Pho Orchid in New Orleans, LA

I was waiting to watch a few Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans when I stopped into a Vietnamese restaurant called Pho Orchid. I think I may have decided to enter Pho Orchid at a bad time. It seemed like they were transitioning from their normal menu to a special take out only menu that they had during parades. I entered and I was given their normal menu. I was ignored for a very long time before a server came back to my table to take my order. In the meantime, everyone else entering right after me was being told to order at the bar off the Mardi Gras menu. I was a bit confused as to whether or not I was given the normal menu by mistake until a server finally came back to take my order.

I ordered the Grilled Pork Bun. This consisted of vermicelli noodles topped with the meat, lettuce, bean sprouts, pickled carrots, cucumbers, and a side of their house sauce. Overall, it was pretty tasty. Some of the pork was pretty fatty, but otherwise I had no major complaints. The vinegar based sauce, along with hoisin and sriracha kept all the noodles nice and moist. 

Besides what seemed to be confusion among the staff about whether to take my order or not, my meal at Pho Orchid was very satisfying.

Viet Garden in Orlando, FL

Viet Garden was my gateway restaurant into Vietnamese food. Years ago, when I was unacquainted with this type of food, I remember trying Viet Garden for the first time and thoroughly enjoying it. I knew nothing about Vietnamese food at the time, but I knew I liked the sounds of all the noodles and soups that I found on the menu. I soon found myself trying more and more of the surrounding Vietnamese restaurants in the Orlando area. It had been a while since I'd had Vietnamese food, so I decided to return to Viet Garden for another visit.

On this particular visit to Viet Garden, I had the Cho Lon Combo Egg Noodle Soup. This consisted of shrimp, crab claws, roast pork, wontons, egg noodles, and some greens in a broth. The standard side dish of of bean sprouts, basil, jalapeno, and lime accompanied the huge bowl of soup. I did enjoy my soup, although the shrimp and crab claws were a bit elusive. I think I found two of each in the entire bowl. The broth had nice flavor with just the right amount of saltiness. Overall, this was a pretty tasty soup.

This wasn't my first visit to Viet Garden, and it most likely wasn't my last. I'm sure I'll be visiting again one day when I'm craving some Vietnamese food...

Ha Long Bistro in Orlando, FL

I recently met with Traveler Foodie to try a new Vietnamese restaurant on Colonial Drive called Ha Long Bistro. Although there has been Vietnamese restaurants in this location for as long as I can remember, the restaurant has recently gotten new owners and has undergone a name change.

When we first arrived, we tried the Goi cuon (summer rolls) and the Cha gio (crispy spring rolls).

Goi ngo sen tom thit was the next dish I tried. This was a salad consisting of lotus root with shrimp and pork. The lotus was pickled with daikon and carrots, making all the vegetables somewhat soft with a nice pickled flavor. The salad was served with rice crackers on the side.

 The Bo xao luc lac was stir-fried cubed steak in Ha Long's house special wine sauce. The beef was nice and tender and had nice flavor.

The Mì xào giòn (hoặc mềm) thập cẩm consisted of pan fried crispy egg noddles topped with a combination of seafood, beef, and vegetables. This particular dish confused me. Some of the crispy noodles stayed crispy. Others that touched the sauce quickly became soggy. Were the noodles supposed to stay crispy? Were we supposed to mix the noodles with the rest of the dish so they all became soggy? I suppose I don't have enough experience with crispy noodle dishes to really criticize, but nothing was exceptional about the meat (seemed overcooked) and vegetables topping the noodles either.

Phở áp chảo hải sản was described as flat rice noodle with seafood combination. This particular menu description left a lot to be desired. What I would have imagined from reading about this dish was very different from what was served, which in this case was a good thing. The actual dish was much better! The flat rice noodles turned out to be noodles pan fried into a cake topped with egg. This noodle/egg cake was then topped with a mixture of seafood and vegetables. The seafood was tender, the sauce had very nice flavor, and the noodle/egg cakes were completely new to me. I liked!

The Hủ tiếu Nam Vang thập cẩm was a large bowl of soup. The tasty chicken broth was filled with shrimp, thinly sliced pork, crab meat, egg noodles, and assorted vegetables and herbs. A side plate of bean sprouts, cilantro, and jalapenos was served on the side. This soup didn't seem to be anything too different from similar soups that I've had at other nearby restaurants, but that isn't necessary a bad thing. It was tasty and had everything that I would expect from a soup like this.

For a soup that was very different from what I've had at Vietnamese restaurants in the past, we came to the Canh chua cá hoặc tôm. This was a family style sour soup with shrimp. The most apparent ingredient floating in the soup were the quartered tomatoes. Pineapple was also present, but the two ingredients that were very different were elephant ear and rice paddy herb. The elephant ear was a light green sliced vegetable that had the appearance of cucumber and the texture that could somewhat be described as a spongy version of celery. Elephant ear grows in Florida and after living in the state for most of my life, I had no idea that the plants were edible. The rice paddy herb was another new food to me. The plant had an interesting, slightly tart flavor. With all the ingredients put together, I thought this soup was delicious. It had a combination of flavors that were very unique and slightly hard to pinpoint. There was a sour flavor, but I liked it. The pineapple balanced out the sour and rice was served alongside the soup in case the sour flavor was too much. Overall, this was my favorite dish that I tried at Ha Long, not only because of its unique flavors but also because of the education I got on some new types of edible plants!

Cá kho tộ was the Vietnamese braised fish in a clay pot. Technically, the pot was actually cast iron, but lets forget the minor detail. This dish consisted of tender pieces of tilapia in a very tasty sauce.

The Vietnamese Coffee came in a large, ice-filled glass. As someone who rarely drinks coffee, this tasted like coffee with milk to me.

I did enjoy the Jelly Drink. It consisted of shaved ice, coconut milk, strips of green jelly, and kidney beans. Mixed together, this was like a really good version of a snow cone with more interesting ingredients!

I did enjoy my meal at Ha Long Bistro. Most of the food was good and I would gladly return. Although, coming from the perspective of an American who's experience with Vietnamese food comes mostly from the restaurants in the neighborhood surrounding Ha Long Bistro, I didn't notice all too much that separated them from the rest of the pack. We did try some unique foods that were new to me, but I wonder how many other restaurants nearby serve similar dishes that have gone under my radar until now? It isn't necessarily a bad thing that Ha Long Bistro is similar to their neighbors, but as the new restaurant on the block, I wish them the best of luck with all of the competition in the area.

Viet-House in Altamonte Springs, FL

Orlando has a really nice selection of Vietnamese restaurants in the Mills 50 District. That's good since Vietnamese food is generally really tasty. Once outside Mills 50, Vietnamese food gets a bit harder to find. I can only think of a couple Vietnamese restaurants in Seminole county, so I was happy when I saw that a new restaurant had opened in Altamonte Springs called Viet-House.

The tiny restaurant is located in a building behind a gas station at the intersection of 436 and 427. You order at the window and eat at some nearby picnic tables. There isn't an inside here. Viet-House seems to specialize in banh mi but also offer soups and appetizers. I found out the hard way on my first visit that they close at 4:30. When I returned on another day to give them a try, I had their combination banh mi.

The sandwich consisted of various types of sliced pork products (I'm going to hide my ignorance of Vietnamese meats by leaving it at that), pate, pickled vegetables, lettuce, tomato, and cilantro on a French baguette. The banh mi was good and was very filling for under $5.

I also shared these summer rolls, filled with shrimp, pork, noodles, bean sprouts, cucumber, and basil. They were somewhat messy to eat, but tasty.

Eating Vietnamese food in a gas station parking lot is definitely a different experience than eating in one of the nicer Vietnamese restaurants in Orlando, but the food was good regardless. A banh mi sandwich does seem like a perfect type of street food, so perhaps this is actually an ideal location for the food!

Anh Hong in Orlando, FL

Anh Hong is a Vietnamese restaurant on the corner of Mills and 50. They have apparently won various awards, plus I had heard people I know personally say good things about the place. Hearing all this, I figured it was about time to give Anh Hong a try...

I wasn't impressed the first time I was here. I ordered the Meatball Pho and the broth was very bland. The beef broth in pho is normally really flavorful, but in this case I had to add lots of condiments to give it some more taste. The meatballs weren't much better, tasting much better after being dipped in some hoisin or sriracha. For a restaurant that claimed to be award winning, I was disappointed.

A few months later, I decided to give Anh Hong another try. I forget the exact name of the dish that I ordered, but according to some of the online menus I found, I had the Cho Lon Combo. This was a big bowl of egg noodles, topped with shrimp, squid, crab meat, roast pork, assorted greens, jalapenos, and lime slices. A bowl of broth was served on the side. I'm not sure the proper eating technique of getting the broth on the side like this, but I ended up pouring it over everything in my larger bowl. Unlike my first soupy experience at Anh Hong, the food tasted much better this time around. The broth had lots of flavor, the meats were cooked to perfection, and was overall good.

My first meal at Anh Hong left room for improvement, but they redeemed themselves on my second visit. I'll go back...

Kingfish Bistro in College Park, FL

I read about Kingfish Bistro in an Orlando Weekly article. According to the article, they are apparently a Vietnamese owned Italian restaurant, and that combination intrigued me. Because of this, Kingfish was dinner last time I was in College Park. There wasn't really too much Vietnamese-Italian fusion food going on here. The majority of the menu seemed strictly Italian, except for several out of place items, such as these egg rolls that we had for an appetizer.

 

We also decided to share a half meatball, half cheese pizza. The pizza was good, although not great. It was comparable to most of the other nearby pizzerias which are all pretty much middle of the road and average in this neighborhood. I'd have Kingfish's pizza again if I was eating there, but I wouldn't seek it out to fulfill any sort of pizza cravings.

Overall, the food at Kingfish Bistro was good, although not great. I liked the egg rolls as a prelude to pizza, but I really would have liked to see more culture-clashing fusion foods here. Asian vegetables on pizza? I could see it!

Pho Vinh in Orlando, FL

Pho Vinh is a Vietnamese restaurant in Orlando. Chinese food was served in this building the last time I was here, and although I was aware it became a Vietnamese restaurant somewhere along the line, I never thought of eating here. That is, until the December Foodspotting Eatup happened at Pho Vinh. Figured this was as good of a reason as any to try a new Vietnamese restaurant.

Food bloggers were well represented during the meal with Droolius, Tasty Chomps, Eat Local Orlando, and The Daily City all there, along with other foodies that came to eat. As everyone started to order, it seemed like one of the favorites at the table was the Thap Cam (#100). This soup had a combination of shrimp, pork, krab, fried wontons, egg noodles, and assorted vegetables floating in a big bowl of broth. Unlike a couple of other nearby Vietnamese restaurants that have really bland tasting soups in my opinion, Pho Vinh's soup had a delicious broth.

 

I of course added all of the garnishes served along with the soup to my bowl. Thai basil, cilantro, bean sprouts, jalapenos, and lime juice only made it better!

It was my first time at Pho Vinh, but I think I'll definitely be returning. The food was good, prices were affordable and they are friendly to food photography!

Fusion Tacos at the Orlando Farmers Market

I was enjoying a recent Sunday afternoon at Lake Eola when I decided to stop at The Orlando Farmers Market for some lunch. This farmers market seems to serve more ready made food compared to most and some of the options are kind of exotic compared to the typical farmers market fare. Case in point, I decided to try a banh mi from a booth called Fusion Tacos.

The banh mi was filled with spicy grilled pork, cucumbers, pickled vegetables, cilantro, jalapenos, and sriracha. Although expensive, about double the price of what can be bought a few blocks away in Mills-50, the sandwich was still good. The pork was nice and moist with good flavor. They were really generous with all the toppings, and I enjoyed my lunch overall!

Pho Mac in Staten Island, NY

Staten Island, NY. It's a place that everyone seems to drive through without ever leaving the highway while either coming or going to other parts of New York and New Jersey. Still, I figured being one of the five boroughs of New York City, chances are there was some good stuff hidden on the island. That's why on my last trip up to New York, I made a point to actually stop in Staten Island for the first time ever and found some good Vietnamese food at a restaurant called Pho Mac...

I ordered the Pho Thit Heo Nuong, or #17 on the menu. This bowl of pho was described as combination rice noodles beef soup with grilled pork. The thinly sliced pork came served on the side which was a bit different, but once added into the bowl of soup, all the flavors came together into a very tasty dinner!

Boston Bakery in Orlando, FL

It took me a while to figure out Boston Bakery served Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches rather than New England style baked goods. I had driven past countless times with minimal interest in stopping, but that changed when I realized Boston Bakery was something totally different than expected. My curiosity about trying Boston Bakery was further peaked when they scored the highest in the Orlando Weekly's rundown of the city's best banh mi.

I finally stopped into Boston Bakery at the start of a recent road trip. I've found that banh mi are very conducive to eating on the go, so it seemed as good of a time as any to try Boston Bakery. Inside, Boston Bakery was very toasty with no apparent working air conditioning, but I wasn't there for the atmosphere. I was there for the #1 Combination.

The sandwich was filled with steamed pork, head cheese, liver pate, carrots, daikon, jalapeno, and cilantro, all on a French baguette. While the sandwich was good, I also found it to be very dry. The banh mi could have definitely used some sauce to moisten everything up. This was my first experience with head cheese and although it's not the nicest looking sandwich meat, it actually wasn't bad. Just don't make the mistake of reading the Wikipedia page of potential head cheese ingredients as you eat the sandwich. As for the liver, I'll take it or leave it...

Overall, Boston Bakery's #1 Combination was good. The banh mi was nicely stuffed with a whole lot of meat and vegetables. It was a nice introduction to a new mystery meat and although the sandwich was very dry, it was still great deal for $3.

Nha Trang in Orlando, FL

When the recent Orlando Weekly article on the Vietnamese sandwiches called banh mi was published, I decided it had been far too long since I had eaten any sort of Vietnamese food. The next thing I knew, I found myself at Banh Mi Nha Trang in Orlando's Mills-50 District.

The banh mi is this restaurant's specialty. For $2.50, you get a large sandwich that's ingeniously packaged. With it's paper and plastic bag secured with a rubber band (and pepper), it keeps the banh mi held together while collecting any juices that might drip out. All sandwiches should be packed like this.

The banh mi came on a toasted baguette with a very nice crust. Roast pork, cucumber, cilantro, onions, various pickled vegetables, mayonnaise, and fish sauce filled the sandwich. There was potentially a few more banh mi fillings that I couldn't quite identify, and I'm not going to try. All I know is that this was a delicious sandwich!

I'm going to make a point to try some more of Orlando's banh mi. These sandwiches are really good, and are perhaps some of the best food values in town...