Felix Lee on Google
(December 22, 2015, 3:58 am)
Lien Phat has three specials on their counter menu. One is the bo kho banh mi ($3.99), a Vietnamese weekend staple. The beef stock was extremely oily. You have to take the broth home and skim the fat. The easiest way to do it refrigerate the broth and the fat layer will appear on top. Or you can use a ladle and discard the impurities.
Beef stew was a little fatty and a bit hard, probably not braised over an adequate period of time. Ingredients in the stock were traditional but it could use a slight increase in lemongrass flavor. Supplied baguette was warm and crispy. I was given one 6 inch piece to dip into the stew.
Seeing that Lien Phat carried a handful of homemade Hue-style delicacies, I sampled their banh beo. These rice cakes included just a vinegar mix and not fish sauce, but for only $2, you can't complain. Elsewhere in Vietnamese eateries, the same full-size quantity will cost at least $6.
The previous reviews have raved about Lien Phat's bun bo hue, so I gave it a try during my second visit. I thought that the broth was too oily, not spicy enough, more tilted towards sour than sweet. But I really liked the strong lemongrass flavor. The bun bo included pork blood and generous pieces of oxtail and knuckle.
One my third visit, I ordered a bowl of mi quang. It was the worst I ever had. Most of the ingredients were not fresh, from the shrimp to the pork to the herbs. The shrimp did not have their shell intact. The noodles were orange rather than yellow (from soaking in turmeric). The biggest disappointment was the lack of accompanying fresh herbs. No mint leaves, hardly any banana blossom, no peanuts or cilantro. Instead, the noodles sit in a bed of lettuce and a salty pork broth.The mi quang was an embarrassment compared to the ones served at Quan Hy or Nhu Binh.
The women behind the counter spoke Vietnamese and Mandarin. This shop is in the food court adjacent to The Square Supermarket. All items on the menu includes tax already, just like most of the stalls in this food court. $1 extra for to-go orders. Good place for an inexpensive quick fix in the area.