Well, it's finally starting to cool off a bit, which means I can start-up on noodle soup again. Here's a trio of revisits, with minimal verbiage.
Ramen Yamadaya:
**** Ramen Yamadaya has closed
Along with Santouka, one of my two favorite ramen shops in San Diego.
My usual M.O. is to order the Kotteri Ramen with Kakuni Pork, but that would have been pushing it a bit for lunch, so I just went with the Kotteri Ramen.
With noodles extra-firm of course.
The extra rich broth just gives you that "warm blanket on a cold day" comfort…makes me kinda look forward to winter.
Ramen Yamadaya
4706 Clairement Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117
Mien Trung:
For some reason I was kinda craving some Bun Bo Hue and the Missus was kind enough to humor me….even though it was almost 90 outside at the time. So I got my Bun Bo Hue and it was delici-yoso…….even through the perspiration running down my face.
The BBH here has sometimes been a tad off….but on this day it was just what I needed. As usual, the Missus got Her Banh Nam and we shared some Hen Xuc Banh Trang…..I just think an order of the Fish Sauce Wings from Que Huong, these spicy clams, and a couple of cold ones……aaaaaah….
Mien Trung Restaurant
7530 Mesa College Dr
San Diego, CA 92111
Pho Convoy Noodle House:
**** Convoy Noodle House has closed
No, I didn't want to push my luck and have the pho here, which had been not so great on my last two visits. I had a bunch of meetings and either needed to have lunch at 10am or have nothing at all until dinner. Since they open at 10, I decided to grab a bowl of noodle soup…..the Mi Dac Biet (House special egg noodle soup) to be exact.
It's gone up 30 cents to $7.25. On the good side, the shrimp are deveined, th
e fish cake is decent, and the portion of noodles was nice. On the not so great side, the noodles were over-cooked, the pork tasteless and dry. The broth had flavor, though it seemed like mostly MSG….it used to be much better here. I'm wondering what happened?
Maybe I should go back to Pho? But you know what I think about the Pho in the area, right?
Pho Convoy Noodle House
4647 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
I used to have the Pho at Pho Convoy all the time – not horrendous by any means, and decent enough, and in my opinion it’s a lot better than a lot of the other places in the area where they really don’t give you any meat (gotta have my meat).
But *then* I discovered Pho Lucky (thanks to your blog)…. oh yeah… 🙂
Hi Ricky – You know, Convoy Noodle House used to be pretty good; but I dunno what happened over the last 2 years or so. If you like meat, maybe you should check out Cow Cali? Broth is not as good as Lucky, but the protein, other than tendon and tripe is better. Thanks for reading and I’m glad you’re able to get something out of our blog.
I have been kind of stuck on the bun rieu at Mien Trung. I think it has helped that the tomatoes were in season.
When it gets cold out, we also love to warm up with a bowl of noodle soup. Whether it’s pho, bo kho (Vietnamese beef stew), or ramen — it always hits the spot!
Nothing wrong with that Jan! Sounds delish!
Hi Christine – I like Bo Kho when I’m feeling a bit tired….nice and comforting.
Glad it’s not just us! We finally got around to Convoy Noodle House for the blog (we used to go all the time, but haven’t for a while) and we thought the same thing, that it was much worse than it used to be. Sad.
Hi Jenne – They seem to have been on a slow descent over the last couple of years.