Just opened 3 months ago Golden Delight, is not to be mistaken for the long time Vietnamese stalwart in the SGV, Golden Deli. While it does serve a nice Vietnamese menu, it’s Teo chow leaning Chinese menu also has strong offerings such as the special lobster and shaking beef. It’s like if Golden deli and Newport tang cang had a baby.
Today, we tried some key items from from the viet menu for lunch and it didn’t disappoint.
The highlight is the stone pot pho. It comes bubbling hot like a Korean stew, but with noodles and rare beef on the side.
While some might say it’s a gimmick (some places use the Korean metal bowls), there’s really a good reason why this attention to detail is worth it. Consider your standard ceramic or melamine bowl of pho—as soon as you add the cold beansprouts (and I’m one to add alot) and the cold rare meat, it drops the temp of the broth significantly and you really have to scoff that bowl down at a good clip if you want to enjoy your pho at a decent temperature. This stone pot pho, on the other hand, The beansprouts and raw meats are cooked without sacrificing the broth temperature. it’s a bowl that makes you linger and savor and stop to really taste the pho. It’s right up there with best pho’s in SGV already.
You definitely want to order the fresh thin or thick noodles with this as the standard noodles comes in a big clump. It comes loaded with meats and a bargain at 12.50. They easily could be charging ramen prices and be $15-17.
Now this is where the golden deli comps get interesting. The chả giò with the rice paper is excellent here and goes toe to toe with Golden Deli. Just look at that delicate crispy skin! It shatters like a good banh mi or croissant. Fantastic, another highlight.
The com ga hoi an also caught our eye. We talked about how it’s not common to find this dish in SGV, but lo and behold here it is. Though presented separate rice, chicken, and salad dish—it should really be more a rice salad dish so make sure you scramble it all together and give good douse of fish sauce. The minced liver and giblets give it a nice complex contrast. Only nit pick is that it’s not shredded chicken, but chopped, but otherwise the chicken Is nicely done.
Finally we tried a bun bo Hue. For a restaurant that has such a big menu, we feared some things would have to be watered down. But alas, this wasn’t it. Perhaps not quite as good as 5 stars Hue, but definitely holds its own again the rest of SGV offerings.
So after just these 4 items were pretty excited about golden delight. The effort into that stone pot pho shows attention to detail that is commendable. The eggrolls rockets to #1 contender immediately to challenge golden deli.
Think this restaurant really deserves a OOE from both the viet and Chinese menu from some intrepid FTCers in the near future.