Recently, the Missus was craving some Nem Nuong Cuon and Com Tam. It had been a year since I last visited Pho Duyen Mai, just after the new owners took over, so I thought we'd head on over.
Even though we arrived at 1030am, the place was already pretty busy.
We were waved to a table, waters and the menus were dropped off. The place seemed quite popular.
We ended up ordering two spring rolls, the Com Tam Dac Biet, and recently "FOY" Lilian had been missing Banh Xeo since her local favorite, Bolsa closed last year, so I ordered that as well just to see.
Soon enough our order started arriving; the first was the Nem Nuong Cuon.
Way back when Pho Duyen Mai opened in 2016, then under the ownership of the former owners of Pho Ban Mai, I called the version of this "Brodard light". Now, looking at an even "thinner" spring roll, even though we had noticed that the version at Brodard was thinner on our last visit, I'd call these "Brodard ligher". For some reason the wrapper was really chewy, the nem nuong seemed to be devoid of flavor, the amount of veggies sparse, and the dipping sauce watered down. The only thing going for it was the crisp-crunchy fried spring roll wrapper.
Next up was the Com Tam Dac Biet.
Man, that plate looked kinda sparse? So, going down things, the bi was missing the roasted rice powder which would give it a wonderful nuttiness; the one slice of Tan Hu Ky was dry and flavorless. This would be the common theme of the meal, as the "cha" the pork -egg "cake" was dry and bland. The meats were dry and tough; you get the point, right?
And as for the Banh Xeo……
Good lord, this was greasy, and rubbery, there were like three shrimp, it was terrible.
It was sad to see as Duyen Mai was pretty good when they first opened.
Pho Duyen Mai
5375 Kearny Villa Rd
San Diego, CA 92123
bummer
I was thinking that I hadn’t been to Pho Duyen Mai in awhile. Maybe I’ll stick to their pho.
I like the banh xeo at Pho Ban Mai in Mira Mesa.
I was looking forward to seeing that bahn xeo, and when I saw it I immediately regretted ever wanting to see it.
Yes, it was quite sad Kat!
I’ve got a revisit to Ban Mai on our “list” Sandy! Thanks for the reminder!
It was terrible Dereck!
I think Pho Duyen Mai was featured on a food influencer video a while ago, so that might be why it’s been busy. I noticed portions have gotten a little smaller at Nhu Y as well.
Yes, the portions at Nhu Y were smaller, but still enough for the Missus and I Elle! We were so disappointed in how terrible the food was at Duyen Mai!
Yay! My first mention in mmm-yoso! 🙂
I’m sure it won’t be the last LL! ;o)
If you’re ever up near Poway, there’s a relatively new place called Pho Tan that’s pretty good. The only drawback is their AC is always “broken.” On a day like today where temps were 100 deg, eating hot pho could be brutal without AC.
Thanks for the recommendation Julie. I actually have Pho Tan and Bua Thai on my “list”. What do you think of Bua Thai?
Someone told me previous owner sold the place to someone else. Maybe that is why it went down hill. I used to order their nem nuong for party trays. I guess I’m not coming back either.
Yes, they sold the place last year TFD! I did a post on my visit after the place changed hands:
/2023/09/18/pho-raging-along-clairemont-mesa-pho-duyen-mai-pho-fusion-and-pt-eatery/