Little Saigon Adventures

Thanks, @JeetKuneBao! Saigon Banh Mi would have been more brilliant…next time. Trying to train them right. It’s working with two of them…working on getting the last one on board. The youngest chowpup tore through medium shebang spice and played with the shrimp heads on his fingers after sucking out the juices. I’m very proud indeed.
Side note, did you know that Boiling Crab servers suggest that your can reheat the leftover sauce in the bag and add to your own noodles? We usually don’t have leftovers, but we did tonight. Our server told us to heat up the sauce without the seafood and then toss in your choice of cooked noodles. Gonna try that with our leftovers later this week.
Trieu Chau is next on my list for them. We’ve found ourselves spending more time in Little Saigon lately. It’s finally cool enough for steaming hot bowls of noodles. They are privileged in that grandma brings them banh canh and mi on a regular basis during the week of cold winter months…which really only mean two or three months of the year.

2 Likes

Hi @JeetKuneBao,

Re: Mia Juice - Ooh, nice! :slight_smile: But why do you say it’s creamy? I noticed in the pic they make smoothies, so is it pure sugarcane juice only? Or with milk / ice for a smoothie?

Also is it weird / interesting that they handwrote in “Cococane” on the menu (seems like a nod / acknowledgement of the popularity of Cococane the store you told us about)? :slight_smile: Thanks.

Nope no milk/cream/smoothie.

I actually asked the sweet owners why is their sugarcane juice so creamy compared to others?

They said many factors come in play but told me their machine is different and they have a farm in the Fresno area. The Yelp pics speak for themselves…I have not had sugarcane in Little Saigon that is this creamy and frothy and f’ing good!!!

Give it a try. Try just the plain sugarcane, and then maybe some add ons like kumquats or a mix.

Cococane is indeed very popular now but I think I prefer just the straight up sugarcane I wouldn’t turn down a cup of cococane

4 Likes

Grandpa Noodles

Same plaza as Vans/Phat Ky Mi Ga.

Got the household name which is a dry Pho with all types of beef parts. Not pictured the bowl of broth with balls, broth was meh. I probably like this more than most pho with broth haha.

1 Like

I have been wondering about this place since I’ve been driving by it. The name itself made me wonder what waa going on behind the door. Thanks for stopping by.
Parking can be a bit troublesome in that plaza.

Much props to JKB for the Cococaine rec. This matcha / coconut / sugarcane juice thing may be the greatest sugarcane based drink I’ve ever had.

Much less successful was Com Tam Thuan Kieu next door. Everything was less than Com Tam Trung Qui Cap EXCEPT FOR this cafe sua da from the gods. In fact, quite possibly the worst chao tom I’ve ever had. Should’ve gone the plaza over to Grandpa’s Kitchen which I was eyefucking on Yelp.

3 Likes

Aww nice your back in the old hood!

Where else is on the agenda?

This thread gets lots of visitors…

Brad Johnson from OC Register, Sunset Magazine (LoL), Eater, and freakin Huffington Post (LoL) is still higher than me in a Google Search for “Little Saigon food”

Went to Trieu Chau today for lunch. I had forgotten what a shitshow the parking lot can be during peak hours…but lunch continues to be fantastic.
The chow pup had the duck noodles with both egg and thin rice noodles. I got the house special egg and thick rice noodles with seafood. This meal reminds me of weekends where Mom would make noodles for breakfast because she and Dad didn’t see a point to driving 25 minutes to Little Saigon for food she could make at home. The chow pup said that if he ever sees duck noodles on the menu from now on then he would order it…that put a smile on my face. I also like their version of lemon soda (soda chanh)…all the sugar has been properly dissolved in the cup before it arrives at your table.
Use the Yelp app to get onto the waiting list before you arrive. We were next in line to be seated when we arrived.

4 Likes

Mai’s Kitchen

The Pork Rib could have been a little more tender. Other than that a nice meal.

3 Likes

Was eye fuking this at some takeout joint. That would be so good over some rice or plain porridge.

1 Like

Hi @JeetKuneBao,

I need menu names for those pics you posted! :slight_smile: Looks wonderful.

Thanks to everyone in this thread, especially JKB. I went down to Little Saigon last weekend for the first time in many years. So much good food, so little time. We only had a lunch and dinner to spare.

Had a light lunch at Brodards with the duck salad and banh xeo. Lovely. Dinner was at Mai’s Kitchen and we ordered the family dinner for two. Again, lovely and delicious. We ordered the hot and sour soup, the caramelized fish and the steamed eggplant. The portions are modest but correct; we ate everything and were satiated, but not stuffed. Without my mom murmuring, I’d have ordered an extra dish. The family menu was only in Vietnamese. I’d have been clueless on my own, but my mom took care of business. The waitstaff are young bilingual kids (to me anyway) so they would probably walk you through the choices. So don’t be put off by the Vietnamese only part of the menu.

4 Likes

Made it to Little Saigon for a mini bang bang. Went to Banh Cuon Luu Luyen and got some pork and shrimp banh cuon sheets. I think it was my mistake in ordering, as I expected full banh cuon rolls, but these were only sheets. Nonetheless, the texture of the rice noodles was pretty nice, and the sum of the parts was delicious. In retrospect, it looks like I missed out on their specialty, which is the banh cuon thit nuong stuffed with BBQ pork. Really liked the combo of shrimp case + cha + egg roll toppings that come with the noodles. We also ordered the bun rieu which was nice and complex

Full jar of the fish sauce concoction!

Pork/shrimp rice sheets with the toppings

Bun rieu

Next we went to a cake shop, and the proprietor gave us a couple of the below green drinks (pandan + coconut milk + mung bean + milk) - filling, but so amazing.

And finally still had some room for Saigon Bakery in the same mall as the cake shop. We got in line - I thought I had ordered the cold cuts (dac biet), which is what I usually prefer. Somehow I ended up with the thit nuong (BBQ pork) instead - the cashier seemed annoyed that I didn’t speak Vietnamese. Regardless, this is the best banh mi I’ve had in a long time, and I personally think it’s better than anything I’ve had in the SGV recently (Banh Mi My Tho, Saigon Bakery, Banh Mi Che Cali). The bread had the perfect texture, and there was a nice balance of the cold, slightly sweet BBQ pork, some cha, with just enough funk from the pate + the pickled veggies. I was pretty full at this point but still managed to finish the sandwich.

11 Likes

That looks more like Chinese BBQ pork than it does thit nuong. Looks like the cashier totally misunderstood you. The banh cuon looks so yummy! Glad you were able to eat so well!

2 Likes

Ga Bistro


Ga (Chicken in Vietnamese)

Got the 5 Course Chicken Plate. That dark sauce I am guessing is for the chicken with crispy rice. Sauce is similar to the one at 1.99

Sugarcane Stick Chicken…this was tasty but arrived lukewarm

Chicken Egg Rolls…solid.

Chicken with Crispy Rice…dark meat pieces with semi crispy skin, this was okay. The crispy rice tasted like sweet mungbean

Chicken Wings in a Garlic/Butter sauce with onions and peppers. Not Korean Fried crispy. Meh.

Chicken Salad. I like Vietnamese Goi, definitely not something I’d make at home so it’s always a treat to eat

Fun to eat, but if I was to comeback it would be for the goi.

3 Likes

Flower Festival

Came here after Ngu Binh lol


Every time Chowseeker goes I get a craving

Tried a few things. The grilled squid has a really good cilantro/herb sauce. Banh Trang is kinda hard to find I was glad I got to try it, I thought it was okay. The Bot Chien, was so so. If you want this dish just go to Kim Ky. Mia Perfect Juice as always was good.

5 Likes

From the pic looks like they used the thicker banh da, not the thin banh Trang rice paper ones you see on YouTube

Cho Tam Bien’s Chao Long!

Feel a little under the weather (nasal congestion, sore throat, sneezing, etc).

Also I noticed they serve Bun Moc and Bun Rieu…is this place also a Northern specialist?

3 Likes

yes, chao long is def. their signature…love their sausages lemongrass sausage and intestines and all the offals. we like to buy deli style and make the chao at home.

in fact, we just had a party and had cheffed up chao bar with edible flowers, various pickles and 63 degree egg. we made the chao ourselves but bought some of their prepared offals and intestine. along with our home made blood sausage, it was huge hit.

3 Likes