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A new Vietnamese restaurant opened in Plano about 2 weeks ago. I heard about it from some friends on Facebook. They are half Vietnamese and were raving about the pho. They said it tastes like how their dad makes it.
I love pho, but I'm definitely not an expert at it and I don't know what's authentic or not. However, I do know that most of the pho places in Dallas are not bad, some are not good and usually pretty dirty. So when someone says it's authentic, I wanted to try it. Last week we had the freak cold front where it was 70s on Monday then Tuesday was in the 40s. Great time for some hot noodle soup though!
Pho Bay
3933 N. Central Expy, #100
Plano, TX 75023
(972) 422-5152
www.phobayrestaurant.com
Price: $
My friends and I decided to go check it out last Wednesday. It was sooooo cold, and the winds were insane that night. Brrrr. Pho Bay is located in front of Main Event on 75 and Spring Creek. Personally, I don't think that's a good location for business but I hope they can persevere. It's a small place, but everything was clean and bright. And hopefully it stays that way!
The waiter, which I assumed was also the owner, was super friendly and very enthusiastic. You can tell he's very proud of his food. He told us that the (grand opening) special for that day was free egg roll for everyone, so he went ahead and brought out a plate of it for the 7 of us.
A normal order of Egg Rolls (2) is $2.50~ just FYI.
Vietnamese egg rolls are the only ones I like to eat. The Chinese versions are usually vegetarian and I don't care for that. The egg rolls here was ok. It was fried well and wasn't too greasy. I also liked the plate of veggies it came with to wrap the egg rolls. But I felt like it needed more flavor. The fish sauce helped with that.
2 of my friends also ordered a Thai Iced Tea $2.75~ which the owner recommended. It looked so pretty. hehe. And it was very good! We all thought so. Even me and another friend that don't really like Thai tea. He said they make it from scratch, so none of that powder stuff. It wasn't too sweet either, which is good.
So my friends who told me about the restaurant says the owner said their Bun Bo Hue is really good. I've never actually had Bun Bo Hue, but it sounded amazing. Spicy broth with different kinds of meat. The rice noodles are thicker than pho noodles. And it's flavored with lemongrass and a bunch of other spices. 4 of us ordered the Spicy Hue Noodle Soup (Bun Bo Hue) $7.95~ Served with a side of bean sprouts, jalapeno, basil, cilantro, lime.
I have been craving this for awhile and it totally hit the spot. The noodles were cooked well, it had really nice texture. There were different types of meat in there: beef, what looked to be meat around pig's feet, and pork cakes. I liked them all. All the veggies and herbs on the side were really fresh. I piled those in my bowl. Here's where the verdict splits... out of the 4 of us, 2 were Vietnamese and have had authentic home cooking, my other friend is Chinese but has had a lot of Vietnamese food. And me, who's never had this dish before. haha. So me and another Vietnamese friend liked this. I REALLY liked it, I couldn't stop eating. But my other 2 friends said it was ok. There was a slight sweetness to the broth which was throwing them off. Apparently that's not how it's supposed to taste. But you know me, I love sweet/savory so it didn't bother me. And it wasn't like it was loaded with sugar, it was just a hint. I actually thought the sweetness helped balance the dish so it wasn't too salty or heavy or spicy. It was also not too greasy. I ate EVERYTHING, and although I was super full, I didn't feel disgusting with loads of sodium or grease. I thought that was great. So I will definitely have this again. I can't say the same for my friends...
2 other friends got the Pho a la carte $5.50~ Add meatball +$1.50~ Add brisket +$1~
It basically starts as the basic broth and noodles and you can add in what types of meat you want. I only tried a sip of the broth and I thought it was really good. My Vietnamese friends thought it was good too. But I think as they ate more, there was also some sweetness so one friend didn't like it at all. I will still go back and try their pho though, since I didn't mind the sweetness.
And lastly, one friend got the Pho Bay Ultimate Rice Plate $9.95~ It was nicely presented and looked really good. He said it was ok... a standard rice plate, nothing special.
So I guess the opinions were across the board. From one person not liking it at all to me, who really enjoyed it. To each its own. But I do appreciate the energy from the owner and the cleanliness of the space (so far... since it's still so new. haha). I'll take my fiance there some time. I think he would really like it. Now I'm on a Bun Bo Hue kick, I want to try it at other Vietnamese places. My friends said their favorite is still at Pho Tay Do... so that's definitely on my list!
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I got to go to my first ever soccer game this past Saturday at the Toyota Stadium in Frisco. And it just so happens that The Downtown Frisco StrEATS festival was the same day! Woot! So we headed over there in the afternoon to get some food before the game.
This would be my 3rd year going to this food truck festival. Seems like they got the set up pretty much down now. It was basically structured just like last year. There were quite a few trucks there. Most of which I've either tried already or didn't care to try.
There were 1 or 2 that I've never seen before and one was The Guava Tree truck. It is a Cuban American truck. I love Cuban food and wanted to try something new so here I am. Plus they didn't really have a line which was also quite enticing. haha.
They only had 3 choices so I got the Cuban Sandwich (sliced ham, slow roasted pork, swiss cheese, sliced pickles; drizzled with guava mustard on freshly pressed Cuban bread) $9~
It sounded pretty awesome. I have to say I was disappointed when I saw it. The bread was supposed to be pressed! Where was the crispy part on the bread? And for $9 it wasn't very big. It was really tasty though. And the bottom bread was crispy which I really liked. The ingredients had good flavor, although I didn't get any "guava" from the mustard. I would totally get this again, IF it was $3 cheaper. They had these guava and cream cheese filled mini donuts that looked yummy but I resisted because I wanted ice cream. Ha! :P
Overall Experience:
My bf went to the Nammi truck. He got the Rice Bowl (Honey ginger pork, Jasmine rice, red cabbage sautee, cucumbers, pickled daikons and carrots, cilantro) $9~
I've only had their Banh Mi, so the rice bowl was also something new. I really really liked the red cabbage sautee. He loved it. The whole thing was pretty filling and not greasy or heavy. The fresh and pickled veggies added a lot of freshness with the meat and rice. I thought the meat could've been more tender but it was good enough. He liked it over the rice bowls at Ssahm from last year's festival.
Overall Experience:
I mainly wanted ice cream and was disappointed that Coolhaus wasn't there. But no fear! What's Da Scoop was there! And I know their ice cream is good! :)The bad thing about a nice day is that everyone wants ice cream. We spent the majority of our time at the festival standing in line. But I gotta have my ice cream!!!!
He got the Bourbon Street Sundae (Bourbon Cherry Compote, Vanilla Ice Cream, Crushed Graham Cracker & Pecans) $6.50~ He opted for no pecans. It was delicious, but this for $6.50? A bit steep if you ask me. Oh well, how often do we go to one of these food truck festivals. Yum!
I had my eyes set on the Cherry Amaretto Fudge (amaretto ice cream with cherry fudge and black cherries) Single Scoop $3.25~ Plus waffle cone +$1~ (the scoop was bigger than the picture, it was melting so I had to eat some!)
Of course I had to get a cone. That's one of the best parts of having ice cream. The ice cream was amazing. Creamy, smooth, with lots of chocolate fudge swirls and large chunks of juicy cherries. My bf regretted not getting the same flavor. haha. But of course I shared! :P Really really really good, I was craving it again the next day! I hope they have this flavor again next time I see them.
Overall Experience:
I'd say our trip to the festival was a success! With the ice cream being the ultimate winner. Got to try all new things and everything tasted good. If only I can just get more of the cherry amaretto ice cream!!
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I left the last Japan post for all the different types of ramen we had in Tokyo. Before doing research for the trip, I had NO idea how many different kinds of ramen there are... Soooo many options and so little time. :(
We tried a variety of ramen in different areas of Tokyo. None of them were the same.
First up, Yasube Ramen. They have many locations and we went to the one in Shinjuku. It's a tiny little shop with a bar with maybe 12 seats. We got there 10 minutes after they opened and there were already 4 people in front of us waiting in line. The place is very efficient. They get the food out and people eat quickly and the turnaround is very fast. We didn't wait very long at all. It was a cool experience.
They are known for tsukemen, where the noodles and soup are served separately and you dip the noodles into the soup a few bites at a time. The broth tends to be thicker, more like a dipping sauce and heavier in flavor. Also, at Yasube you can choose the amount of noodle 220g, 330g, 440g all for the same price. We both selected the 330g.
- Spicy Miso Tsukemen 720Yen~ Huge pile of noodles... wow. Cooked to perfection. I love that tsukemen has thicker, chewier noodles, which I definitely prefer more. I liked the soup. It wasn't really that spicy but you can definitely still taste the spices. A great start to the ramen tour!
- Soy Sauce Tsukemen 720Yen~ We actually had no idea what we ordered since the vending machine was all in Japanese. haha. So this is what we got. I didn't like the flavor of the broth as much as the spicy one. I noticed their soups both had a slight sweetness to it. It was very interesting and different than any ramen I've ever had. I absolutely LOVED the noodles and I liked dipping it so it's not constantly soaked in the soup. The only thing we both didn't like was that the noodles made the soup cold after dipping in it constantly. If only the soup could stay hot then it would've been even better.
That night, we hit up Nagi Ramen in Shibuya. They also have several different locations. The interesting part about Nagi is that after you make your order at the vending machine, they give you another form (they have English version! :) where you can designate how thick you want the broth, amount of oil/garlic/spicy, and noodle texture and other options.
- Buta King Ramen (Pork bone based soup) 700Yen~ This was my bf's choice. Nagi uses the thin noodles, which I'm not a fan of. But it was cooked perfectly and had good texture. I'm just missing that chewiness from the thicker noodles. The broth was super flavorful and creamy.
- I got the Red King Ramen 850Yen~ Of course I had to go for the spicy red one. hehe. It had the same noodles. The broth is extremely thick and rich with flavor. A little bit too salty though. I think that was my doing because I wasn't really sure what spices and add-ons I checked on the form. haha. Even though it was in English, we still weren't quite sure what we were ordering. The flavor was good, just too salty.
- Butao Rice (pork over rice) 150Yen~ My bf also ordered this. There was a ton of pork on top which is awesome. But it wasn't the normal grilled pork belly like other places. I didn't like the pork as much. Flavor was good though.
The next night we went to Gogyo Ramen in Roppongi. **NOTE: make sure you search for "Gogyo Ramen" in google maps. We made the mistake of typing just Gogyo and ended walking about 25 minutes in the opposite direction. There's another restaurant just called "Gogyo" within walking distance from the Roppongi station. haha...**
Gogyo Ramen caught my attention because they are known for their burnt miso ramen, where the broth is almost black! How interesting!
- Kogashi Miso (burnt miso ramen) 850Yen~ Of course we had to try this. The soup was indeed super dark. They also used skinny noodles. D'oh! The soup had so much flavor, a bit too heavy... The style actually reminded us of Ippudo when we went in NYC. I wasn't a fan really...
- Shio-Men (special blends of salt soup) 850Yen~ I got with half noodles which was -200Yen~ It was pretty standard. I wasn't super impressed.
- Bowl of Rice with Roast Pork 350Yen~ This is like a staple side for us. Had to try it. Unlike Nagi, it didn't have much pork in it at all. :( Still tasty though. I'd say this was my least favorite of the bunch.
Last day in Tokyo, before heading to the airport, we hit up Ramen Street in Tokyo Station. They have 6-7 different ramen places in one area. They all looked soo good. It was hard choosing which one to try. We ended up at Junk Garage x Media Ramen because of all the posters of their ramen outside the shop... Epic bowls of noodles piled sky high. We HAD to try this. It's our last day...gotta go out with a BANG!
Their specialty is that their ramen portions are massive and not for the calorie watching types. haha. They also ask you if you want extra garlic, pork, oil, etc...
- I got one of the Tsukemen (with 2 dipping soups) 1,000Yen~ There was no English so we basically based our choices off of the pictures. You can choose 4 different levels of vegetable toppings. I went with Level 2. Their noodles were even thicker than Yasube. Again, cooked perfectly...the texture was amazing! The 2 soups were basically dipping sauces. They were similar, yet different. I can't really describe the flavors. Plus after eating one bite of one and then the other, all the flavors blended together. haha. I also loved all the veggies on top. That was one thing about ramen is that they usually don't have enough veggies for me. This was great!
- My bf chose one of the Ramens 920Yen~ He went with Level 3 Vegetable toppings.
O.M.G. It was like a mountain of bean sprouts on his bowl. I'm impressed it didn't topple all over the place! Can you believe that there's ANOTHER level more than this one?!? It took him a long time to make it to the actual soup. hahaha. He also loved the noodles. The broth was super flavorful. The pork slices were super thick and fatty. And yes... they put lard (pork fat - white stuff under the bean sprouts) in the bowl to add extra richness and pork fattiness.
Delicious!!!! I normally watch what I eat, but hey, we're on vacation and it's our last day! haha. This was definitely the most memorable ramen place. EPIC!!! And you know what? We both finished ALL OF IT.
Ramen in Japan is amazing. So many different choices, styles and flavors. Everyone keeps asking me which was the best and I tell them I really can't say. They were all so different... I would actually take elements from each one and put together my favorites from each. But actually, the best noodle dish from the entire trip was the cold noodle in Hi-Hi Town in Osaka. haha. But everything was good. I enjoyed it all. And I had the extra weight in my belly to prove it. :P
Japan was such a great place. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The food was fantastic and so many different options. The people were super nice (unlike most other Asian countries...haha) which was a great surprise. And so many interesting things to see. I will definitely go back...hopefully sooner than later! :)
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I love ramen...too bad there isn't really a good place in Dallas. I've heard that NYC has lots of great ramen places so I was pretty excited. The only thing is that they are always busy and normally do not take reservations so you have to wait. We flew into NYC last Wednesday night. Got in around 10pm, picked up a friend and went straight to Totto Ramen. He highly recommended Totto, but said that Ippudo was better.
Totto Ramen
366 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019
(212) 582-0052
http://tottoramen.com/
Price: $$
This was a hole in the wall...maybe about 15-20 seats total with the kitchen right in front of the seats. You put your name and party size on the clipboard on the front door and you basically just wait. If they call your name and you are not there, then too bad... It was slightly cold and a little rainy and there wasn't really covered waiting area. :( I'm hoping this was really worth it! I peruse the menu multiple times while waiting. They all sound soo good!
Finally we were seated along the bar. We could see the guys cooking the noodles and other items. It was very entertaining.
The whole vibe was just very casual, very Japanese.
My friend ordered the Miso Ramen (the finest Koji Miso and ground pork in a scoop atop slightly wavy noodles in original Paitan soup. Topped with a seasoned hardboiled egg, scallion, bean sprouts, and onion) $10.75~
I believe he had to add extra corn in it. This wasn't your normal miso ramen. The scoop of miso and ground pork on top elevated the flavors. The miso flavor was so rich and bold. He said that the miso ramen at Ippudo was ever better. That totally got my expectations up!
I opted for the Char Siu Mayo Don (house special broiled pork with yuzu mayonnaise on a bed of rice) $5.50~
I wasn't too hungry plus I wanted to try something different. So I ate some of my bf's ramen and ordered this. The yuzu mayo is what intrigued me the most. It was a pretty hefty bowl but it was mostly rice. I wish they had put 1/3 less rice and more pork. The pork was broiled with a handheld blowtorch. You can see them doing it in front of you. Pretty cool! The pork was super fatty which I like, but along with the mayo it got a bit much. The yuzu mayo was interesting. The yuzu added a citrusy punch to it and was able to cut the creaminess of the mayo a bit. The combination of the pork, rice, scallions, and mayo was very simple but totally worked together. The rice was cooked perfectly.
My bf chose the Niku-Ramen (topped with variety of Pork meants, garlic, bean sprouts and scallions) $15~ It wasn't listed on the regular menu. There was a separate sign on the wall.
The picture definitely looked better than the actual product though.
We expected wayyyy more meat. But it was really good. The noodles were cooked perfectly and the broth had a ton of flavor. Although after we finished all the noodles the broth became a bit too salty to finish on its own.
Overall, we loved it. Everything was cooked perfectly and I really liked the hole in the wall setting. The service was pretty good for the setting. Everyone greeted us as we sat down and left at the end. And our waitress was nice.
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The next night, Thursday, we planned on going to Ippudo to make a comparison. My friend says that on the weekends it gets ridiculously packed so it's better to go late on a week night to attempt to get in. He said Ippudo was the most popular US business on Yelp.
Ippudo
65 4th Ave
New York, NY 10003
(212) 388-0088
http://www.ippudo.com/ny
Price: $$
We arrived at 9PM and was told there was an hour and half wait. Sigh... This is why they don't take reservations. They don't need to! The place was totally not what I expected. For some reason I thought it was going to be a hole in the wall too. Not at all! It was modern, trendy and much much bigger than Totto.
We were seated in a little over an hour. They have booth seating for larger parties and then large tables like cafeteria style where you have to sit with other people. I thought it was cool that you can see into the kitchen where they were cooking as well. The decor was cool, but I was a bit disappointed that it was a trendy, main stream hot spot.
We started with Hirata Buns (2 pieces) (steamed buns filled with pork served with Ippudo's original spicy mayo buns sauce) $9~
A lot of people told us this was really good so I wanted to give it a try. Sooo expensive for 2 tiny pork buns?! Craziness! But I do have to say it was delicious. I loved the sauce on the pork and it was cooked well. I wouldn't order it again though, wayyy too expensive for what you get.
I shared the Noodle Master's Special: Kasane Black (topped with pork loin chashu, cabbage, sesame kikurage mushrooms, red pickled ginger, naruto, scallions, and fragrant "Black" garlic oil) $16~ with a friend since we weren't super hungry.
The black garlic was interesting. It added a slight sweetness to the broth. I thought for the price, they didn't give us enough stuff in the noodle... We got like maybe 3 small leaves of cabbage??
And the noodles themselves... Sigh. I thought they were cooked well, but they are thin and straight, not my definition of ramen. I was actually more reminded of the Chinses Yang Chun Mian, normally made with a simple light broth. My parents grew up eating it in Taiwan because it was cheaper to buy). They used similar thin noodles like that... (If you are Chinese you might know what I'm talking about.) I like the curly noodles much better. So I felt like I was just eating some regular Asian noodle dish as opposed to Japanese ramen. Now, I know there are different types of noodles used in ramen but I really just prefer the curly kind. They were cooked al dente but eh...I wasn't feeling it too much.
My bf got the Akamaru Modern (the original silky Tonkotsu soup noodles topped with Ippudo's secret "Umami Dama" miso paste, pork chashu, cabbage, sesame kikuage mushrooms, scallions, and fragrant garlic oil) $15~
The waiter said this was one of their most popular choices. The broth in this was awesome. I liked it so much more than ours. But same complaint here. The same thin noodles and not enough stuff for the price. My bf actually thought his noodles were undercooked. He didn't like this style either. I do have to say that I like his broth a little better than the broth at Totto though.
The quality of ingredients were all there, but I just didn't care for the noodles. And I believe we're paying high dollar for mostly the setting. But our waiter was really nice and accommodating. And everyone greeted us as we walked in and out.
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I would say Totto is the hands down Winner in my book (my bf's as well). Ippudo didn't live up to the hype for me. I was turned off by the style of noodle as well as the trendy setting. I enjoyed the quality and ambiance of Totto better. It felt like you were in Japan (or so I was told since I haven't been there). Plus Totto is a little bit cheaper. But if you don't take my word for it, go to both and judge it for yourself. hehe. Everyone has different opinions!
**I also have to add that the Shio Ramen in Santouka at Mitsuwa Marketplace in LA is still my favorite ramen of all time!!**
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