14140 Brookhurst St
Garden Grove, CA 92843
(714) 530-9228
Garden Grove, CA 92843
(714) 530-9228
General:
The food here is Cantonese food as they serve it in Vietnam. So, there is a mark of distinction compared to Hong Kong Cantonese food. There are two notable dishes that are delicious here: Duck Noodle Soup and Shrimp Dumpling Soup
Dry noodle is available but is NOT recommended here.
I
must also applaud the boss-man for being extra friendly (he actually smiles and
greets the customers (*gasp*!), not quite a common trait for the business in the
neighborhood.
The devil is in the details:
Duck Noode Soup (Mi Vit Tiem): I agree with other reviewers that the Duck Noodle is delicious in in-your-face kind of way. Trust me. the pictures here don't do justice on the in-your-face effect of having that sexy gigantic duck thigh server on the top of the noodle soup. I mean huge as I usually immediately place it on a separate plate before I start ravaging it. Soup is a broth, soy sauce, shitake (xiang gu), and star anise-fortified five space with a strong sweetness. All these flavors manage to get immersed in the absolutely succulent thigh. Dip that piece of duck in the home made mustard sauce and you will get a delicious sweet and sour sensation under-toned with the earthiness of the shitake and five spice. Note: the soup is really on the sweet side. If you have an aversion to sweetish food, this is not your dish. 4+ stars.
Mi Dui Bo: oxtail noodle soup. Similar treatment and flavor profile to the duck noodle soup, replace duck with oxtail and add tofu skin. Somehow works less well than with duck. Beef+sweet broth=condescending. 3 stars.
Shrimp Dumpling Soup: this is another dish that I like a lot. The dumpling is pretty much Cantonese shrimp dumpling (sui kiao/shuijiao), meaning that it is predominantly crunchy shrimp fortified with juicy pork. However, the size of the dumpling here is on-steroid big. The soup itself is okay. Fortified with pork skin crackling and aggressive fried shallot, it is on the good side with depth but I do think that they use a bit too much fried shallot. I sometimes also notice that the hard water adds some common-problem chlorine flavor. Can be had with your choice of noodle. 4 stars for the sui kiao alone, 3.5 stars with everything when the soup doesn't have a chlorine taste and smell.
House Special Dry Yellow Noodle (Mi Dac Biet, kho): yes they can do this for you. However, this is not their forte. Spicing is a bit off and their noodle is best serve in soup. Let me go over it. Toppings include sliced pork, a real slice of boiled chicken thigh, pork liver, shrimp, shrimp, squid, run-the-mill fish ball boiled quail egg, meatless oil-laden fried wonton skin. Noodle is small yellow, which surprisingly doesn't get any treatment. No oiling and no spicing(!). Thus, the noodle itself is just a boiled noodle that tastes rather flat by itself. Garnishes include dry pork crackling, cilantro, green onion cut long and short, and fried shallot. Soup is pork broth, extremely salty, inedible. Really, their noodle is better served with soup as the bland noodle and the salty soup balance out. Portion is generous as usual. Way below passing grade at 1.5 stars.
The devil is in the details:
Duck Noode Soup (Mi Vit Tiem): I agree with other reviewers that the Duck Noodle is delicious in in-your-face kind of way. Trust me. the pictures here don't do justice on the in-your-face effect of having that sexy gigantic duck thigh server on the top of the noodle soup. I mean huge as I usually immediately place it on a separate plate before I start ravaging it. Soup is a broth, soy sauce, shitake (xiang gu), and star anise-fortified five space with a strong sweetness. All these flavors manage to get immersed in the absolutely succulent thigh. Dip that piece of duck in the home made mustard sauce and you will get a delicious sweet and sour sensation under-toned with the earthiness of the shitake and five spice. Note: the soup is really on the sweet side. If you have an aversion to sweetish food, this is not your dish. 4+ stars.
Mi Dui Bo: oxtail noodle soup. Similar treatment and flavor profile to the duck noodle soup, replace duck with oxtail and add tofu skin. Somehow works less well than with duck. Beef+sweet broth=condescending. 3 stars.
Shrimp Dumpling Soup: this is another dish that I like a lot. The dumpling is pretty much Cantonese shrimp dumpling (sui kiao/shuijiao), meaning that it is predominantly crunchy shrimp fortified with juicy pork. However, the size of the dumpling here is on-steroid big. The soup itself is okay. Fortified with pork skin crackling and aggressive fried shallot, it is on the good side with depth but I do think that they use a bit too much fried shallot. I sometimes also notice that the hard water adds some common-problem chlorine flavor. Can be had with your choice of noodle. 4 stars for the sui kiao alone, 3.5 stars with everything when the soup doesn't have a chlorine taste and smell.
House Special Dry Yellow Noodle (Mi Dac Biet, kho): yes they can do this for you. However, this is not their forte. Spicing is a bit off and their noodle is best serve in soup. Let me go over it. Toppings include sliced pork, a real slice of boiled chicken thigh, pork liver, shrimp, shrimp, squid, run-the-mill fish ball boiled quail egg, meatless oil-laden fried wonton skin. Noodle is small yellow, which surprisingly doesn't get any treatment. No oiling and no spicing(!). Thus, the noodle itself is just a boiled noodle that tastes rather flat by itself. Garnishes include dry pork crackling, cilantro, green onion cut long and short, and fried shallot. Soup is pork broth, extremely salty, inedible. Really, their noodle is better served with soup as the bland noodle and the salty soup balance out. Portion is generous as usual. Way below passing grade at 1.5 stars.
If you are already here and thinking about ordering a dry noodle,
change your mind and order a noodle soup. The mystery is why don't good Duck Noodle Soup places have good dry noodles?
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| Noodle with Sui Kiao, dry |
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| Mi Vit Tiem |
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| Mi Dui Bo |
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