretty much bland. Could it be I missed something?

However, despite the hits and misses, I thought it was a worthy bowl of noodles. Granted, it could have been better but, to repeat myself again, those are details… Minor details! And, unlike Richmond, getting here is a bit easier (just take Skytrain) so I can actually see myself coming back. The only thing I need to remember is to bring a towel!