Chau Veggie Express is a vegan Vietnamese restaurant, which is quite popular with both vegan/non-vegan people. Avocado and I have been talking about visiting Chau Veggie Express for at least 2 years now.. and we finally went this month! Woo!

Chau Veggie Express is located on Victoria Drive, which you wouldn’t expect because it’s not really a hipster-fied area (yet). I ain’t complaining though, because parking is free and easy to find in this area.

The restaurant is tastefully decorated, with many communal tables and a patio outside.

After ordering at the counter, they gave us a wooden slate with a number on it and our food arrived shortly afterwards. It was time to dig in!

Taro chips: Avocado and I started with the taro chips, which we saw a lot of other tables order as well!

We both really enjoyed the dip, which was an organic tofu dip similar to the texture of hummus. There was a garlicky flavour along with some spice (due to the paprika).

Candlelit lantern pho soup: Due to my digestive problems, I decided on just sticking with the traditional pho. I’ve never tried vegetarian/vegan pho before, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. If I’m being honest, my expectations were a bit lower.

But damn, was I impressed with this broth! It was very fragrant and in particular, there was a strong star anise flavour. While I was eating it, I kept thinking how did they manage to make vegan pho taste this good?

My only complaint would be that it was lacking toppings. For $11.75, I would have hoped to have more than a couple pieces than daikon, tofu, and 1 beancurd though…. I could have gotten a lot better value with regular pho, but you do pay a higher price because it’s vegan.

Golden temple soup: Avocado went with their curry soup and a bowl of quinoa! I had a spoonful of the curry and found it to be delicious as well. The curry was fragrant and sweet. It was on the lighter side as sometimes curries are thicker and creamier.

There was a generous amount of cooked kale on top, as well as some mushrooms, tofu, taro, and more things! A lot more toppings in this bowl compared to my pho.

Coconut pandan ice cream: I heard their vegan ice cream is amazing, so I obviously had to try it! This was my favourite dish of the evening. The vegan ice cream was rich and creamy, due to the coconut milk. It was very refreshing and well rounded.

The toasted coconut chips on top was the cherry on top! I would stop by and order this ice cream to go.

Strawberry lychee smoothie: Clearly, I wanted to try a lot of the menu that day! The smoothie was my least favourite and I wouldn’t order it again. There were so many ice chunks in it which made it not enjoyable to drink. It had a tart flavour and was too watery.

All in all, we enjoyed our meal at Chau Veggie Express and were glad we finally tried it! It’s not a place that I would come to regularly because prices are bit higher with not much substance and I like my meat dishes, but this place would be one of my top picks for vegan food in Vancouver.

Our chiropractor is located at the Broadway Tech Center, right next to Pho 99. After a chiropractor session, the boyfriend and I decided to go check out Pho 99 next door for dinner, which is a chain restaurant with a few other locations around Vancouver.

This was one of the rare times where we didn’t look up reviews prior to visiting… I’m kind of glad we didn’t though because it was a measly 2 stars on Yelp! I was a bit surprised, but then again, the pho was not that good (the other dish was good).

Walking in, the restaurant was quite spacious and modern! I was quite surprised, but I guess I shouldn’t be since they cater to business people at Broadway Tech.

I would imagine that it gets quite busy here during the weekday lunch rush, because there aren’t many restaurants in this area! When we came in the evening, it was nice and quiet, only a few tables were occupied.

The booth seating along the wall also offers chargers for laptops. I assume that is because they are located in a big office complex, so it is probably a convenient and thoughtful touch for their customers.

A nicely designed menu! They also have a few vegan dishes too.

Pho, build your own: I went with the build your own pho! You choose the broth (beef, chicken, seafood, or spicy/sour), noodles (rice or egg), and 3 toppings (steak, flank, brisket, chicken, beef ball, tripe, tendon, veggies) – I bolded what I picked.

When the bowl first came to my table, I was a bit disappointed because it looked small. However, it was jam packed with noodles – it probably could have used a bigger bowl!

Taste-wise, it was alright, slightly bland. It seemed oily but I didn’t get a stomachache afterwards. There was a good amount of steak and tripe, but 3 half cut beef balls (making it 1.5 of a whole beef ball).

Noodles, build your own: The boyfriend took advantage of the DIY set too! It’s not often that Vietnamese places offer this! You choose the starch (vermicelli noodles or rice), and 2 toppings (chicken, beef, pork, prawn, or 2 spring rolls).

He went with the beef and spring rolls! The beef was super good, and probably the highlight of our meal. Instead of the usual lemongrass beef, it tasted like beef luc lac – the perfect amount of savoury and sweet, with a hint of lemongrass at the end.

The portion was also pretty big, which was a plus for me because I kept eating the beef!

The vermicelli also came with the usual fish sauce and side salad. The salad seems like it would contain lettuce, etc but the bottom is actually just beansprouts.

Anyways, we were quite surprised at how much we enjoyed our visit. We came in here with average expectations, but the beef was really good. I also found out as we were paying, that they have bubble tea!

The place was also very clean and modern. Service was friendly and quick too. It wouldn’t be my first choice but if I was in the area or wanted some quick food after my chiropractor appointment next door, I would come back. I would also recommend the stir-fry beef instead of their pho.