Archive for the 'Vietnamese' Category
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
One of Jenkins and my favourite places to go for Vietnamese subs is Ba Le right at the corner of Kingsway and Fraser. We found out about this place a few years ago and it is a great place to go for cheap and delicious Vietnamese-style subs. If you go between 12-1pm, it is usually packed with people waiting for their sub orders.
Ba Le’s main item are their subs but they also have other Vietnamese foods, such as desserts, sticky rice, and ham. Right above the front counter though is the sub menu. The subs all range between $2.50 to $3…pretty reasonable!
I had the “special” sub, which is $3 and has a combination of two types of cold cuts, along with the regular hot peppers, parsley, and pickled veggie mix. I like this sub because the cold cuts are fairly light and the bread is very crispy. Occasionally, it is loaded with too many hot peppers so I have to pick some out. 
Jenkins always orders the chicken sub, which is also $3. It has the same mix of peppers, parsley, and pickled veggies and the chicken is lightly tossed with mayo. I think this is also quite tasty, although the mayo does make the bread a little soggier than the “special” sub…although the bread is still pretty crispy overall.
Depending on how hungry we are, we usually eat between 1-2 subs per person. There isn’t really a place to eat our subs at Ba Le so we usually take it home to Jenkins’ house and eat it there. At $3 max per sub, this is definitely a place for good cheap eats. Jenkins does note that he thinks the sandwiches have some amount of MSG in them because he is often thirsty afterwards.
Details:
21-701 Kingsway, Vancouver
Tel: 604-875-6322
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Food: 
Service: n/a
Price: $
Posted in Vietnamese, Asian, Reviews | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, November 20th, 2007
Jason and I met up at Pho Van for dinner one day. It is located at 3370 Fraser St in Vancouver. The pho here is pretty good and is the one Jenkins and I usually go to when we are in Vancouver.
I started with a fresh coconut juice, which I have been drinking a lot of lately. :) I like drinking it when I have pho because I find that the coconut juice helps to offset the spiciness of the soup.
I ordered the pho with mixed beef parts. I like the pho here because they are always generous with both the noodles and the beef ingredients. :) Even if you order a small bowl, you still end up being quite full just because there is so much stuff in your bowl. My noodles also came with some pieces of daikon radish, which was different, although I was too full to eat it.
Jason’s noodle soup was spicy and his noodles were thicker and also a little chewy. It also came with a sprinkling of cabbage and had miscellaneous items such as a pork hock, some beef, and ham. I had never tried this before but may just order it the next time I come here.
I like the pho at Van Pho because they seem to have less MSG than most pho places I go to. Jason also noted that their pho is denser and packed with a lot more noodles and meat than your normal pho place. The inside of the restaurant is also relatively clean and the service is always quick and efficient.
Details:
3370 Fraser St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-872-2879
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Food:
Service:
Price: $
Posted in Vietnamese, Asian, Reviews | 4 Comments »
Thursday, October 11th, 2007
Jenkins and I went to Pho Viet the other day at 8291 Ackroyd Road in Richmond. I had always driven past this place but never ventured inside. After reading about Ben’s experience there and hearing Grick rave about it, I decided it was time I checked it out myself.
Since it was my first time here, I decided to try the special pho (usually option #1 on most Vietnamese restaurant menus around the Lower Mainland). It came with bean sprouts and some lime wedges.
As Grick had indicated to me before, the pho came out very quickly. Mine came with beef steak, fatty flank, tripe, and tendon. Most of the time, this dish also comes with beef balls…but not the one here. 
Other than that, I found it to be very tasty and the amount of beef, tripe, and tendons was very generous. My large bowl came out to be $6.
I also had a glass of coconut juice with chunks of young coconut. It is different from regular coconut in that the meat is very tender. This drink was very refreshing and helped to soothe my burning tongue after eating the pho I had spiked with chilli sauce.
Jenkins got a dry noodle with lemongrass chicken. It also came with a side salad of cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, and bean sprouts. The chicken was very flavourful and I liked the noodles because they were al dente and not mushy or overcooked.
This noodle dish was also served with a small bowl of sauce with chillis and fish sauce. It makes the dish less dry and is meant to be poured over the noodles and chicken.
I liked this place because the food came out quickly and the dishes are priced reasonably and very tasty. I’ll have to come back soon to try some of the other items they have on the menu.
Details:
125-8291 Ackroyd Rd, Richmond
Tel: 604-273-6399
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Service:
Price: $
Posted in Vietnamese, Asian, Reviews | No Comments »
Monday, September 24th, 2007
It’s been a while since Connie and I met up for lunch…so we decided to do so last week over some pho. We went to Pho Century, which is located in the mall at the corner of Willingdon Ave and Kingsway…the one with the IGA and Shopper’s Drug Mart. The pho is not bad and the restaurant is cleaner than most pho places.
One disappointment with this place was that they had no Vietnamese subs! Derek and Victoria put in to-go orders for subs and unfortunately, they didn’t have any. Connie and I decided to just go with the pho. Standard stuff.
I ordered the special pho which had everything in it: meat balls, beef flank, beef steak, tendon, and tripe. Yum. In fact, I was hungry enough and the pho was good enough that I forgot to take a picture until part way through the meal. Connie’s pho had beef flank and beef steak.
Because we were both famished, we also shared an order of spring rolls. As far as spring rolls go, this was sub par. The outside was crunchy enough but the inside was all soggy and didn’t seem fully cooked. The crispy shell was also oilier than I expected.
Overall, the food was acceptable…but definitely not one of the better Vietnamese places I’ve been to. However, the overall cleanliness of the place does make it quite appealing overall…especially when compared to some other pho places along Kingsway in Burnaby.
Details:
14-4429 Kingsway, Burnaby
Tel: 604-439-9786
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Price: $
Posted in Vietnamese, Asian, Reviews | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
I went to Cao Van Pho for a quick and cheap dinner the other day. It was so hot that day that I just wanted to eat somewhere quickly and get it over with. Jenkins and I come here pretty often so I think the owners kind of recognize us now and are usually pretty nice and speedy.
It’s always nice to go to a restaurant and know exactly what you want. For me, I chose the No. 1 small, which was basically the “special” Vietnamese beef noodle soup, which comes with beef balls, tendon, tripe, fatty flank, and steak. It may sound sketchy but this tastes very good and is my favourite pho dish to order.
It came with a healthy serving of blanched bean sprouts, thai basil, and a wedge of lime. I dunked most of this into my pho while the soup was still piping hot.
Jenkins had his favourite dish: rice vermicelli with grilled lemongrass chicken, bean sprouts, carrots, cucumbers, and fried onions. This was very filling and came with more than enough grilled chicken to go with the noodles. One good thing about this place is that they are very generous with the meat included in the dishes unlike other places that leave you wishing for more.
As if this wasn’t enough food already, Jenkins and I also shared a Vietnamese sub that came with some mixed veggies and lemongrass grilled chicken. It was the same type of chicken that came with Jenkins’ noodles.
This meal was pretty satisfying for us. As far as Pho places go, this is one of the cleaner ones and the service is pretty fast and efficient. It is tucked away at 8191 Saba Road in Richmond across from the Richmond Public Market and is a bit difficult to find.
Details:
150-8191 Saba Rd, Richmond
Tel: 604-231-0750
Summary:
Food:
Service:
Price: $
Posted in Vietnamese, Asian, Reviews | 4 Comments »
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