vietnamese – Page 4

December 21, 2014

Viet Hai Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

We’ve went for many meals looking for delicious pho and we found ourselves at Viet Hai on Macleod Trail in Calgary. It was a nicely decorated location and the food was decent as well.

We started off with some Spring Rolls and the plate does come with 4 of them. I decided I was going to eat one before I took the picture, but it was good! It was pretty standard, so that’s no complaints!

I ordered my usual, the Rare Beef Slices and Beef Ball Noodles Soup and the bowls of noodles were quite large.

Then, my husband ordered his usual, the Rare Beef Slice Noodle Soup and this was also a really large bowl with tons of beef slices in it.

Overall, it was decent. There’s no really complaints or compliments so it was a good place to go for something quick and hot! The prices was really good though, at under $8 a bowl of soup!

Viet Hai Restaurant

4640-Macleod Trail SW.
Calgary, AB
(403) 287-2622

December 12, 2014

Pho Tai Vietnamese Noodle House – Calgary, Alberta

We found ourselves up North as we were looking to try Pho Tai, as our friends has recommended this place to us for a new dish we’ve never tried.

Once we were seated, they put us in the first table on the left – which they forgot about us. What was going to be a quick lunch turned a little long and almost painful as they didn’t bother to take our order. But, when we finally ordered, I got their Vietnamese Chicken Sweet and Sour Soup which has been a new soup that I’ve started to love. They are always bigger portions than the regular pho soups – but usually sweet from pineapples and sour from their Elephant Ear stems, but now days they tend to use lime juice.

The new dish we came to try was their Vietnamese Crispy Crepe which was like a fried egg omelette with pork, shrimp and fresh herbs inside. Then you have lettuce on the side with their fish sauce mixture and you eat it together. I’m not sure how you eat it, but we took ours apart and ate it like a messy salad.

Overall, the food was decent – it wasn’t the best, but it was neat as there was unique items on their menu, which make them special. The people we dealt with in the restaurant was Chinese, so I’m not sure if their kitchen was authentic Vietnamese. The service was a little poor, but we got what we came here for. I think the prices was high for a Vietnamese restaurant, however these were special items ordered – so a bit higher does make sense!

Pho Tai Vietnamese Noodle House

3168 Sunridge Blvd NE
Calgary, AB
(403) 769-9401

November 23, 2014

Pho Ao Sen – Oakland, California

We went for some Vietnamese while our visit to California and met up our family Pho Ao Sen and it’s located right on 12th Street. This restaurant is so busy and they have parking both beside the restaurant and across the street.

We started with the standard, some salad roll, which they call Goi Cuon- Spring Rolls, which looks really impressive! The taste was quite amazing as well, even their dipping sauce was pretty unique and very delicious! These huge salad rolls were stuffed with both shrimp and pork, and the standard stuff like vermicelli, mint, bean sprouts and lettuce.

We also got another standard appetizer, the Cha Gio- Egg Rolls which was the crispy/fried version of the Vietnamese Spring Roll. They call it an egg roll here, which is quite different from a Chinese Egg Roll, but a lot of people use these terms interchangeable. These Egg Rolls was a mixture of ground pork, shrimp, vegetables, cellophane noodles, and wrapped then fried to perfection. It was actually really tasty without the dipping sauce!

I was still fighting the tail end of my cold on this day, so I ordered a nice hot bowl of Pho Gai which is their Chicken pho. The bowl of noodles was huge and there was a huge amount of chicken. The broth was tasty!

Then, my husband ordered the Beef Stew soup, what they call Pho Hoac Mi Bo Kho which was really fragrant and flavourful. The soup was really quite thick though, it was unique and very different from the ones we have here! This bowl of soup and tons of everything which made it extraordinary delicious!

Overall, this place was pretty amazing! No wonder it’s a favourite of so many people! I’m sure we will be back some day!

Pho Ao Sen

1139 E. 12th Street
Oakland, CA
(510) 835-5588

August 11, 2014

Pho Anh Huyen Noodle House – Calgary, AB

We were off to another road trip when we figured we’d stop into Pho Anh Huyen for something to eat before we took off. The location isn’t hard to find, but it definitely has limited parking spots. Once you enter the door, it has a scent of “washrooms” which seems to have disappeared quickly.

We started off with Pork and Shrimp Salad Rolls and it’s not as good as my favourite place, but it was decent. The sauce they gave was primarily diluted peanut butter so I added some hot sauce into it to make it tastier for myself as I like the kick to it.

Then, I ordered a bowl of Beef Stew Noodle Soup as I had no idea what I wanted, and this was one of my husbands favourite… so if I didn’t like it, I can always trade with him! It turns out that this was really good, both the beef stew and the soup broth had tons of flavour and the noodles were really well cooked! It didn’t stick together yet it wasn’t soggy and breaking apart!

My husband ordered himself a bowl of Rare Beef with Brisket Noodle Soup and it was quite a different soup. As clear as the broth looked, it also had a really good flavour it the soup. The portions were large and they were really generous with the amount of meat given (in both bowls actually!)

Overall, the prices were average as other Vietnamese noodle houses. The food was decent although not the best we have had. Generous portions of both soup and meat which makes it a good deal!

Pho Anh Huyen Noodle House

1403 Centre St NW
Calgary, AB
(403) 276-3636

July 10, 2014July 10, 2014

Saigon Maxim Vietnamese Cuisine – Calgary, AB

I was actually boycotting the Vietnamese restaurant that we’ve been going to for awhile… we stumbled into Saigon Maxim as an alternative, and we’re glad we did! The food was amazing! With tons of parking, good food, and other amenities – it’s an ideal place to eat!

We started with some Chicken Wings as I’m normally in search for wings on Wednesday. The wings were fried really well here, even though there wasn’t a lot but it was good quality! The wings were a little small as well, but the skin was really crispy!

I ordered rice vermicelli with lemon grass beef, chicken & prawn. It was a large bowl of vermicelli with tons of meat. I’m always nervous about ordering shrimp or prawns or seafood in general at a restaurant I’m not familiar with. The prawns were decent here and the chicken and beef was really good.

Rare beef Noodle Soup and it was exceptional! It really was as flavourful and delicious as it looks! The beef was tender and actually juicy, and there was a lot of them too!

Overall, we loved our experience here. It was close to home and it tastes really good. We’ve been back numerous times already since we’ve experienced it! I recommend this location for Vietnamese food!

Saigon Maxim Vietnamese Cuisine

8338 18 Street Southeast
Calgary, AB
(587) 353-0033