which was perfect soup weather, so Bert and I initially went to nearby Pho Ca Dao for some pho...
Instead, I saw that they offered Bun Rieu! I remember that this eatery's predecessor, Cali Baguette had it listed on their menu (see below), but shittily, all THREE soups were no longer being offered and I was irked that it wasn't crossed off on their menu or something.
(photos from my "Egg banh mi sandwiches from Cali Baguette & Van Hoa" post from June 2016)
Now THIS bowl was my first bowl of bun rieu from Vien Dong in Garden Grove (the original post linked at the end). This was during my epic birthday crawl in 2012 with the Educator GF's and it comprised one of several items we had that day at Vien Dong. I wanted it in here for comparison.
I don't remember if we used the vegetable/herb plate since we weren't sure how to eat several items we ordered. We played it by ear, but there is that first bowl with the reddish crab pase soup filled with noodles, fried tofu and crab/pork cakes.
As for the photos below, these are Pho Ca Dao's version of bun rieu. The price was on par with the 2012 price point from the OC restaurant, below $8.00. The broth was quite flavorful and had several chunks of fried tofu, a larger crab/pork chunk, sliced tomatoes, scallions and fried shallots (which I loved). The vegetable herb plate consisted of shredded lettuce, bean sprouts and a couple of mint springs.
There's that pork/crab chunk. It had a firm texture. I didn't care for the tofu pieces. They were very loose and spongy.
The noodles were slipperuy and towards the end, hard to pick up. I didn't eat too much of the tomatoes but enjoyed putting in the fresh vegetables to wilt in the broth, which had a rich flavor (not sure if it was from scratch or from a jar).
Not bad for not having had bun rieu in more than six years.
My first time having Bun Rieu was awhile ago:
Vien Dong in Garden Grove during a food road trip for my bday crawl, posted May 2012
If you want to make Bun Rieu yourself, here is Wandering Chopsticks' recipe:
"Bun reiu cua tom oc (Vietnamese crab and shrimp paste rice vermicelli noodle soup with snails"
Previous visit to Pho Ca Dao:
I think it's time to do some more bun rieu research, my latest obsession if you will...
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