Phuong's

10722 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove, CA 92843
(714) 534-3339

Prelude:

I randomly write about this here and there. I decide to disclose this again here.  I am not a Vietnamese.  However, after roaming around Little Saigon for 12+ years finding food shangri-las and roach hells, I understand the names of the food enough.  It scares my non-Viet wife that I can read menus in Vietnamese without English translation.  If you love the food, you gotta make an effort to learn the language.

General:

The Hu Tieu My Tho here is quite delicious (it is a specific clear noodle from the City of My Tho in the Mekong delta area).  I have been a couple times and my experiences have been excellent (that's if you don't mind the hole-in-the-wall atmosphere).

Mom, pop, and daughter owners are always nice and friendly, especially pop. The place is very noob friendly. In one occasion I came here with wifey's relatives who never had this type of food. Pop went to a great length passionately explaining their food, even bringing a sample. In a different occasion, a certain persona who came with me didn't trust me to order and kept interrupting me talking to the lady boss while she was taking order.  So, his order came as soup/nuoc instead of dry/kho.  They didn't make a fuss about it and just replaced it.  Wow, did I just break a 50 years tradition in Little Saigon?  Get this as well,  Ladyboss actually waved at us and thanked us when we were leaving after dinner.  Was I dreaming? I am pretty sure that the garnish I ate was Tang-O celery and not some dubious-looking maple-shape leaf. 

The downside? They charge 25c extra for each dish to go.  Credit card transactions add $1 in addition to $20 minimum transaction. However, this is quite common for the area.

Before I proceed, let me answer your burning question: yes, of course, you could have this with dry Mi yellow noodle. In fact, they have four different noodles: glass, pho-like rice, small rounded yellow, and big flat yellow. All noodles will go find if you order it as a soup.  However, as in any Hu Tieu My Tho houses, your dry yellow noodle will be very light and unspiced: you need to use that tomato-based sauce.  If this is to your liking, then it is an option for you although for me personally I'd subtract 1.5-2 stars for the yellow compared to the glass noodle. However, this is a matter of preference.

There are 3 serving sizes. Small comes with the least noodle and toppings. Medium and large come with the same amount of more toppings but large gets even more noodle.

Details:

House Special Glass Noodle, dry (Dai Hu Tieu My Tho Dac Biet, Kho): deliciously chewy glass noodle with a pungently delicious and acidic tomato-based fish-sauce-fortified sauce.  This sauce had an amazing depth here and had an intense balance between the acidity from the tomato and pleasant saltiness from the fish sauce. There was a hint of sweetness peeking somewhere. Standard garnish was just a little bit of cilantro.  However, I added the optional garlic and jalapeno pickle to elevate the dish by adding garlic overtone and drawing out natural sweetness. Toppings included char sew bbq pork, minced pork, big shrimp, quail egg, minced pork, hee won fish cake, and small dried shrimp. Char sew was surprisingly good and fragrant.  While they had Thanh Xuan beat on the sauce, the dried shrimp here was less potent thus didn't taste as good.  Soup was pork bone and was amazing: light yet deep.  One of the best I have ever tasted in Little Saigon. I'd say it is in the same league, although still trailing, New Trieu Chau's. So, dry or soup, you wouldn't go wrong here either way. My favorite Hu Tieu so far.  4.5 stars, maybe more. 

House Special Glass Noodle, dry

House Special Small Yellow Noodle, dry