Return to Da Nang

This past Friday, Bert and I had some free time while TC was at dance practice. Rather than deal with crowds in North Park, we went to City Heights...

so Bert could try some of the soups here. I also had a craving for some strong Vietnamese coffee...


TC and I were here a few months ago and really liked what we had.

For our next visit, we'll have to try one of their baby clam dishes.  I still get grossed out thinking of the clams dish I got at Mien Trung and found a piece of the paper label (which said, "Baby clams" on it) in my food! Ugh!

I stuck with #1, the Mi Quang...

We also ordered the #3 but will probably get the #2 next time because the guy working there said his region of Vietnam specialized in that particular dish, as well as the Mi Quang. This was our original order, but at the last minute, Bert wanted soup as well, so he ordered #10, the Bun Bo Hue.

I like the Vietnam shaped clock here. The Kim Chau calendar is from the jeweler a few doors down.

Our dishes:

The Banh Beo Nhan Kho (rice flour cake with minced shrimp):

I wasn't expecting the shrimp to be this consistency. It was more like a powdered than "minced". The shrimp, green onion and fried shallot topped rice disks are meant to be dipped in the sweet fish sauce...

Two pieces were good enough for me since I wanted to save some room for the soup...

Our bowls of hearty goodness:

My soup was topped with the sesame rice cracker and loaded with proteins, chopped peanuts, herbs, and served with a side of fresh vegetables as toppings.

I love the head on shrimp and the pork pieces in here..

Bert's Bun Bo Hue

The soup had a good flavor to it; you could really taste the lemon grass. The proteins were also generous. They even put three pieces of the blood cubes in here!

I tried one nibble of the blood cube and that was it for me.

Both of us had the Vietnamese iced coffee which I asked for to be strong. Bert didn't think it was, but I did. Strangely enough, I wasn't up 'til 2 am with all that caffeine in my system!

The man working here was so very nice to us.  We could tell that he was proud of the food they make and that they have been in this location for about 15 years now.

Previous visit to Da Nang:
February 2014 with TC (Mi Quang + Bun with pork and jackfruit)

Mi Quang is one of my favorite Vietnamese soups and I hope to try other versions in the OC such as Huong Giang, which Kirk recently posted on as well as a few other restaurants recommended by Wandering Chopsticks (listed in the comments of Kirk's post)...