Ever since we discovered Basil Garden almost 3 years ago, we have never looked back. In fact, I think it is probably our most visited restaurant due to how close and delicious it is! Since I only wrote about the first visit 2.5 years ago and we come here at least once a month, I figured that warranted a re-visit post on this spectacular hidden gem.

Most people come to this small plaza for Mr. Sub or Riz Sushi, which has surged in Instagram popularity in the past year it seems. I’ve never gone though because why go next door when Basil Garden is so great? =P

Well actually, we did visit Vallarta Mexican Restaurant a couple of times on the other side of Basil Garden so I guess my argument is not valid hehe. Anyways, this small but mighty strip mall is full of good food, it seems.

One thing I really like about Basil Garden is how clean it always is. Coming here when they opened again after the pandemic wasn’t a big deal because I knew they always had clean handling protocol.

The chopsticks always come wrapped in your napkin, tables are always spotless, the sauce bottle tips are always cleaned, etc.

Pork bone soup: I normally get a pho, but was feeling like something different since I had pho here with my bridesmaids just a couple of days prior. The pork bone soup was delicious, with well rounded flavour and depth. It also came with a fried chip with shrimp inside which was tasty. I would recommend eating that first or it would get soggy in the soup. 

I had a choice of egg noodles or vermicelli, and picked egg noodles. They were cooked firmly and reminded me of thin ramen noodles. There were also some fish cakes with dill, and some pieces of pork. Overall, it wasn’t a bad choice and I’d get it again if I wasn’t feeling like a beef broth.

Vermicelli bowl: The fiance picked the pork patty, spring roll, and grilled pork vermicelli. He usually gets this bowl so it wasn’t a surprise or anything new.

The pork patty was grilled nicely. Meanwhile, the grilled pork was fragrant and tasty. The spring roll was fresh, crispy and served piping hot. The only complaint was that they didn’t include crushed peanuts this time.

Also, it’s a bit weird that their vermicelli bowls only include pork (the only alternative is a vegetarian one). I wanted one the other day but they were all variations of grilled pork, pork patty, shredded pork, etc with no beef or chicken options.

Pho: I’ll add in my usual order of pho here in this review too. The soup was delicious and there was a generous portion of rare beef and tripe too. I like how they always crack some fresh pepper on top as a nice touch.

Lemongrass chicken on rice: On another visit, I ordered a lemongrass chicken. They deep fry the chicken here instead of grilling, which I find gave the chicken less of the lemongrass flavour. I’d prefer my lemongrass chicken to be grilled.

In addition, although the chicken was juicy and crispy, I found it too oily for my liking. The batter was also very salty and took away from the lemongrass chicken taste.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good dish. It’s just not how lemongrass chicken is usually served. A more accurate name would be “deep fried chicken on rice”!

Bun bo hue: I didn’t actually realize they had bun bo hue on their menu until recently. The bun bo hue packed a lot of spice, but it didn’t have that much lemongrass taste so I didn’t find the flavour of the broth to be well rounded. With that said, I’d still order it again if I wanted a spicy soup.

Satay peanut soup: Cola ordered this and liked it, so the fiance decided to order it on a subsequent visit. The satay peanut soup had a mild spiciness to it, and was rich and flavourful. It would be a great alternative if you’re not feeling like the usual pho!

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Overall, Basil Garden has been consistently delicious and our go-to Vietnamese restaurant for almost 3 years now! We are huge fans of this place. It doesn’t get much attention but I would recommend giving it a try.

This location has seen its’ fair share of Vietnamese restaurants open and shutter in the past six years or so. For the OGs who remember, Taste of Asia was the first and also longest lasting. I was quite disappointed when they closed down and then Tasty Pho replaced it for a couple of years.

Just as we were beginning to get used to Tasty Pho, it changed again to Pho Tan! And now most recently for the past 1.5 years, it has been replaced by Pho Mr Do.

I’ve been meaning to go here for the past year but just end up going to Saigon Bistro or Basil Garden. However, I suggested that we come here for lunch with my mom so I could finally write about it.

Pho Mr Do has been renovated since Tasty Pho and Taste of Asia days. We all found it to be quite stuffy in here because it was a hot summer day with no AC and one ceiling fan blowing. We asked to sit near the door which was the coolest table.

Small DIY pho: I went with a DIY pho that included rare beef, tripe and beef balls. The broth was comforting, had depth to it, and was delicious!

I was surprised at how HUGE the portion was. Seriously, they gave me so much noodles that I had a hard time finishing it, but no complaints. I was very impressed.

Large house pho: My mom ordered a large pho but regretted it because of how big the portion was. Even I had trouble finishing the small and I was already hungry that afternoon!

My mom noted that the tendon here was better quality than usual. She also enjoyed the beef broth and added some chili sauce to it, which we found out was made in the restaurant.

Vermicelli bowl: The fiance ordered the vermicelli bowl with beef and a spring roll. He found the bowl to be delicious! There was a generous portion of beef which was very flavourful. The spring roll was crispy and fresh too.

Chicken sub: I didn’t think our main dishes would be so filling, so I suggested that we also split a chicken sub. It was a mistake cause we were all too full, but we happily took it home for later.

The chicken sub was great and had a generous amount of flavourful chicken inside. I found it a tad bit on the salty side though, but I’d still order it again.

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Overall, Pho Mr Do was better than I thought it’d be, and wished that I tried it sooner! The portions were huge, food was delicious, and the server was really nice.

Given all the failed past Vietnamese restaurants in this location, I hope Pho Mr Do survives longer because I am adding this place to my list of go-to Vietnamese eats.

South Surrey is an area that I rarely, or ever, have ventured out to! However, due to the pandemic, I haven’t seen Latte for a long time so I thought I’d drive down to hang out and check out this area.

We had plans to get takeout from Emilio Finatti Pizzeria in White Rock and enjoy it at the beach, but the weather wasn’t on our side that day so Latte suggested Pho Sunrise, where she goes frequently.

Pho Sunrise is a small Vietnamese restaurant located inside Peninsula Village. According to Latte, Pho Sunrise is a decent Vietnamese place for South Surrey, where there aren’t that many Vietnamese options. I read some reviews online and that seemed to be the general consensus as well!

We came a bit after they opened, so it wasn’t too busy yet. We noticed that the pace picked up a bit after 12pm. Half of the tables were closed off and there was sanitizer for us.

However, I did notice that the beansprouts were sitting on a shelf by the cashier and it was not covered. It wasn’t a big deal to me because I normally order my beansprouts cooked, but just a heads up during the pandemic.

Pho w/ rare beef and tripe: I found the price to be slightly higher here than usual places, at $13 for a small (2020 prices). On that note, I wanted to share a Viet sub but we decided not to after we saw that it was $8 for a sub! Craziness.

For comparison, Obanhmi‘s, Saigon Bistro, and Basil Garden‘s subs are all about $4-$6! But I guess that’s cheaper than DD Mau‘s $15 sub, LOL!

Anyways, the pho was delicious. The broth was well rounded, flavourful, and comforting. There were many pieces of rare beef and tripe inside.

Pho w/ rare steak and beef balls: Latte went with her go-to, the rare steak and beef balls. She had no complaints about it either.

All in all, Pho Sunrise was pretty good and comparable to the Vietnamese restaurants in Vancouver. The prices were a bit higher though, I wonder if that’s because they are one of the only Vietnamese places around here so they can up their prices. If I found myself in South Surrey, I wouldn’t mind coming back here.

Disclaimer: In light of COVID-19, I just wanted to say that I am doing my part and social distancing. This is a review based on contact-less delivery.

I know that you may want to go out and have fun, but it is crucial that we distance ourselves to slow the spread of the virus and flatten the curve before it gets worse. Yes, you may feel fine but you could be passing on the virus to someone who is immunocompromised or elderly that may not survive this virus.

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I’ve seen Obanhmi on Uber Eats for awhile, and was always curious about it… But for some reason, we always ended up getting our usual delivery places instead. However, this pandemic has made me try new delivery places to keep me out of boredom, including Obanhmi!

We ordered four banh mis which was enough for lunch and dinner. The banh mi were nicely labelled and came in a cute, branded paper bag.

Meatball banh mi: The fiance chose a meatball banh mi. If you are ordering for more than 1 meal, I would recommend eating this first because the meatballs were quite saucy and juicy so it would make the bread soggy if you waited too long.

The meatball banh mi was absolutely delicious! The meatballs were tender and juicy. Cooked in a tomato sauce, they had a slight hint of sweetness to them as well. I will warn you that this is a bit messy to eat because it is saucy and the bread got a bit soggy.

Lemongrass chicken: I actually used to only order cold cut banh mi, until I tried lemongrass chicken banh mi at Thai’s Saigon Bistro and Basil Garden and was converted! We actually tried to order this a couple weeks prior, but their lemongrass chicken sub was sold out and that was the main reason I wanted to get it.

The lemongrass chicken banh mi did not disappoint either! The chicken had a nice, grilled flavour to it and was juicy and tender. This hit the spot perfectly! My only complaint would be that it was a tad bit too salty.

Classic cold cut: A classic cold cut banh mi brings me back to childhood! My mom used to buy these for me quite often because she worked close to Bale. So nostalgic! I actually didn’t even realize until a few years ago that there were different types of banh mi like lemongrass chicken or beef. I thought that only the cold cut version existed!

This was like biting into childhood! It was a solid cold cut banh mi and because it only has cold ingredients, this was the only banh mi where the baguette wasn’t soggy. My favourite part of a cold cut banh mi is the Vietnamese meat pate. So delicious!

Sate beef: The last banh mi we ordered was the sate beef! This was a flavour bomb explosion as well. The sate beef was aromatic and delicious. Just like the lemongrass chicken, my only complaint would be that it was slightly too salty.

All in all, Obanhmi was an excellent choice and we would definitely order again! All of the banh mi were delicious even though a couple of them were on the salty side.

The prices are pretty reasonable too, about $6-7ish I believe for a sub. The baguette sizes were also larger and longer here compared to other banh mi places I’ve tried.