Bun combo

Bun (vermicelli) combos are the perfect next step for someone learning about Vietnamese cuisine. The combos offer a chance to try a wide variety of different meats, rolls, and learn the joys of nuoc cham, all while still being anchored by friendly and familiar rice noodles. Having spent the last 7 blog entries exploring the bun on offer in Toronto’s west end restos, I’ve expanded my own horizons and hopefully encouraged others to do the same. Here are my picks for Best in the West:

1. Pho My Duyen [1208 Bloor st w]

More stylish than your average noodle house, yet an equal amount of care is lavished on exquisitely fresh ingredients. Many of the more unusual menu items illustrate the French colonial influence on Vietnamese cuisine. For the bun, try B19 Char-grilled Shrimps on Vermicelli.

2. Pho Phong [1603 Dundas w]

This out of the way spot still manages to lure in a diverse crowd with swanky décor, comfortable booths and consistently high quality food. I suggest #70 Dry Vermicelli with Spring roll, grilled pork and shrimp wrapped sugar cane.

3. Tie: Rua Vang [125 Ossington] and Pho tien Thanh [57 Ossington]

You won’t go wrong at either of these spots on Ossington. The cook at Pho tien Thanh used to work at Rua Vang, so it is hardly a surprise that they offer similar fare. Rua Vang (aka the Golden Turtle) is more well-known, which can mean waiting for a table during busy times, but the smaller, less crowded resto down the street is just a good, if not sometimes better.  At the Turtle, go for #93, Vermicelli with Grilled Chicken and Pineapple. Down at Pho tien Thanh, sample #58 Vermicelli with Meatball and Spring roll.

Pho Bo Ga La

Having tried the traditional Pho soup a few years – and a 25hr plane ride- ago, I decide to expand my horizons and go for the Vermicelli with Sugar Cane Shrimp and Pork. It sounded interesting, and I had no idea what to expect. My dinning buddy went for a more traditional Pho option, something I later wished I’d done also!
While we sipped our Jasmine tea and munched on the accompanying bean sprouts and various other greens, it was time to take in our surroundings. The lights are quite bright, but this adds to the warm and up-beat atmosphere of the long narrow room filled with small tables and happy patrons whose animated chatter drowns out the background sound of the TV, which incidentally is showing a beauty pageant being held somewhere in south east Asia.
After a short wait our dishes arrive, looking and smelling wonderful. In an instant I envied my dining companion for her choice of pho… while my vermicelli looked delicious, I had no idea how to eat the large, thick stem of sugar-cane covered in mashed up shrimp! This was due purely to my inexperience in the area of this most delicious of cuisine. Not wanting to look too out of place, I opted for carefully prying the delicate shrimp away from the sugarcane and mixing it in with the vermicelli, bean sprouts and other fresh goodies residing in my bowl. Whilst there wasn’t really a sauce on the dish, the traditional array of condiments already found on the table were able to provide any extra flavour a diner could have wanted. The vermicelli itself was cooked well, not too soggy and certainly not still hard! Before I knew it I was staring at the empty bottom of the bowel wondering where all that food had gone, surely I didn’t just eat the amount of food!

Pho Bo Ga La is on the main strip in China Town, on Somerset not far from down town Ottawa. It’s generally busy at all hours, so you may have to wait but it’s certainly worth it, there’s a reason the place is always packed!

Pho Bo Ga La
761-763 Somerset St W.
613-233-2222

This post was submitted by Jen Martin.

For anyone following this series, I’m sure the obvious question has been, but what does she think of The Golden Turtle? No other Vietnamese restaurant I know of inspires more vehement debate; it is the most hyped and written about Viet resto in Toronto. People Love it or Hate it, but for better or worse Rua Vang (aka the Golden Turtle) is the standard against which all other Vietnamese restos are judged. Knowing this, I’ve held out against writing about it until now, simply because the stakes are so high.

A quiet moment on busy Ossington.

Full disclosure: I used to live around the corner from the Turtle and during that time (about 2 years ago) I ate here on a weekly basis. So if you had to place me in a camp, I’d be pro-Rua Vang. However, since the Ossington strip has metamorphosed into a hipster zone and the Turtle has become correspondingly busier, I feel the quality of their broth has gone down somewhat. Given the demand, service is silent but efficient, special requests are frowned upon and there is defiantly a vibe that discourages lingering around the table after your meal is done. And yes, the servings are small (compared to the baby bathtubs you get served in a lot of places) and yes, there are other places in town to get pho that is just as good or better, but Rua Vang is still damn good.

The gentrification of Ossington combined with all the hype surrounding this place, means that you should expect to wait for a table most nights. The crowd, mainly non-Vietnamese, is composed of young arty types and those drawn by repeated Toronto Life profiles on the “next hot ‘hood”. Rua Vang is also popular with the foodie crowd, probably lured by rumours that Susur Lee used to eat here on his day off. The girls at the table next to me on my most recent visit looked like indie rockers, but incongruously spent their meal discussing methods for braising red cabbage and comparing features of commercial ranges.

Vermicelli with grilled chicken and pineapple

But how was the bun? It was great. I ordered #93 Grilled Chicken with Pineapple Vermicelli ($7.25). The noodles themselves were firm and distinct in texture. The chicken was strongly marinated with vinegar and soy, quite salty on its own, but a perfect match for the sweet and unassertive nuoc cham. The garnish was composed of cucumber, pickled carrot and daikon, all perfectly sliced into ribbons, as well as crushed peanuts, bean sprouts and shredded lettuce.  The flavors were vibrant and true and I found myself using a spoon to scoop the last bits of goodness out to the bottom of my bowl. The only small disappointment was that the pineapple was canned rather than fresh, but that is true pretty much across the board in restaurants at this price point.

I know that this is going to spark debate. So lets hear it. When it comes to the Golden Turtle, should we believe the hype?

Rua Vang [aka The Golden Turtle]
125 Ossington Avenue
(416) 531-1601
10am -10 pm, closed Tuesday

The corner of College and Dufferin is an unlikely location for a miniature Viet-town, yet a number of Vietnamese businesses and shops cluster together here in an otherwise distinctly Portuguese neighbourhood. No fewer than 3 Vietnamese restaurants co-exist on a single block.  Faced with such an array of options, how is one to decide? On road-trips my dad always picked a roadside diner based on the number of transport trucks parked out front (truckers being the experts on roadside cuisine), so following the same theory, I decide to try the resto with the largest number of Vietnamese customers inside. And the winner is: Pho Linh.

Simple but modern exterior of Pho Linh on College.

The busy resto is decorated in a simple, yet pleasantly modern style. The lighting is almost painfully bright. So far, so good.  But when the tea arrives, it tastes like little more than hot water. Oh well, no one chooses a Vietnamese restaurant for the tea. Moving on to the main attraction, I select #47– Vermicelli with Fried Chicken and Lemongrass [$7.00].

Vermicelli with Fried Chicken and Lemongrass

The noodles arrive remarkably quickly, and as was the case at the Canh Buom next door (see my earlier review), they are slightly thicker than average, more like spaghetti than vermicelli. On top of the noodles rests a generous serving of boneless, skinless chicken thigh, which has been crisply fried and garnished with mint, green onion, lettuce, bean sprouts and peanuts.  The texture of the meat is acceptable, slightly chewy, not at all fatty, however it evinces no noticeable notes of lemongrass or indeed of any spicing beyond salt. The flavor is pleasant, but plain. Even after dressing the dish with nuoc cham and herbs, I find myself spritzing it with lime in order to notch up the flavor profile.

Meanwhile, across the table my dining companion is busy adding chili and hoisin sauce to his pho, the broth of which he found to be quite flavorless on its own. The tea seems to have set the tone for the evening after all—not bad, but a bit bland.

All this being said, I’m not willing to write off Pho Linh just yet.  Given the large number of people eating there (and with other Viet options nearby) and the positive buzz this place gets online, I’m willing to wager that I just happened to stumble in on an off night.

Pho Linh
1156 College st.
416- 516-3891

After 4 weeks of tasting bun in Toronto’s west-end Vietnamese restaurants, I thought I had hit my stride. Though quality, freshness and style varied to some degree in each place I visited, the formula was basically the same. I knew what to expect. Then I wandered into Canh Buom and got thrown a curve ball.

Outside Canh Buom on College.

Several aspects of the evening conspire to unsettle and surprise me. First the Décor: An unexpected nautical theme (Canh Buom translates as  ‘boat’s sail’) is strangely mismatched with 1950s-bowling-alley-style booths upholstered in sparkly vinyl. Second the Service: A gruff old man and a young fireball of a waitress tag-team our table in good cop/bad cop mode. At times the scene plays out like a slap-stick comedy—for instance, when a fellow diner went to squeeze some siracha chili sauce into his pho, only to have the entire lid fall off, dumping half the bottle into his bowl.

Deciding to leave my fate up to chance, I ask the waitress to bring me her favorite vermicelli dish. Imagine my surprise when instead of the large bowl of thin noodles I’ve come to expect, a flat plate bearing thicker, spaghetti-like rice noodles and a veritable mountain of herbs (mint, Perilla, and Vietnamese balm) arrives in front of me. Along side is a dish of grilled pork and sausage patties, pickled green papaya and carrot, all soaked in nuoc mam cham and garnished with crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, and crispy fried shallots. When I inquire of the waitress what it is I have received, she explains that this is the North Vietnamese style of vermicelli (much less common in Toronto’s Vietnamese restaurants than the Southern style) known as Bun Cha Hanoi [A18, $8.50].  Rather than mixing the noodles and toppings together in a large bowl and dressing with Nuoc cham to taste, in this style the diner selects choice bits from the serving dishes and blends them in a small bowl, a few bites at a time. The cooked meats are dressed with the fish sauce in advance so that the strong salty flavor permeates them to a much greater degree. The effect is less delicate and less sweet than in the southern style, but is tasty and quite compulsively edible. You will find that you fill that tiny bowl many, many times. Particularly the cha (juicy grilled pork patties flavoured with garlic, sugar, salt and black pepper) will disappear all too quickly.

Little bowl of Bun Cha Hanoi.

Canh Buom bills itself as a Viet-Thai restaurant and has variety of Thai options on the menu. Do yourself a favor and take the opportunity to sample the much less well-known North Vietnamese fare instead. Don’t let the wacky décor, or the enthusiastic, yet ineffectual, service distract you. But do check the lid on the hot sauce before you squeeze.

Canh Buom
1144 College st
416-538-4287

Part One: Vermicelli Combos

A basic bowl of vermicelli comes with the noodle, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, pickled daikon and carrots, and a bowl of light fish sauce, nuoc cham. Combination choices include different types of meats, and spring rolls.

Like pho, the different choices can actually overwhelm those who are new to the dish, but if you have an idea of which combo you want to try, then it’s just a matter of finding it on the menu. Some restaurants do offer “Special Vermicelli Combo”, which basically include a large combination of most of the ingredients listed here. Ordering this bowl will give you a chance try several of the meats at a time, thus giving you a better idea of what you might or might not like.

Next up: Rice Combos.

The strip of Bloor west between Ossington and Lansdowne is undeniably gritty; it is also a surprising and refreshing foodie destination. In a few short blocks you will find a huge variety of cheap and delicious foods from a United Nations of small, unpretentious (read slightly dingy) storefront restaurants: South Indian, Ethiopian, Greek, Persian, Mexican, Caribbean, Portuguese, and Vietnamese. But Pho My Duyen is no shabby storefront.  Given the neighborhood, the décor is almost shockingly posh. What HGTV would refer to as ‘high-end finishes’ abound. Yet any concern that style reigns over substance here is dispelled with the first jasmine scented sip of premium tea. Throughout the meal, care and consideration reveals itself in myriad little ways: a paper umbrella in a drink, a spoon with a hooked end so it won’t fall into your soup when you rest it against the side of the bowl.

Surprisingly swanky interior at Pho My Duyen

The menu is exceptionally deep, offering exotic protein options seldom seen in other Toronto Vietnamese restaurants, like eel, frog legs, snail, and goat. Some items are pricey (the mango salad with snails rings in at a stiff $10.25), but the basics, like pho ($6.25 for a purportedly small bowl, actually the size of a generous medium elsewhere) are about average.  But for me, as usual, it is the Vermicelli combos that beckon and I opt for B19 Char-grilled Shrimps on Vermicelli, $7.95.

Grilled Shrimp with Vermicelli

The bowl of noodles arrives looking gorgeous, topped with two bamboo skewers laden with shrimp and slices of bell pepper and onion.  Shredded mint, beans sprouts, lettuce, cucumber, as well as crinkle cut pickled carrot and daikon are strewn on top like colourful confetti. Peanuts provide a salty, crunchy garnish. As promised, the shrimp have been char-grilled, perhaps a bit too aggressively. While fatty meats like pork and beef are excellent when charred, the same is not true of more delicate seafood. While the shrimp are not at all overdone or rubbery, some of grill marks taste slightly burnt. But the singeing is minor and doesn’t prevent the enjoyment of a dish that is otherwise bang-on.  The skewers have been lightly dressed with a delicate sweet and sour sauce that lends a warm orange tone to the entire dish when it is tossed with the excellent nuoc cham. Pho My Duyen’s nuoc cham lacks the usual chili heat, but makes up for it with a salty-limey punch accented with lots of micro-shredded carrot. The vermicelli itself is perfectly prepared, each strand distinct and without a hint of mushiness. The only tiny quibble is that the shape of the steep sided bowl, while elegant, makes it hard to scoop out the last dregs of sauce and noodles, and believe me you’ll want to get every last morsel!

On a side note, while the location is a bit out of the way, Pho My Duyen could make a fun party venue, as they have private rooms available and offer a variety of Vietnamese fondues perfect for sharing.

Pho My Duyen
1208 Bloor st w
416-850-4993
Monday-Thursday 11am-10 pm
Friday-Sunday 11 am-11 pm
*Wheel chair accessible

Cha Ca

Under a pile of fresh herbs is delicately fried grouper atop vermicelli noodles. What makes this distinct for Vietnamese food is the dill, which often makes an appearance in Northern Vietnamese cuisine. Cha Ca is a dish that is named after a street in Hanoi where this specialty originated.

Carp or Catfish is the usual local Red River fish used in this dish served with piquant dipping sauces such as mam tong tom made with pineapple and dried shrimp, or nuoc cham. When I had it, I had Grouper and fish sauce with peanuts on the side. A blend of coriander, green onion and dill served to balance the flavours of the fish. After pouring the sauce over my noodles, it became a refreshing meal that was perfect after having taro spring rolls and Saigon beer.

Taro spring rolls

The morsels of Grouper were especially delicious because of the breading. A blend of rice flour instead of wheat flour combined with a dusting of tumeric dressed the fish and subsequently fried in peanut oil instead of canola. The result is a light and crisp finish. Happily, I didn’t get the “I shouldn’t have eaten that” heavy-fish-and-chip-gut after the meal. I was pleased!

Also garnished with sesame seeds