[Toronto] Banh Mi Boys

Review Location:
392 Queen Street W
Toronto, ON M5V 2A9

Homepage

Continuing on my first food crawl with Andrew (@_aneb), Justine (@foodigatorJ), and Chieu (@chieunghi), we ventured to Banh Mi Boys (@banhmiboys), after having stuffed our faces at El Trompo Taco Bar.

[Richmond Hill] Pho Hoang Kim

Review Location:
330 Hwy 7 East
Richmond Hill, Ontario







Situated in the Golden Gate Plaza, the restaurant is right where the former Xe Lua Vietnamese Cuisine  with its iconic pho train store sign used to be. Having been to predecessor restaurant a couple times in the past, I can tell you that nothing has really changed. The renovations and furnishing are exactly the same, and the menu is almost identical. But then again, most Vietnamese restaurants serve up similar dishes anyway. On a Friday night at around 9pm, Rob and I came here to grab a quick dinner. As you read this entry you may  start to notice that I always end up ordering the same things whenever I go have Vietnamese food. I guess I know what I like!

Huong's Vietnamese Bistro

Review Location:
343 Booth Street
Ottawa, Ontario






For the first lunch after going to Ottawa, we went to have Vietnamese food. Our friend Curtis always raves that Ottawa has the best pho, so I think it was necessary to try it out. Lucky for us, this restaurant is owned by the brother of Curtis's half-Vietnamese girlfriend,  so we probably got some pretty authentic Vietnamese food!

Kim Po Vietnamese Restaurant

Review Location:
550 Hwy 7 E
Unit 6162A (Times Square)
Richmond Hill, Ontario
(Major Intersection: Leslie & Hwy 7)




The other day I cam here for dinner with some of my friends. I've been here once before a couple years ago, and the place definitely cleaned up both in decor since my last visit. Everything looks much cleaner and more like a restaurant. The one thing they didn't bother to renovate was probably the washroom. Gross and neglected like most Asian places. Luckily, the food got better since I last came too. Out of the 6 of us that went, half of us ordered vermicelli and half of us ordered pho.

Pho Mi Viet Thai

Review Location:
2354 Major MacKenzie Drive
Maple, Ontario

I always love going to Pho because it's fast, cheap, and relatively satisfying. I think because of that, I don't have too high an expectation for the restaurant surroundings or service (unless it's beyond terrible of course..). Pho Mi was exactly the restaurant that fills this situation. The restaurant is by no means fancy, food presentation isn't the best, and the server doesn't really do much, but the food tastes great and it was quite affordable.

 Large Special Pho

The pho I ordered came with all the typical ingredients that you find in a "special" pho like beef balls, tripe, tendon, flank, beef, etc. I have to admit, the pho here was really good. They used authentic pho noodles that were cooked just right, and the beef was a really good cut of meat. Of course the soup was basically all MSG, but I found it wasn't as bad as a lot of other pho places. The portions was also huge! The bowl was actually bigger than my head. Much much bigger than that picture portrays it to be. Good deals.

 Chicken and Pork Chop Rice Platter

The meat on this rice platter was very well marinated and well cooked. The meat was tender and went really well with the short grain Vietnamese rice. The menu actually has a really large selection of rice platters. While we were there, every table had one of these. A lot of them had an extra egg with it, so I really want to try it now!

The menu also had a large variety of fruit drinks like most other Vietnamese places, but some of the fruits they had were so exotic that I didn't even know what they were. Anyone know what a "Sweet Sop", or a "Sapodilla" is?

The name probably would've given it away, but they actually serve both Vietnamese and Thai food. We only ended up ordered Vietnamese food this time, though I wouldn't mind coming back to try the other Thai dishes. And maybe I'll finally try the rice dishes with the egg in it!

Hue's Kitchen

Review Location:
774 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario

MENU

This place is pretty close to where I work so once in a while I would grab lunch here. They self-proclaim themselves to have the best pho in Toronto, so of course I had to try. This place is really nice and clean unlike most Vietnamese places, and is very spacious. The decor is upscale and serene compared to most other take out or quick-lunch places in this area. It’s got a patio for the summer time, and an upstairs dining room for when it gets really really busy. I hear the wait and kitchen staff speaking Vietnamese, so it’s comforting to know that everything should be pretty authentic.

Vermicelli with Grilled Chicken and Spring Roll

There was nothing too stellar about the vermicelli order. Everything was pretty standard if not sub-par. The chicken was a bit on the dry size, and the noodles tasted like they weren't drained properly. As a result, it tasted like there was way too much diluted flavorless fish sauce. The spring roll was alright taste-wise, but could have been fried a little crispier. I guess the portion is considered large considering it's price and the restaurant's prime location in the Yorkville area.

Large Rare Beef Pho

The pho on the other hand, was one of the better pho’s I’ve had. The soup didn’t taste full of MSG and the meat was really tender and good quality. It said on the menu that they serve AAA angus beef. I did notice though, that at the end of the meal, the insides of several pieces of meat were still a little pink. I guess the soup wasn't quite as hot as it should have been. Other than that, really delicious!

So in the end, this place is really kind of hit and miss. Some of my coworkers tell me that other than the pho and roti dishes (they have a small variety of indian dishes too), nothing else is above average. Apparently the bubble tea is horrid as well. I guess you can't win them all.