Seafood Friday #7 Bun with Shrimp @ Pho Hung Calli

TC and I were out doing errands this morning. I had my hair touched up (respiked on the left side) from my hairstylist, then it was off to the west side of CV to look for a formal dress for TC.  She got asked to another school's prom from a youth group friend.

Since we were in the area, instead of going to Cali Baguette, our "go-to" Vietnamese eatery in west CV, we tried a place we hadn't been to before...

which is Pho Hung Cali. It is  directly across the street from Tuktan Thai and diagonally southwest of Aqui es Texcoco and Asi es Jalisco.  The waiter sat us by a window where our view was the strip mall right across the street (the one with Tuktan Thai).

We came through the side door since there was actually space in their smallish parking lot. As we walked in, I marveled at how big the place really was. We noticed that there were a lot of employees as well. One man greeting everyone. Another man cleaning up. Yet another delivering food to a table and so on.

I'm not sure what restaurant (or other type of business) this once was before Pho Hung Calli took over. I believe this has been here for at least two years already.

I ordered a ca phe sua da (which took forever to filter) while TC had a Thai tea with boba. Her appetizer was the spring rolls which she forgot to order as vegetarian, so yes there was pork in it. We both ate it. God will forgive us, ha ha.


The spring roll skin was cold but still pliable. It was probably already pre-made but at least not sitting in a refrigerator for a long time. The shrimps were positioned at the very ends of the roll, which I didn't like. It should be in the center of each half, that way you can work your way to your shrimpy reward. That's my feeling, at least.

Bun was on our mind - TC with vegetarian spring rolls and myself, grilled shrimp (four pieces) and shrimp cake (which was fried with thin and crisp tofu skin). TC's fish sauce seemed different because it was darker and more "barbecue-like" (which she kind of didn't like). Later TC surmised that maybe since she got it vegetarian, the sauce was changed accordingly, which makes sense.




I wish my shrimps were more plentiful and that they weren't as blackened. I didn't know what to expect for the shrimp cake; I thought it would be like the sugarcane shrimp paste.  The noodles were nice and loose. The vegetables were lettuce and mint, and the pickled carrot and daikon. The sauce was okay, but on the weaker side in terms of flavor.

Who else went to Pho Hung Calli?
Kirk went not once, but twice (last year and this year) while  Mary went last summer with Jake and T.

Pho Hung Calli
1060 Broadway
Chula Vista, CA 91911
(619) 585-1595

There is no website but here are reviews from you know where

Their service is nice here. It seemed more attentive than most old school Vietnamese restaurants. They seemed to be overstaffed for such a slow day. No less than four different people served us our meal (water, drinks, appetizer and main dishes). The place only had about three or four occupied tables but then it was still pretty early (not even 11 am!).  As  mentioned in Kirk and Mary's posts, the place is pretty big but has a tiny parking lot.  TC and I wouldn't mind going here again with Bert to try their other offerings.