Ly Heng Restaurant Revisited (City Heights)

Man, has it been almost 6 years since I last visited Ly Heng? Well, there's kind of a reason for that….first Covid kinda minimized visits…but then for I dunno how many years, there was some heavy road construction taking place on University Avenue. It made an already crazy driving and parking situation worse. I can only imagine how it affected the businesses in the area. Well, I read the road work has completed….well, not totally since it has moved west and Fairmont s kind of crazy. 

Well, now there are roundabouts to slow traffic instead of lights. I'm fine with roundabouts, but I'm interested in how other folks feel about them?

I did manage to find parking on Wightman Street behind the strip mall that contains El Super. I then walked on over to Ly Heng, which I first visited back in July of 2014. Just for kicks, do you remember when this location used to house Hao Vi? Another change for Ly Heng are the hours. They used to open at 8am…I enjoy Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho for brunch, but now open at 10am. But here I was…happy to finally get a chance for a revisit.

When the menu arrived, I quickly noticed a difference from my previous visits. And no, it wasn't the $14 price for the Hu Tieu Nam Vang (FYI….it was $6 on my last visit). No, it was that the menu was completely in English and was now one of those "pick your style" and pick your "noodles" kinda place.

I'm guessing the demographics in the area has changed a bit over the years? Anyway, the Hu Tieu Nam Vang is the Phnom Penh noodle soup, which comes in two sizes, and you can request it as a soup, or "dry" which is the way I get it.

The young lady working room was very sweet…even in the face of two older couples on other tables who were quite rude and demanding. Bless her!

    My dishes arrived and it was interesting noting the changes since my last visit and the things that have stayed the same. First off, the Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho is still served in a shallow, almost pasta bowl, which is fairly unique for the places that serve the dish round these parts…..tho' perhaps things have changed at other places. Also, the bean sprouts served here aren't blanched so are quite crunchy.

The side of soup wasn't quite as salty as what I've had here in the past and that pork is basically now a small "cap" bone and has quite a bit of tender, porky, meat.

  There were two pieces of rather tough shrimp, which at least had been deveined, the squid was well "squid pro quo", a large piece of "krab", and as usual a slice of Hainan Chicken….which is the reason I don't get the Hainan Chicken here as it is pretty flavorless. The ground pork does have some good flavor though. The dish is not protein deficient….

As always, it's all served on a huge, rather unwieldy lettuce leaf.

To me that pork and the noodles (when did you see me say that before) were the highlights of the dish. There was a huge portion of noodles. And while it was in the typical clump resting on the leaf, it still had a nice stretch to it and had been nicely sauced….good savory-soy-mild sweetness permeated things.

This was pretty good overall. And while I did text my friends "CY" and Jack telling them that I never thought I'd see the day when spending fourteen bucks for some hu tieu nam vang kho was considered reasonable, this is the reality we live in!

And now that most of the road work is done in the area, I'll probably start revisiting places in the area again.

Ly Heng Restaurant
4451 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105
Current Hours:
Thurs – Tues 10am – 3pm, 5pm – 8pm
Closed on Wednesday