vietnamese/pho: i recommend THANH KY

THANH KY
No. 1 and 6, Lane 6, Yongkang St, Taipei
(02) 2321 1579 and (02) 2322 2765

hours: 11:30am to 11:30pm

$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted, but roomy in newer location

Visit reviewed: 9/30/2009



I never noticed Thanh Ky until about six months ago when I discovered Yong Kang Kou next door. I guess before I was always "business" about this area- going straight to Ice Monster (which is directly across from it) after a meal and then back on our way. But after realizing that there was Vietnamese pho to be eaten here, it was just a matter of time before I tried it.

On this day, my friend wanted to take me to lunch at La Cocotte, but when we tried to "walk in," they wouldn't seat us without reservations at 1pm on a weekday. So we racked our brain on where to go and we were close enough to Yong Kang Street to give it a try. I guess you can get your food to go from the outside street vendor portion, adjacent to a small sitting space or you could go right across the alley, to the newer, bigger dining area and kitchen, which is comfortably air conditioned.



The restaurant is clean and the service is efficient and fills up quickly after we sit down with larger groups of young people in the back of the restaurant, even though it's a bit after lunchtime.



The good sized menu is easy to browse, in English and Chinese and lots of pictures.



In addition to the beef broth pho, they also have pho with sate, curry or even Tom Yum Seafood soup. Individual hot pots are also available with vegetables, seafood and meat options.



Pho #1 is their Hanoi Beef Pho (NT$165), which is their "no. 1 selling pho on the menu. Awarded 2008 Taipei International New Row Main Festival contest runner-up." (Totally not my spelling by the way). Appetizers on the menu include fried Vietnamese spring rolls, Thai-style shrimp cakes, Pig's Ear salad, Sugar Cane prawns, stewed pork liver and Vietnamese steamed chicken thigh.

I get the Tiger shrimp salad roll (NT$90) to start and comes out fairly quickly. It's a decent size, served with two dipping sauces. Classic taste and gone quickly.



I don't realize until after I get my Stir fried Beef with Rice Noodle (NT$95) that it's slices of beef, not ground beef, which makes it a little messy to eat. The beef is a little dry/tough, especially in contrast to the fork tender beef of my friend's Hanoi Beef Pho. In terms of dry rice noodles, you can't beat the pork noodle dish from Pho Hoa.



The Hanoi Beef Pho is perfect for anyone who is a fan of the clear broth beef noodle soup and I can see why it was a contender in the annual beef noodle soup competition. The tendons and beef are cooked perfectly and the soup is a pleasure to drink, even on a warm afternoon. It has a slightly sweet quality, aromatic with the basil, onions and lime juice.



If it's not spicy enough, there's chili sauce on the side to adjust it to your liking.



So the next time a craving for pho hits you, you can give Thanh Ky a try. The family run business has been around for almost 30 years and is a great option for a quick meal in the area.


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vietnamese: i strongly recommend PHO HOA

PHO HOA
No. 43, Lane 190, Tunhua S. Road, Sec. 1
(02) 2751-5578

website: noodle.zeelive.com.tw Chinese, but menu has English

hours: 11 AM - 9:30 PM

$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs, smallish space, but lots of kids and families and fairly friendly service.

Visit reviewed: 4/5/2008 & 4/6/2008

Thank you, thank you to readers Virginia and Joshua for telling me about Pho Hoa. It is by far the best pho I've had in Taipei and quite comparable to the pho joints that I frequent in LA. I owe you guys, seriously.



Why is it so good? I don't know. Supposedly, they used to be a part of the chain Pho Hoa according to a November 2000 Taipei Times article (but no longer? They are not mentioned on Pho Hoa's official website). But maybe they retained the secret recipes and standardization that makes it so different from adjusted-for-Taiwanese-customers eateries.

And apparently the Taiwanese customers don't mind. We walked in around 2:30pm and it was packed full. We ordered while we waited and were shortly seated among the 30 or seats in the clean, modern and air conditioned space with a semi-open kitchen in the back.



The menu is in English and Chinese at the front counter and you pay before you sit down. I think I saw some hidden plastic menus with pictures too, in case you don't know what the different kinds of pho available are. Basically you can get it with hot soup with various meat toppings or dry with chicken, shrimp or pork chop, in small or large sizes (NT$120-$180). It's more expensive than the mom and pop places, but here, you know what you are getting and I think you get your money's worth. They also have Vietnamese coffee or milk tea (NT$50) and soft drinks.

They offer fried spring rolls (no summer rolls) which are served hot and crispy with ground meat, glass noodles and chopped veggies. It's not a steal at 2 for NT$80, but good if you are craving it. They also have sliced papaya salad (NT$35) and limited starters.



Most importantly, Pho Hoa uses the skinny rice pho noodles, rather than the wide noodles I've been seeing everywhere. Their broth in the soup pho is a right combination of salty sweetness flavors and depth- not too oily or murky.

And they give you the side plate of fresh lime, basil and chili slices, sometimes upon request, sometimes upon sitting down.



I like getting a big bowl of rare steak pho (NT$160) and watching the thin slices cook in the broth before I eat it, squeezing a bit of lime, tearing up some basil and adding some of the sweet hoisin sauce into the broth.



The dry phos (NT$120-150) are not served cold, but with warm, slightly wet noodles, with a side bowl of hot soup. There are crushed peanuts, pickled cucumbers, cilantro and sprouts side by side with the sliced pork chops (which have been marinated in basil?) and all the flavors again mesh well together and you just want to inhale the whole bowl.



I was kind of weirded out by the green appearance of the pork, but it quickly faded as I took my first bite. It was SO good.

How good?

I took some friends back to Pho Hoa the next day so I could order that dish again. With more people, I got to check out the dry shrimp pho and dry shredded chicken pho dishes. While it was pretty full when we got there, it emptied up and then filled up again with customers, though it was into 2-3pm in the afternoon.

Maybe I was just too pho-deprived, but it was still really good, two days in a row. My friends agreed it was one of the better bowls of pho they've had in Taipei, too.

It can be a bit tricky to find- closer to the Zhong Xiao/Dun Hua corner/MRT rather than Sogo- though it's kind of in between. If you are coming from Zhong Xiao/Dun Hua, you have to head towards Haagen Daaz and cross Dun Hua into the lane 190, parallel to Zhong Xiao. If you are coming from Sogo- look for the Bossini.

Also, interestingly enough, they have a Mr. Roll area in the front where they sell mixed rolls "from California." Didn't get to try that, but in case you are craving California rolls you could check it out.

vietnamese: i recommend VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT

VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT
No. 1, Lane 380, Keelung Road
(02) 2720-9777

hours: lunch: 11 am- 2 pm; dinner: 5 pm - 8:30 pm

$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs/only tables, small space, but very friendly service.

Visit reviewed: 2/28/2008 and 3/5/2008



I passed by this place about a month ago and then ended up going back twice. Once for take out and once for sit down. I've been seeing more and more hole in the wall type Vietnamese places, all in little alleys with hard to find locations if you haven't been before. Location-wise, it's not too far from Omelete to Go or the alleys across from the Grand Hyatt hotel and it's across from a Korean restaurant I also have my eye on.

You'll know you're there when you see red and black sign that simply says "Vietnamese Restaurant" in Chinese (or Yue Nan Fan Dien) and spot the front window filled with lots of blown up pictures of their spring/summer rolls, pho, rice dishes and sandwiches. This one is worth searching out if you've been craving Vietnamese because its mom and pop styled food offers a varied menu, friendly and efficient service and cheap eats in a clean, enclosed setting quickly fills up during lunch with lots of business types.



Plus they gots the sauces! Fish sauce, hoisin sauce and chili sauce.



Okay.. my first visit I was in a bit of rush and ordered pho (NT$80) and summer rolls (NT$50) to go. I had an upset stomach a few days before, so the owner recommended chicken pho instead of the rare beef. The smell of the broth in the car was a bit fishy and overwhelming on the way home, but after pouring it all in the bowl and tasting it, it was fine. They put in all the sliced chili peppers and cilantro and I didn't spot any fresh basil or lime or hoisin on the side (though I didn't request any either).



I don't remember the pho being this fat/wide in the states.. so I don't know if it's an adjustment for Taiwanese customers or US customers.. how is it really in Vietnam? I think I still like the noodles on the thin side.



The summer rolls were also decent- 3 for NT$50- on the smallish medium size.



Waiting for my food, it was funny seeing an older Taiwanese couple trying out a bowl of pho and a pork plate and commenting about it while they were sharing. The owner/guy said that they had been open for about 8 months or so and business was best during lunch.

The second time I went for lunch, they had a menu in English (instead of the picture menu that they have with Chinese and Vietnamese).. I used both to try and figure out what I wanted and decided to try the Vietnamese pork plate(NT$70) since it was too hot that day to eat pho. I also wanted to try the spring rolls (NT$50) along with the summer rolls (NT$50).

The spring rolls were piping hot and stuffed with ground pork and veggies. I wasn't sure what they were wrapped in, but it was very crispy and bite sized with lettuce on the side to wrap them in.



The Vietnamese pork dish came with homemade side veggies- I liked the bamboo but didn't really care for the lukewarm tomato egg and greens. The pork was flavorful, but had a weird texture on the surface on the meat- hard to describe, that made it sort of rough/grassy to eat? I don't know if the marinade could do that or the way they grill it? It seemed to be a popular dish, or maybe the other customers who followed me saw it and wanted to try it. On the other hand, the rice was really good. You know sometimes rice is over or undercooked? This was perfectly cooked rice.



Spotted in the corner: Made in Vietnam, that's a good sign right? :)



Seriously, the prices here are so low, you could just got a bowl of pho or rice plate for under NT$100 and be full, but you should try the rolls too. (My rice plate plus 2 dishes of rolls was under NT$200 since they charged a 10% service fee or NT$15 (Or 50 cents), so I had to let them keep the NT$20 change to which I think they were pleasantly surprised). I also want to come back and try the curry or the sandwiches which they also have. Plus gotta keep them in business especially it's much better than the faux chain Pho (which is now closed at Warner/Vie Show Village, but still spotted at Breeze Taipei Main Station and Eslite) and since my previous tasty Vietnamese hole in the wall discovery is apparently closed.

my kitchen: vietnamese spring rolls and chicken tikka masala

Courtesy of Carrefour supermarket and a little elbow grease in the kitchen- my first time making Vietnamese OR Indian food. It's been hard to find Vietnamese spring rolls like this in Taipei since the place I went to seems to have gone out of business. I found it very tricky to soak the rice paper just right.. I think the water was too hot and this particular rice paper had a grid on it, which made it tear easily. But we managed to salvage a few. This package of rice paper includes the noodles too, but I probably wouldn't buy it again! I made these before I read these tips on oishiieats, but I did manage to wrap it with the shrimp facing out. I will have to try grilling the shrimp because I can practically smell the flavor from her pictures. Also, I bought some new rice paper with the rose on it the other day to try out along with the special dipping sauce. We'll see how that goes!

lunch:



dinner:

As for curry out of a can, you definitely have to add water and the tip on the can to add plain yogurt- I thought gave it that extra creaminess and slight sweetness that took it from average to above average, since the curry already has a slightly tangy lemon flavor already in the Tikka Masala. I stirfried the onions first a little bit and then cooked the chicken, before I added the curry and simmered it for a bit. I wish I had had bought some basmati rice or naan to go with it. I would definitely try the other varieties from Patak's Original brand if I see it again at the supermarket. I'm all about the shortcuts.

CLOSED! vietnamese: i strongly recommend DELICACIES OF VIETNAM

DELICACIES OF VIETNAM
(as translated by me- look for a red and white sign in Chinese!)
12, Lane 141, Hu Lin Street
(02) 8789-4456

date visited: 9/27/2006 & 10/3/2006

$

I didn't know what to expect when I walked in. It looked like many local alley restaurants- with a noodle cooking area outside, and inside a small space with sparse white walls and clean wooden stools and tables. The menu was one of those check-off what you want to order in Chinese pieces of paper- with nothing over NT$100 and nothing in English. Luckily, I was there with a group of friends who could translate for me and place our order with the owner.

Besides our party of 8, there were 1-2 other customers who dropped by while we were eating. Since it seemed that the family owned operation had only 3 people cooking and serving, they were busy getting the food ready, but it didn't seem noticeably slow. I will mention though, that they actually had their baby girl in a crib behind the counter. Since everyone was busy getting our order ready, the baby would cry. We went over to play and cheer up the baby and she was fine again.

Someone started off with a shrimp and green papaya appetizer with shrimp chips. I only tried the shrimp chip since I don't care for papayas, but it looked very fresh and appetizing.


The rice paper spring rolls (NT$60) I had been trying to find for awhile in Taipei, and these hit the spot. While they weren't the most amazing spring rolls I've ever had, they were decent. They didn't skimp on the shrimp and they served each person a little pink plastic plate of hoisin sauce. I must admit, I could have probably eaten a whole dish by myself, since each plate came with 2 rolls, each cut in half. (If you order this, ask for the "raw veggie spring roll" rather than the "cold shrimp roll" like I did- otherwise you'll end up with 2 orders of imperial rolls (NT$50 each) (which I didn't really care for), since cold sounds like 2 in chinese!)


Someone recommended that I get the bbq pork vermicelli salad (NT$80), which came with peanuts, sprouts, cucumber and grated carrots, and predrenched with the sweet and spicy fish sauce. The combination of the slippery pho with the crunchy veggies feels so weird in my mouth, but in a really good way. But what is totally worth mentioning is the bbq pork. It was AMAZING. Perfectly grilled, the marinade had a sweet flavor with a kick of spice that complimented the tenderness of the pork. Better than bbq pork vermicelli I'd had in LA! I even ordered another side order of just the pork to share.



YAY! Pho!! The pho with beef (NT$80) was good- it was a big bowl filled with noodles, soup and beef. A hundred times better than the faux pho I had at Eslite's food court's Pho . And here it's actually pho and not fat rice noodles. The broth was had enough salt, fresh basil, cilantro and onions, beef, lime and other mysterious flavors that make pho broth what it is. The pho was chewy and not soggy, and I was so happy that I had finally found a place to decent pho in Taipei.


Interestingly enough, most of the locals we ate with ordered noodles instead of pho. Coming with the same beef broth, but instead of rice noodles it comes with egg noodles. I didn't have a taste, but I thought it was kind of strange to eat pho without the pho. Maybe next time I will ask if that's a local accomodation or if that's truly a Vietnamese dish.



Pho usually doesn't photograph well with its murky beef broth based soup, but definitely don't let that discourage you from trying it if you've never had it before. With both the pho and the noodle, you can get beef, rare beef, beef ball, chicken, pork or combo. You can also get just meat and soup, without noodles.

If you have been searching for Vietnamese food in Taipei like I have, you should find a friend who speaks Chinese to come find this place with you. You can even treat them for helping you order- as it's such a bargain. Lunch for the 8 of us totalled NT$1050 or about US $31 which included 8 bowls of noodles, 4 orders of spring rolls, 1 side of bbq pork, 1 green papaya and shrimp appetizer, which was about NT$131 or about US$4 a person. Being used to pho being almost US$6-7 a person now, I was pleasantly surprised that we could find such a bargain that tasted good here and I think the owners are actually Vietnamese! Until I hear about or find another Vietnamese place that is better, I will definitely be going back.

vietnamese: i don't recommend PHO

PHO
at Eslite XinYi Mall foodcourt, B2
11, SongGao Road

10 am-10 pm (B2/ B1/ 1F/ 5F/ 6F)

visit reviewed: 5/31/2006

It was Chinese rice noodle masquering as pho- perhaps they think that the Taiwanese palate won't know the difference? Soggy and bland- I was extremely disappointed after thinking that this location would offer a new Vietnamese go to spot in Taipei. The soup didn't even taste anywhere close to the depth and flavor of the pho broth I've come to love. We ordered a family special to go- which include 2 appetizers, 2 main dishes, desserts and drinks. Even the non-pho options were sorely lacking, the chicken over rice was utterly forgettable and the fried spring rolls were greasy and bit stale. They didn't even have the rice paper spring rolls that I had been craving and searching for.

You might spot the bright green PHO sign along the wall of the basement of the Eslite Xin Yi food court and think that it's worth a try. Unless it's vastly changed since I've had it five months ago, it's not.