There were a couple of fairly cool (for San Diego) mornings during April, so I decided to give Ly Heng as visit on a Honey-doo weekend morning since it had been a while since I'd eaten there.
I was in for a couple of surprises. First off, the configuration of the place had changed, with the register and counter now on the west side of the place.
Another big surprise; was the menu. There was a larger variety of dishes, with items like Bo Luc Lac and….gasp…Hainan Chicken!
So you know I just had to order it. I wasn't sure what I was going to get and was a bit shock at the portion size of this as it was just eight bucks! Man, that chicken was succulent and tender, but the flavor was really lacking in chicken flavor, nor the mild ginger or salt. I'm used to two different sauce with Hainan Chicken, the scallion-ginger sauce, which was absent, and a chili based sauce, with lime, chicken broth, and a touch of sweetness. This sauce really lacked zip. The worse part of the whole thing was that it was served with regular jasmine rice…..a ton of rice mind you, but I really missed the typical chicken-mild ginger flavored rice.
I was bummed, but the pork bone soup, porky and salty saved the meal for me. Ly Heng serves a falling off the bone chunk of pork rib in the soup which is just fine by me.
I returned a couple of weekends later, with the thought of trying something else new from the menu, but decided to just stick with the Pho Nam Vang……
Which turned out to be the right move on this day as I've mentioned before, in spite of tending to overcook the noodles a bit, of all the places that serve this in the area, Ly Heng is my favorite.
And that bone soup on this day was delicious.
And at $5.99, I ain't going to complain too much.
Perhaps I'll try some of the other dishes one of these days, but right now, I'm happy with that Pho Nam Vang.
Ly Heng
4451 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105
Hours:
Thurs – Tues 8am – 8pm