Mother's Day Lunch at Que Huong 2012

It's nice to see that QH was recognized by San Diego Magazine...

I didn't want to go to any place that had artificially jacked up prices for their "Mother's Day Menu". I also didn't want to deal with crowds and long lines...

This may not be the fanciest place in the world, but for me, it was a perfect choice to come here again for Mother's Day....


Once we stepped in, we saw the owner Jay with one of his waitstaff. He greeted us and wished me a "Happy Mother's Day". He is always so nice and I like that he remembers his customers.

We wanted to try a few dishes we hadn't tried before...

My Cafe Sua Da and TCs melon shake. This was the first time I've seen Vietnamese iced coffee served in a fancy glass (and I like it!). Much better than the really weak version I had at Pho Convoy (they put too much condensed milk in it). TC's shake was fruity and refreshing.

Jay suggested the snails with coconut curry soup but we passed on that since I've had it before. I do like the soup,  but the snails, not so much. Our waiter also suggested the Special which was a whole large fish served with vegetables and herbs. As good as that sounded, we wanted to try several dishes instead of one big dish. He said they would have the special again, so we promised to try it for the next time.

For starters, we tried the pork shrimp and jellyfish salad.

It was served with fried shrimp chips (some pieces were too hard, maybe not fried all the way?), lotus stems, onion, and cucumber. The sauce was also pretty spicy.  I liked the texture of the jellyfish. They looked like noodles but were chewier and thicker. TC didn't enjoy it as much as Bert and I did.

I got excited when I saw Cha Ca Thang Long (Hanoi style sizzling fish with turmeric and dill) on the menu. I was a bit confused because it was described as 'fish cake'. Jay said that the description was wrong and that it was supposed to say 'fish fillet' or 'fish'.

Que Huong's version came out sizzling like the one I had a Vien Dong. There was dill on top of the fish pieces. Unlike Vien Dong's, the onions weren't as cooked through and they were on the side rather than on top of the fish, so you could actually see the fish. It was served with a long boat shaped dish that contained the vermicelli noodles, cucumber slices, bean sprouds, mint, and lettuce leaves.

There was also a small plate that had black sesame chips and peanuts, along with a bowl of fermented fish sauce.

This was really pungent and fishy smelling so I ended up not putting it on my fish.

Having learned how this is supposed to be eaten, I added the vermicelli to the small bowls provided. Topped it with a few pieces of the fish, added a few peanuts, and cracked bits of the sesame chip, plus vegetables. Since I didn't like the fermented fish sauce, I added nuoc cham instead which I thought tasted just fine with this.

Bert wanted a beef dish, so we chose the Bo Luc Lac (shaken beef) which was served on top of watercress.  We enjoyed these delicious leftovers the next day!

Of course we had to try the chicken wings here. Specifically the Fish Sauce Wings. We put in one large order with one half fish sauce (seen below)...

and the other half, Tamarind. I know they kind of look the same, but the tamarind is sweeter and you can see the sauce on the wings. They are stickier too. If I had to choose, it would be the fish sauce. The tamarind is just too sweet.

Every time we come to Que Huong, I always enjoy looking at the folded money that decorates the trees. In fact, the guy who makes these intricate designs was working there that day.

This year's dining foray was a reboot from last year!

Click here to read about last year's Mother's Day lunch at Que Huong.

It was another memorable lunch at QH but the day was still young so we headed over to the College Area to get some dessert....