Yes I checked a menu pic on Yelp and they have a chicken gizzard salad.
If you go be sure to get their fresh fruit drinks like passion fruit as well
The roast catfish at Favori is the crispiest fish I ever had
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Recently went to Japanese-Italian restaurant, Ini Ristorante in Fountain Valley. It’s the newest restaurant by Kei Concepts that seems to be THE restaurant group of Little Saigon. They own Nep Cafe and Vox Kitchen to name a few. Ini is in the same shopping complex as Vox, the second location of Brodard and Ngu Binh.
The service team was very VERY good. Incredibly accommodating.
The calamari was solid, crunchy on a bed of lightly seasoned arugula.
The truffle mushroom pizza had a nice neapolitan style crust, but a strong cheese that overwhelmed the whole thing. I couldn’t get any taste of truffle. It would have been an opportunity for them to introduce Japanese-style pizza, like Pizzeria Sei. They have other pizzas with Japanese ingredients.
Seafood malfadine (crab, scallops, shrimp, tomato cream) -this was not good dish. The pasta was cooked well, but the crab was just a little too funky for this dish. And it needed a bit more seasoning and spice. I added a lot of red pepper flake to it.
Finished with a creamsicle panna cotta that was slightly overcooked. Had some blood orange pieces that added nothing. The panna cotta was, if I remember, just plain panna cotta with a creamsicle cream that dotted the plate. Should have added more of this to the dish.
Then I went to Brodard next door for the always reliable nem Nuong spring rolls. The To-Go area was so slow and inefficient. For instance there was a line of previous to-go orders waiting on the counter that they’d just pass by and never came back to call out the number/name, so a lot of people were just standing there until they asked about those items. And then they just gave them that item, and didn’t even call out the other items that were unaccounted for. They staff was young, but they needed more training.
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With Brodard, the best play is to order online to-go.
Getting in the line can be a little crazy. I order from home or wherever I am and then drive over.
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Kei concept is really killing it in terms of opening successful and more lucrative concepts in Little Saigon. The younger generation in Little Saigon has more exposure to different cuisines, have more disposable income than the previous generation, and don’t always want Vietnamese (plus Vietnamese is generally a lower average reciept per customer). Kei fills that gap with higher receipt per customer concepts like Japanese hand roll, ramen, Italian, California cuisine, Asian fusion etc with little to no competition. Not knocking it per se, they’re catering to their customer base, but notice all the bling on the menus such as waygu, truffle, etc
I’ve seen the pizza ovens at INI–they are gas powered rectangular ovens that can churn out regular pizzas, but don’t think they are designed to produce neopolitan style like traditional wood fired ones.
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The pizzas were definitely too light colored to be wood fired, but did still manage a good burnt bubbly crust that was light and airy. I feel that Nep and Vox are picking up the void that Break of Dawn left. But I think Ini Ristorante might be their weakest link, despite it being packed. It probably does serve a void in Little Saigon though, as it’s bereft of Italian concepts (even though Italian oversaturates all of OC and LA).
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Yummy Bakery and Food To Go - Westminster
Top tier banh mi and lives up to their namesake. Ordered the #1 banh mi yummy which was excellent. The bread had a crispy exterior and fluffy interior and ingredients all worked in harmony.
Also got a #8 banh mi heo quay (crispy pork belly) which was excellent as well. - not pictured
They also have banh bao which were sold out upon arrival and sugarcane juice. The kumquat sugarcane washed down the banh mi perfectly! And they offer the recent famed banh mi pho which I’ll need to try on my next visit.
Cash Only
Yummy Bakery and Food To Go
9550 Bolsa Ave ste 115E-1
Westminster CA 92683
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Went to ngu binh the other day and everything was outstanding from bun bo hue, mi quang, goi ga, cafe su dua, and this mung bean dumplings.
Haven’t been in a while but will have to return soon.
One thing that was interesting was that they weren’t using yellow tumeric noodles and their mi quang was wet instead of the dry/ yellow noodles that I’m used to. Is this a different style?
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That looks great! We recently went to Carrot and Daikon which a drive thru Bahn Mi for their crispy pork belly bahn mi. Top notch! I kinda love the Drive Thru concept too… Bahn Mi has always been road trip food for us.
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Just a different style. The idea that Vietnamese food in little Saigon is the standard traditional or authentic is false. It took me a while to realize and come to grip w/ this. When I went to VN in early 2000s a relative took me to eat mi quang. It was a specialty restaurant known for it and there were about 20 varieties. I, too was expecting the yellow dyed noodles but it turned out many of the noodle there were white or brown. Different villages and regions had their own style. Who knew!?
Vietnamese food in America comes from a small snapshot of the diaspora from certain place and time and tends to lack variety and pales in comparison to variety back in VN. I’m constantly learning of new dishes watching VN YouTube that have not seen anywhere in the US.
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That’s very enlightening thanks for the info and insight!
Any other places in little Saigon to check out diff styles of mi quang?
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I like the mì quảng at Quan Hy; they also have good banh it ram; banh quai vac; and banh cuon thit nuong.
Mì quảng Da Lat has jicama; mì quảng Phan Thiet has chicken.
Can you provide a Youtube link for mì quảng without turmeric?
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I ate it without yellow noodles at a restaurant in vn, not something I’ve seen in YouTube.
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I agree Little Saigon only represents a fraction of Vietnamese food. We all appreciate regional specialist dishes here on FTC. There is too much variety and variations across Vietnam. The same goes for other cuisines. But still if we are talking about US than imo Southern California has the greatest food scene in the US (Asian and Mexican)
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Yummy will ask if you want the veggies on the side if you eat the sandwich later. I thought Carrot and Daikon was good, Yummy was pretty impressive though, like right behind Ba Le and Banh Mi My Tho and I liked it better than Saigon Bakery. The bread really is on another level and the pork belly was sliced in a way that was pleasant to eat in the sandwich. And the skin was crispy yet not shattered on each bite. I didn’t care for the pork belly banh mi at Saigon Bakery, they add a sweet sauce that I didn’t care for.
I am thinking Yummy might be my #3 banh mi spot. I need to return to see how the other sandwiches stack up and their consistency.
I am eating the baguette reheated in the oven right now and it is definitely better than my most recent ones from Saigon Bakery.
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Thanks for the compare!!! Will seek out Yummy next time! I love the whole travel style option!
Here it is in da nang Vietnam, near where the dish originated and is named after, quang nam province
Cc: @hungryhungryhippos
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Good find @hppzz 
if it’s helpful, the wikipedia main photo featuring just the Central region original version with simple rice noodles without coloring instead of the tumeric infused colored noodles in the Southern adaptation/variation
I was born in the Central region of Vietnam, spent my early childhood there and grew up in Sai Gon. I remember the biggest culture shock for me was different regional adaptations of food.
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In Central Vietnam how are the hu tieu nam vang, bun rieu, and pho? Any differences vs the way they eat in the north/south?
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