Anh and Chi–Vancouver

We visited Anh and Chi on a Friday night for dinner.  Ahn and Chi serves upscale looking Vietnamese inspired cuisines.  It’s located on Main Street in East Van.

We got there just before 6PM and saw the restaurant was already full with a handful of people waiting for tables outside.  We put our name down and waited patiently outside.  Luckily it was a nice evening with no rain.  They have heaters in the waiting area outside to keep you warm.

After about 30 minutes, we got a text saying our table is almost ready.  We proceeded to go inside the restaurant to wait and saw it was bustling with people enjoying their food.

Pics of the inside:

Bar area:

Partially exposed kitchen:

We got our table and our server promptly brought us water.  It was the first time we found a slice of cucumber in our water.  It made the water look nice but the cucumber taste was a bit unusual.

We ordered a few appetizers to start.  This is the Bánh Tráng Trộn Rice Paper Snack
It has rice paper at the bottom and topped with fresh mango, beef jerky, roasted peanuts, dried shrimp, quail eggs, fried shallots and some spices.

This was really tasty.  It had a nice kick and tang to it from the different spices combined.  However, we recommend you eat this right away and not let it sit too long otherwise the slices of rice paper will stick together like glue.  We learned it the hard way.

This is the fried chicken wings appetizer.  You get to choose 2 different sauces so we went with the butter garlic sauce.

It includes 10 pieces. The wings did not feel fried since it was rather tender with a light crisp skin.  It tasted more like broiled.  The wing sizes were fair for appetizer standards.

Next is the crispy spring rolls.

It came with 3 spring rolls cut in half.  The spring rolls were a bit skinny though.  It includes lettuce and some lemon grass which the server recommended we use to wrap the spring roll.

There were 3 of us tonight and we all ordered the beef pho. 

This serving size here is a lot bigger than the standard large size you get at other pho restaurants  Furthermore, there was so much beef!  It had maybe twice the serving of beef compared to other places.  The pho soup was also very rich and flavorful.

They use this fancy jacket for delivering you the bill.

Ahn And Chi is a different kind of Vietnamese restaurant with a more modern vibe to it. It is unlike the hole in the wall mom and pop pho shops, so come prepared to try something different.  The menu items are very unique, modern and specialized.

We will look forward coming back again to try their other dishes.

SFDD gives 4.5 out of 5 Delights.

Banh Mi Saigon - Vancouver

Driving down Victoria Drive, I regularly see this Vietnamese sub shop packed with people.  Finally I had a chance to try it out during a hot summer weekday.

Aside from the subs, they also have Vietnamese coffee and some dessert drinks to choose from.  They have a few people at the counter preparing the subs.  There are about 5 tables in the shop if you want to eat in. 

I ordered the chicken (ga) sub.  This was $5. 

While waiting for the sub, I noticed there was a guy in the back preparing some dough.  They bake there own bread here.  I haven’t seen this before at other banh mi shops as the other places source the bread from elsewhere. Knowing this, I expect the bread to be very fresh here.

The sub had a good amount of pickled carrots, cucumber, chicken and parsley.  It appears the sub bread used here is longer but narrower.   The bread was not as crunchy on the outside though, but the inside bread was soft.

The shop is not air conditioned so on a hot day like today, it will be very stuffy inside.  I suppose they prefer you not to get too comfortable and to just eat and run.  Will be adding this shop as a go-to place for Vietnamese subs in the future.

SFDD gives 4 out of 5 Delights.

Delicious Pho–Downtown Vancouver

We walked by Delicious Pho several times in the past and finally had a chance to try it out during Canada Day.  They are located on the east side of Robson street a couple of blocks away from the library.

The restaurant is rather spacious and clean.  We got there for a late lunch during Canada day so there was plenty of seating.

We started with a grilled chicken roll. 

It had large pieces of chicken inside with lettuce and vermicelli for filling.  It also came with a big serving of dipping sauce.  This was under the specialty roll section where you can choose the meat (chicken, pork, pork patty, beef).

We ordered soup-less vermicelli bowl with prawn and grilled pork.

It was a large serving.  You get three pieces of prawn and a bunch of pork.  The pork was cooked well and not burned.  Prawns were a bit bland though but that was an easy fix with the included fish sauce dip.

Next we ordered a small bowl of pho with sliced steak.

The soup was superb rich with flavour compared to a few other places we’ve been to recently.  The beef also came rare like it should, so that it can slowly cook itself in the hot soup.

Despite being downtown, the prices here are very reasonable.  The service was fast and straight forward.  Delicious Pho will certainly be our go to place when craving for Vietnamese cuisine downtown.

SFDD gives 4 out of 5 Delights.

Banh Mi Bar - New Westminster

Banh Mi Bar opened sometime during the Summer 2016 and we had a few chances to try it out. It is about a block away from Douglas College.

Banh Mi Bar is run by a young and very friendly couple.  It has a simple menu with about 6 or 7 different varieties of the typical banh mi flavours you can find elsewhere.  This is a small shop with just a few counter seats available if you want to stay and eat.  Most people I’ve seen usually get take out.

I ordered the chicken banh mi.  Like others, it’s made to order and has the usual toppings like cilantro, cucumber, pickled carrots and radish.   They will ask if you want jalapeno too.

The banh mi is presented reasonably nice in a plastic basket  The bread is very fresh while crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.  I also like the sauce that was used.  It is kind of like mustard sauce which I don’t recall having tried before at other banh mi places. Perhaps this is their special secret sauce.

Overall, the prices here are quite reasonable and the sandwiches are quite fresh.  They have a stamp program where you get a free sub after X number of purchases. It’s good to have something different in this neighborhood.

SFDD gives 4 out of 5 Delights.

Pho Ten - Richmond

Pho Ten is out in the South East part of Steveston Richmond.  We came here for dinner just before heading out to Silvercity for a Thursday evening movie.  The restaurant was quite empty since we arrived early, just before 6pm.  But patrons started  filling up the restaurant after about 6:30pm.

I ordered the lemon grass pork with spring roll over vermicelli as it was hot outside and didn’t want to be made hotter with pho soup. 

The pork was plentiful and had a nice taste.  They used really lean pork and was thinly sliced.  The spring roll was good too except it didn’t use the other type of rice wrapping that is used by Pho Tan on Main street.  The noodles were nicely spread out and not mushed together like some other places.

We also ordered rare beef, tendon and brisket Pho.  This is a regular size and had a reasonable portion for noodles.  

The beef could have been more tender though. The soup was had a more deeper flavour than some other Pho places we tried elsewhere.

Finally we ordered a prawn spring roll.

The spring roll includes sweet dipping sauce.

Pho Ten is in a small strip mall so parking is plentiful.  The service is fast and efficient.  I don’t think they take credit cards though.

SFDD Gives 3.75 out of 5 Delights.

Ba Le - Vancouver Chinatown

I was down in Chinatown doing some errands when I suddenly had a Viet Sub craving.  I headed down Main street to Ba Le which I’ve been to a couple of times in the past.  One thing that worried me was that the building I had known to house Ba Le appeared to be was all boarded up. 

I kept telling myself that I was looking at the wrong building and Ba Le was further south on Main.  Luckily, while looking around, I saw Ba Le simply moved directly across the street in a newer location along side a bunch of discount hair dressers.

I darted across the street and saw the husband and wife team making the subs.  The prices appear to be the same, around $3.50 - $4.50 sub.  There was no line up when I got there but the wife was making subs like a machine.

I ordered the Chicken sub which has a generous serving of grilled chicken and the usual items you’d find such as the shredded pickled daikon and carrots.

The bread was very fresh.  For Viet subs, you know it’s fresh when you feel the crispy crunch when you bite in each time.  Inside was soft.  The ingredients were generously and evenly distributed.  The subs are made to order here so it will always be fresh.  Go for a Viet sub if you want an alternative to Subway subs or if you want to save a few bucks in your pocket.

I just wish there was more of these Viet Sub joints in Richmond.

SFDD gives 3.5 out of 4 Delights.

Le Pho - East Vancouver

Le Pho is a Vietnamese restaurant located at the corner of Hastings and Kamloops.  It is run by a friendly family.  We had a party of 7 and was able to get a big table to fit all of us.

They’ve got a wide selection of Vietnam noodles, including Viet Subs and even bubble tea too.

We started with the shrimp salad roll.  It was well balanced with 4 pieces of big shrimp in each roll and came with the peanut dipping sauce.   The veggies inside were quite fresh and refreshing.  Although I enjoy the crunch of a deep fried spring roll, this was a nice appetizer to start things off if you don’t want to feel full from the oil.

This is the chicken meat ball noodle soup.  It was a good portion.

This is the BBQ pork chop with egg on rice.  The pork was tender and it came with 2 sunny side eggs and a bit of salad on the side.

This one is a large sized rare beef noodle soup.  It was noticeably larger than their small size so we were happy to see that.  I was told the soup was flavourful and not too salty.

I usually prefer the dry noodles, so I went with the lemongrass chicken with spring roll on vermicelli.  It came with a sweet fish sauce, i usually pour all of it into my bowl since the vermicelli is unflavoured by itself.   The chicken was a rather large piece of dark thigh meat.  It was not too oily.  The spring roll was a bit skinny though. However, it had the wrapping that I liked.

This is the shrimp curry.  It’s the first time I’ve seen Viet curry.  Comments about the curry was that it was rather watery and not as thick as other types of curies. It was also not that spicy.

The restaurant was not that busy for a Wednesday evening, but we saw regulars coming in to get take out.  There is plenty of street parking available or you can park in the large lot behind London Drugs.

Overall the service was quite friendly.  The food was quite standard compared to other places we tried, so there was nothing that really stood out with regards to the dishes.

SFDD gives 2.75 out of 4 Delights.

Kim Chau Deli – Kingsway Vancouver

Kim Chau Deli is located in the Kingsway/Knight St. neighbourhood, in the heart of Little Saigon. Street parking on Kingsway can get difficult on a busy weekend or during rush hour traffic so you may need to circle around to the small streets to find a spot.

The shop is a small Vietnamese style deli/market which prepares a lot of their own food. It looks to be a wholesale operation at the back where can you see lots of employees making the food.  The front of the store is the retail operation where you can find all sorts of packaged dry goods like noodles. 

We came here today as we needed to get our fix for Viet Subs.  Viet subs are usually inexpensive when prepared at these types of shops.   French style bread is used, which is usually the first test on whether the sub is good or not.

We went late in the afternoon and the store was not very busy.  We had a look at the Sub menu which lists 5 or 6 different types ranging from $3.50 to $4.  We were hoping to get chicken or pork but we ended up with the cold cut special. 

We actually had a hard time understanding what the young gentlemen behind the counter was trying to say to us when we were placing our order. He talks rather fast like a bullet train.  It turns out he was trying to tell us that most of the subs were sold out, except for the cold cut special. 

The cold cut special is filled with the Vietnamese style ham, pickled carrots and daikon, parsley, onions and cucumber.  The bread was rather fresh with a crispy crust and a soft interior.  It is especially good after getting warmed up in the toaster.  The girl making our subs was very friendly and took her time to put it all together for us.  She asked if we wanted spicy but we declined.

There is nowhere to sit inside the shop so you gotta eat it outside on the street or in your car.  Careful when eating in your car because you will surely get bread crumbs all over yourself when crunching down on the bread.

We hope to head back earlier next time so we can try out the different subs.

SFDD gives 3.25 out of 4 Delights.

 

Bao Chau

We had another craving for some Vietnamese Pho so we decided to try a new place which has been blogged quite a bit in east Vancouver.  Bao Chau is located at 2717 East Hastings Street just between Nanaimo and Renfrew.

View Larger Map

I drove past this place hundreds of times and never thought about trying it before.  Based on reviews on several blogs, I learned that this place was popular for its spring rolls. The business name on the menu is also known as “The Spring Roll Special House Inc.”

The dish I ordered was a dry vermicelli which came with a spring roll, tiger prawn wrap with ham grilled pork hash (bun ba mau). Seems to be the special of the buns since the photo on the menu featured this dish.  I like to order the dry dish because I’m usually not fond of hot soup and I like to use this dish as a comparison with other places I’ve tried.

The prawn was new to me. It was like a giant pork ball with a small prawn inside. I think it is comparable to the prawn balls you get at Chinese wedding dinners. The pork patty was also a first for me. I didn’t like the pork patty at all because it was very similar to spam.

The vermicelli came hot as opposed to cold at some other places i tried. It tasted good as long as you used all of the fish sauce.  I liked their vermicelli because it was relatively al Dante.  The spring roll was fried well and had good texture.  It seemed to have more meat filling.  However, the filling made it soggy inside if you did not eat it right away.

San had the #2 rare beef pho.  She was too hungry and already started digging in before I could get a picture.  But overall San said the soup was not hot enough.  This was evidenced by the beef staying pink in color even half way through the meal.  She said the taste was just like other pho’s places so it was nothing unique.

Well, this place is just OK.  Not worth making a special trip.  If I were to crave for bun or spring rolls, I think the ones at Pho Tan are actually a bit better.  I also think that this place needs a few brighter light bulbs.  The tables were also very cramped as your chair is literally back to back to the chairs belonging to the table behind you.

SFDD gives 3 out of 5 Delights

Pho Tan Vietnamese Restaurant

It has become a weekend ritual for the both of us to visit the Pho Tan on Sundays for lunch.  The Pho Tan is located at 4598 Main St, at 30th Ave. They serve the typical Vietnam cuisine such as pho beef noodles, broken rice, vermicelli, and Vietnamese style coffee.  Their menu is quite extensive with more than 100 items.

View Larger Map

The restaurant is quite nice and clean.  It has Vietnam inspired paintings and decor around the restaurant.  The restaurant seats about less than fifty people.  Sundays seems to be quiet for lunch.   We seem to always be the first ones there if we arrive at 11am.

Today, Fan’s choice was the #77 which is called the Bun Ga, Bi, & Cha Gio. This translates to grilled chicken, shredded Pork and spring roll on rice vermicelli.  This is the normal pick of mine as I have a good experience each time.  This vermicelli is cold and served in a large soup bowl with chicken, pork, salad and one large spring roll laying on the top.  It is quite a filling lunch for $7.50.  I highly recommend you give this a try if you get a chance to visit.

San’s choice was unusually small this time. She opted for just an appetizer.  She chose the #5 Ga Nuong Cuon which translates to grilled chicken roll.  This is a delicious spring roll with vermicelli and grilled chicken wrapped with what appears to be rice paper.  It comes with a peanut dipping sauce.  According to San, this appetizer is big enough to be a meal by itself.  The cost of this is $5.50.

SFDD gives Pho Tan 4 out of 5 Delights.