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.

Another day, another day of social distancing and being at home. I realized that I did not step outside for 7 days, which I am not sure if that is impressive or just sad. I finally broke the streak by going to stock up on more groceries!

Anyways, it has been a whole 7 days of not eating restaurant food since our last meal with Wara Thai, so we decided to treat ourselves for lunch. The fiance had a coupon on Skip, and I was craving bun bo hue so we decided to try out Vietnam House since it had free delivery.

Vietnam House didn’t sound familiar to me, but when I googled it, I remember it used to a hole in the wall called Thai Hang. Thai Hang had been around for ages… I went as a kid and in high school as well. Looking at pictures, it seems like they went through a renovation in addition to the name change.

The menu on Skip was a bit odd, as it didn’t include the names of the dishes in Vietnamese. For example, they didn’t even write ‘pho’ but at least that is easy enough to translate to English. I had a harder time finding ‘bun bo hue’ and ended up calling the restaurant to find out which one it was. The translation was ‘beef and pork in rice spaghetti in soup’.

Spring rolls: I normally don’t order spring rolls because #health, but we are in a pandemic right now and I wanted to excite my taste buds.

I was also motivated by Michael at Yes We’re Eating Again to plate my takeout food nicely, as takeout boxes don’t make for aesthetically pleasing photos! #FoodBloggerProblems. It was fun, although I was rushing because we were hungry and the food smelled so good!

The spring rolls were fresh and still a bit crunchy despite being takeout, which was great! They were your usual Vietnamese spring rolls and tasty.

Bun bo hue: As mentioned above, I had a craving for bun bo hue, and this did not disappoint. When I first opened the takeout container, I was immediately greeted with an aromatic, fragrant soup.

The bun bo hue packed a lot of spice, and there was also hints of lemongrass flavour. There was also a generous amount of meat as well.

My only complaint would be that the noodles were too choppy and short, so my chopsticks couldn’t pick it up. I gave up and ended up using a fork at the end because they were just bits and pieces of the noodles. This made it a bit harder to enjoy because I am the biggest noodle lover out there.

Grilled beef, chicken, and spring roll on vermicelli: The fiance ordered a vermicelli dish, and his was delicious as well. I had a bite of the chicken, which was bursting with grilled lemongrass flavour, and also very juicy! The beef was also very juicy and flavourful.

He noted that his vermicelli noodles were also chopped and short, so he had a hard time picking up the noodles with his chopsticks as well.

All in all, Vietnam House was delicious! One good thing (obviously I wish that this never happened in the first place) about that this crisis and social distancing has brought on, is that we have been trying new, local places for delivery. When we do order delivery usually, we just stick with the usual and familiar places so it’s nice to branch out.

So far, we have tried Manpuku for Japanese rice bowls, Wara Thai, and now Vietnam House! All three discoveries have been great and I hope the the next delivery order we place will be just as delicious.

Thai’s Saigon Bistro has been one of my staple Vietnamese restaurants for more than 5 years now, ever since they opened! The food is consistently delicious, the family that runs this place is friendly, and it is in the neighbourhood.

It has been over 5 years since my last post, so I figured that warranted a revisit. I’ve noticed that the portion sizes have gotten smaller since.

Pho with rare beef and tripe: The pho portion here is quite small, which is my only complaint about this place. That being said, I still come here quite regularly so I clearly don’t mind that much.

The broth is flavorful and comforting. I don’t ever feel thirsty or lethargic after. If you’re really hungry, I would recommend the large instead of a small. Their large is probably the average size of pho elsewhere.

Chicken banh mi: The chicken banh mi here is amazing. Since the pho is quite small, the fiance and I usually split a side of the chicken banh mi which fills us up. The baguette is freshly toasted, and comes with this garlicky mayo sauce which is sooo good.

In addition, the chicken is very juicy and full of delicious grilled flavour. It’s a must get here. The veggies are also always very fresh.

Pork banh mi: During one of our visits, the fiance decided to switch it up and try the pork banh mi instead. The lemongrass pork was delicious and grilled perfectly as well.

My only complaint here would be the very small portions sizes for pho. The portion sizes for their other dishes such as the banh mi or vermicelli dishes aren’t as small. But everything is so delicious and the service is always very pleasant, so we will continue to come here as one of our top picks for Vietnamese food.

When the fiance and I first started dating many years ago, the Thai Son at First Ave Marketplace was our go-to place for pho. It was close by, fast, and cheap although laden with copious amounts of MSG.

But over the years, we stopped going to Thai Son as much – mostly because we discovered Basil Garden and haven’t looked back. 

I was craving pho and since we were in Richmond, I suggested Thai Son for old times sake. This location is also relatively new, only being open for the past 3ish years compared to the First Avenue Marketplace location that has been open since I was a child. 

Starting off, service was rude but I’m not sure why I expected any different. Perhaps because it was a nicer location, but nope. One particular waitress was really snappy and rude when I asked for the menu and some water after sitting down and waiting for 5 minutes.

Small pho: I ordered a small pho with brisket, rare beef, and tripe. There was a generous portion of meat in the bowl which was appreciated. However, the broth tasted very flat and just like MSG.

I ended up giving the rest to the fiance because there was too much MSG for my liking and I didn’t want to feel like a lethargic, thirsty piece of crap after dinner. 

Large pho: The fiance ordered the beef ball and rare beef pho. Like myself, he also found the pho to contain lots of MSG and too salty. But he ended up finishing it anyways.

Lemongrass chicken: The lemongrass chicken smelled amazing when it arrived! It smelled more like fried chicken than lemongrass though.

The chicken was very juicy and delicious. The meat was well marinated although it had the flavour of chicken karaage more than lemongrass. It was also very oily.

Overall, Thai Son is not the healthiest or best choice for Vietnamese food but it gets the job done. I probably will be offending some people but this is my own opinion. 

Yes, it is a staple and well known restaurant chain in Vancouver but we found it too salty with copious amounts of MSG. There are definitely better choices for pho in Vancouver though.

Nay!

I finally tried Bun Cha Ca Hoang Yen after reading many positive reviews and hearing good things about it from friends! This restaurant is different from most Vietnamese restaurants because they specialize in seafood broths, which is what they’re famous for.

Hoang Yen is located on Victoria Drive. It is an old, small restaurant with a hole in the wall feel. This place gets lined up during peak hours, and I can definitely see why after trying their noodle soup!

Avocado and I got here right before 6pm on a weekday, which was perfect because there was not a line up yet. I noticed that the line started around 6:15pm, so definitely get here earlier if you hate waiting.

We ordered the two noodle soups which they are the most famous for! Avocado has been here a few times and always gets the same thing because it’s so delicious.

Bun Rieu: Avocado went with the bun rieu, which she loves! This is one of their most popular noodle soups and I saw many tables ordering this as well.

The bun rieu came with crab meat, tofu, Vietnamese ham, pork leg, and shrimp in a crab broth. I had a sip of the broth and could immediately tell why it was popular. The broth looks spicy but it actually wasn’t. It was delicious!

Bun cha ca: I had my eyes set on the bun cha ca before coming here. It was amazing. The crab broth was light, but still fragrant and full of umami flavour.

The freshly chopped dill elevated the seafood broth and gave it even more flavour. Every bite was amazing and I did not want it to end!

The bun cha ca also came with some fish cakes, which were good too. But the star of the show was definitely the soup!

Pho: I kept thinking about the bun cha ca, so the fiance and I came back a couple days later! Instead of the seafood soup, he went with the beef broth. It was delicious and fragrant too, and he wouldn’t mind getting it again.

Spring rolls: The fiance also ordered some spring rolls, which were disappointing. The filling was too dense. He wouldn’t order these again.

I will definitely be back for the seafood noodle soups! Hoang Yen is unique and their amazing seafood broths set them apart from other run-of-the-mill Vietnamese places.

I’m already looking forward to my next visit!