I think everyone knows…..it's been quite a bad flu season this year. And I didn't escape the wrath of it. I must be getting up in years, because once I recovered; I still felt drained. Not wanting to go too far from home after getting home from work; but still wanting some noodle soup, I went for easy options nearby.
So here are two of the places fairly close to home.
Saigon 5:
**** Saigon 5 has closed
Located in the food court of the new 99 Ranch Market, I mentioned in my previous post on the place, that it opens early. I'd get home from work and crash by 7 or 8 pm. I'd be tired but hungry the next morning, a weekend, and Saigon 5 opens at around 930am.
I went with the dumpling egg noodle soup.
And while I still think the broth here is a little too light; it wasn't overly salty…no M-S-heebie-jeebies. It could use a bit more richness and pork flavor though.
That piece of pork hock was fairly tasty; the meat just chewy enough and was very nice.
The dumplings were on the tough side, with even less shrimp than before. Though the noodles had a nice pull to them and wasn't over-cooked.
Nothing amazing, but when feeling rundown and wanting to stay fairly close to home, well, this was okay for this morning.
Saigon 5
5950 Balboa Ave (Inside 99 Ranch Market)
San Diego, CA 92111
Pho Hut:
One evening, the Missus was at work and I was feeling quite run down. I wanted a bowl of egg noodle soup and decided to revisit Pho Hut and get the Mi Sui Cao; the dumpling egg noodle soup. Which, on one visit was decent, but then on my next visit was disappointing. It's also now $9.95.
This was more like my last visit. The broth so thin, like MSG water, though the dumplings….which I thought were missing at first and were just four in number were better than the last time when the wrappers had separated from the filling.
The portion of noodles were generous and cooked nicely.
But this just isn't very good overall.
The most entertaining moment of the evening was trying to convince the guy sitting across from me that "bun" didn't mean bun. That is; he wanted a banh mi, but thought it was "bun" on the menu. And for the life of him, could not figure out why a noodle dish would be called something in a "bun". Luckily, his wife/partner talked some sense into him and I managed to show him the photos in the menu. So you can imagine what the typical demographic of this restaurant is these days, right?
Pho Hut & Grill
5252 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92117
On the good side. I'm finally feeling just about back to (ab)normal……..
glad you are feeling better!
Thanks Kat! Me too…..
That’s good you are better! I’ll have to try Saigon 5. I usually get my won ton soup at Sam Woo for breakfast.
Hope you feel better! MSG water sure doesn’t sound appetizing. Especially for that price.
Glad you’re feeling better…Pho Hut is a definite “avoid” for me. My new local go to is Pho Duyen Mai (you’re right on the sweetish broth) but it is still far better than anything in Clairemont / Kearny Mesa pho dead zone. Their Bun Bo Hue is solid too (thank you for that report BTW).
In regards to the Ranch 99 on Balboa, how long is that place gonna last? It’s always dead in there. I have yet to see more than 1 register open. Nice store, but I think they over extended with the other store being so close. Granted, access to it sucks. Most people I know (well white people) won’t go in there “cause it smells weird”. They almost need to offer tours to introduce the ignorant to what they offer….oh well.
Thanks Soo…..
Yep, you’re right Junichi.
Hi Alan – Yes, I’m wondering the same about that location of 99 Ranch Market. And it’ll get even more interesting when H Mart opens up a bit further down the road.
vietnamese soups sound so good. can’t have noodles at the moment but this will be one of the first things i hit when back to normal eating mode! i like the mira mesa spots especially since they are close to me. i don’t explore that much since i occasionally get homemade pho from my mother-in-law. =P
I think Mira Mesa has the pho places Lynn…..though they seem to have been slipping.