A Vietnamese hankering

My sister lives in LA and works in Chino and used to stop by to visit in Westminster after work twice a week. But with her pregnancy and other personal family matters, hadn't been by in awhile, but decided that she should. Maybe she was just craving some good Vietnamese food and some Yogurt Passion, her favorite frozen yogurt place (sorry I won't be linking when I'm blogging via cell phone - too many steps on one little screen). And it wasn't just Vietnamese food in general, it was Cha Ca (basically cat fish in a type of curry that gets grilled up with dill and you eat with vermicelli noodles and veggies) and specifically, Cha Ca from Song Long, a small French/Vietnamese restaurant tucked into a narrow lot plaza off of Bolsa between Brookhurst and Magnolia.

My sister, my hubster and I met up after work there one night (obviously awhile ago as I was still eating meat and my sister was still pregnant at that time), and she promptly ordered a plate of egg rolls for appetizer. We like these egg rolls because instead of the regular egg roll wrappers (is thin, flakey and crispy), they use rice paper (for spring rolls, which make it crispy and chewy). Of course, an array of veggies to wrap the egg roll pieces in, and fish sauce to dip -yum!






I decided to go with the beef stew with bread rolls. It's very hearty and meaty, and slightly tangy (due to the tomatoes), and that's exactly what I'm looking for sometimes. Toss in some of our favorite Song Long rolls (seriously, I always thought a roll was a roll, until these... Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and the smell and taste of "home made" all around) to dip and you've got one happy camper!






Kyle went classic with the Com Tam Bi Cha Ga Roti... translation: Broken rice (yes, this is different from regular steamed Jasmine rice) with shredded pork and skin, a pork and egg meatloaf cake, and a piece of rotisserie chicken. With fresh and pickled veggies, and fish sauce to drizzle naturally.






And then my sister, who was craving the Cha Ca all week, opted not too. One order would have been way too much for her. So she went with one of their specialties, Bun Cha (typically I add the word "Ha Noi" after that, but not sure if it is meant for specifically Ha Noi Restaurant). I also like this dish. They bring out a platter with the veggies, some vermicelli noodles and a bowl of grilled pork meat (and two pork meat patties) that is in a sweet fish sauce with some picked carrots and daikon. You get a separate bowl to combine the foods as you like.






All in all, yummy meal. I don't know how long I've been going here for (gotta be at least 10-15 years) but I know if I find out one day that they are no longer there, I will be sad.

* forgot to add that all dishes ran around $5-10

- Posted mobile-y

50% off? Yes, please.

The husband and I were driving home the other night after a failed attempt of finding a new pair of shoes (well, my attempt was failed, his wasn't), and decided we were too lazy to cook dinner that night, so swung by a local restaurant in our Little Saigon neighborhood on the corner of Brookhurst and Hazard (to this day, I still don't know why anyone would name a street "Hazard") in the city of Garden Grove... or maybe it's Westminster, who knows.

Hoa Binh Restaurant is a little larger and cleaner than your typical local pho restaurant (but there are definite improvements in the general area than 10 years ago), and best thing is, every week they rotate two items onto their 50% off special list. Which isn't that big of a deal since we've noticed a LOT of places doing that these days, but we decided on this place for the evening.

As figured, husband ordered a bowl of Beef Pho... any type of beef pho was 50% off. I decided to go with the Rice with Sauteed Beef dish that was currently on the 50% list. And because it was 50%, I decided to splurge with a Passion fruit juice with jelly (1.99) :)

To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised. The dish was actually quite yum (instead of "just okay"). Rice was typical, and the beef was tender and flavorful, sauteed with onions, fresh green jalapenos, a hint of lemongrass and some dried red pepper. And like most Vietnamese restaurants, rice dishes typically come with a small bowl of brothy soup (usually pho-based with green onions and cilantro). And of course my yummy passionfruit and jelly drink.

Combined with Kyle's bowl of pho (and water) and tax, our bill came out to 10.36. Not bad, I'd say.