Oh Me Ly – Fountain Valley – 714-531-7173

Oh Me Ly – Fountain Valley – 714-531-7173

16086 Harbor Blvd, 92708,

French/Vietnamese restaurant in a colorful setting. The restaurant looks like a Mexican cantina with its bright orange decor. A one-man band/pianist provides live evening music. Good yet pricey gourmet style food. Bear and wine served. Free soup appetizer and ice-cream dessert served with meals. There’s a jambayla or paella style fried rice with seafood that is served here. The salmon with tamarind sauce is recommended.

Top Baguette – Westminster – 714-379-7726

Top Baguette – Westminster – 714-379-7726 or 714-310-0363

9062 Bolsa Ave, 92683, Mon to Sat: 5AM to 7PM, www.topbaguette.com

Small take-out sandwich shop specializing in Banh Mi (Bun Me), a sandwich on a French baguette with meat, cilantro, shredded carrots. There a many sandwich shops around like Lee’s Sandwich which is a fast-food chain. Banh Mi is similar to the American hamburger in terms of a popular fast food. Top Baguette makes one the best tasting Banh Mi’s in the Little Saigon Orange County area.

Xanh – Fountain Valley – 714-531-2030

Xanh – Fountain Valley – 714-531-2030

16161 Brookhurst St, 92708 www.xanhbistro.com

Fancy new artsy Vietnamese restaurant located in the Albertson’s shopping center, next to the Vietnamese Performing Arts Center. Food is presented in artsy, gourmet style and pricey, but tasty. I liked the greens soup with Chicken meatballs. The 5-spice spare ribs weren’t that great. I would come again to try something different but not easy on the wallet. Good place to take Americanos.

Pho Tau Bay LTT – Santa Ana – 714-531-6634

Pho Tau Bay LTT – Santa Ana – 714-531-6634

3610W. First St, Suite C, 92703, closed Mondays, Open Tues-Sat: 8am – 8pm, Sun & Holidays: 8am – 4pm.

This place used to be famous for it’s hand made banh cuon (bun koon) but with my latest visit, the portions were sparse. The Pho here is not my favorite, I would go here for the banh cuon instead, although I like the Banh Cuon Tay Ho portions better.

Passion Berry – Westminster – (714) 775-5300

Passion Berry – Westminster – (714) 775-5300, 9550 Bolsa Ave #115C, 92683

One of the many Yogurt/dessert shops popping up like crazy. It reminds me of the Boba drink fad several years ago (early-mid 2000s). They are very similar to the Korean owned Pinkberry chain but the difference is it’s all self-serve and you get charged by the weight. You can pick from many flavors of frozen yoghurt and select your own fruit or candy toppings.

Hoang Yen – Westminster – 714-531-8833

Hoang Yen – Westminster – 714-531-8833, 9600 Bolsa Ave Ste N, 92683
Small, new restaurant located next to Luc Dinh Ky II. They serve a number of vietnamese dishes, but the Chao Ca is good here. Chao Ca (CHOW KA) is a rice congee soup with fish Ca, or chicken Ga (Gaahh) that is normally served when one is sick like the American Chicken Noodle Soup, it is a comfort food that is good for those who have problems chewing.
The Bun Vit Sao Mang (Boon Veet Sow Mung) is good here too. That’s rice noodle soup with Duck and Bamboo Shoots.

Thang Long Restaurant – Westminster – (714) 531-9400

Thang Long Restaurant – Westminster – (714) 531-9400, 9550 Bolsa Ave #115A, 92683 Mon-Sun 9am-3am.

This took the place of the fancy Saigon Restaurant which didn’t do very well. Bright green walls and modern white chairs, no real specialties here but the Com Ca Salmon – Salmon and Rice dish is grilled and tasty. Small portions, not very crowded but spacious.

Grand Com ga Hai Nam – Garden Grove – (714) 638-1310

Grand Com ga Hai Nam – Garden Grove – (714) 638-1310, 9904 Westminster Ave, 92844

Located in the Mall of Fortune complex close to the Hong An and Binh Minh restaurants. This place specializes in Com Ga Hai Nam (Come Gaah High Nam) which is chopped pieces of cold chicken still on the bone served with Vietnamese salad/herbs and ginger fish dipping sauce. Not my favorite because the chicken is tasteless and cold for my Americanized palatte, but the Com Ga Xe Phai (Come Gaah Sair Five) is quite good which is shredded chicken with herbs tossed in a tangy sweet vinger sauce and chicken broth cooked rice. I tried the Pho Ga Kho (Fahh Gaah Ho) which is dry Pho Ga but it was tasteless and I wouldn’t recommend it. Go for the regular Pho Ga soup not the dry version if you want to try the soup here.

Hanoi Restaurant – Westminster – (714) 901-8101

Hanoi Restaurant – Westminster – (714) 901-8101, 9082-9086 Bolsa Ave, 92683
Hanoi is the Northern capital city in Vietnam with a name like that you know they specialize in Northern cusine like Bun Cha Ha Noi (Boon Ja Ha Noy) which is cold vermicilli noodle, Vietnamese greens, and beef and pork where you mix it up yourself. There is also Cha Ca Thanh Long (Ja Ka Ton Long) which is the sizzling curry fish served with fresh fragrant dill herbs where you also mix yourself with vermicilli noodle, greens. Bun Oc (Boon Oak) here is also good which is snail vermicilli soup.

Pho Thang Long – Westminster – (714) 839-4955

Pho Thang Long – Westminster – (714) 839-4955, 9550 Bolsa Ave #115F, 92683
This Pho noodle restaurant opens until 3AM so late night party’ers can come here if they are craving a bowl of Pho. Usually Pho late at night is saltier than a fresh batch in the morning because the broth has been stewing for quite a while. Watch that sodium intake! My husband is fond of the Pho with the beef meatballs here, Pho Bo Vien (Fuh Ball Vean) that is Vietnamese style meatballs where they cut it in half and there’s a chewy texture due to the tendon meat they mix in with the beef. A lot of people like the Pho Tai (Fuh Tie) which is very slim sliced steak while I like Pho Nam Gan which is beef brisket and tendon meat. There are also other traditional Vietnamese meals served here but I’ve rarely tried them. Most of time, non-Pho dishes aren’t good at Pho places and they take a long time to make since people rarely order them.
This is one of the newer modern places where it doesn’t look like a roach motel.