Waaaay back in December last year, Thien Huong a banh cuon chain from Vietnam, opened their first location in the US, in of all places, Mira Mesa! A couple of my coworkers and friends had visited and the reviews were mixed. A couple of them had never had banh cuon outside the US and thought they were too "thin"? Hmmm…..sounds like they've been chowing down on too much San Diego style banh cuon?
Anyway, the Missus really wanted to try the place out with me; but due to travel, conflicting work schedules, and yes, plain laziness we didn't make it until late July. And there was one item I wanted to try after that visit and I took my sweet time returning. But at last, here's my post on Thien Huong.
We visited relatively early on a weekend since the place opens at 8am and take advantage of the ample parking before the lunch crowds and other businesses open.
This is one of those order at the counter places. You're given a number and grab a table. All of the young folks working here are really nice and accommodating. I saw some pretty "tough" behavior by customers during my visits and they just were so mellow.
There are ten items on the menu; 4 banh cuon, 2 combo banh cuon, 4 "chảo" hot skillet breakfast type dishes with banh mi.
We ordered the two specials, paid, and had a seat. The nice young man brought us water and eventually delivered our banh cuon.
The Missus ordered the combo with banh cuon trung, with eggs folded into the wrapper and the ground dried shrimp. First things first, the nuoc mam cham was way too sweet and really watered down. It was in dire need of more fish sauce and spice. In fact, the Missus was hatching a plan to possibly sneak in our own stuff next time.
The banh cuon were nice and thin, the egg version didn't stick together, was quite delicate, and was easier to eat and the pork and shallots added nice pungent savory tones. It was the better of the two. The shrimp was quite fishy and hard, the Missus didn't enjoy those much.
I got the basic Banh U'ot and Banh Cuon Thit – the ground pork version.
We enjoyed the Banh Cuon Thit, it was tender, good savory tones, and the sweet-pungent shallots lifted things. The simple banh cuon with onions really stuck together and were hard to separate, tearing as we tried to devour them.
The cha lua, tofu, and other proteins provided were pretty dry and bland. The bean sprouts and herbs were fine but really didn't add much to the dish.
While not quite as thin, moist, and tender as what we had in Vietnam, it still reminded us of our time there.
Which is always a wonderful thing!
During our meal, the Missus and I noticed that a large majority of folks were getting that metal pan of "stuffs"; the "chao" style dishes. Basically, a protein-fest with banh mi . A few weeks ago, having a bit of free time I returned. After taking a quick look, I chose "Chao 1". As with my previous visit, I paid, took my number, and had a seat.
The nice young man brought me water and eventually delivered my "brunch".
This was interesting in a way. The banh mi was nicely heated, a light crusty-flaky-yeasty, all that better to soak up the rather mild tomatoey "sauce-gravy".
I went down the line tasting the variety of items. The beef was bland and tough, really lacking in flavor.
The hot dog cracked me up. It was….well, a hot dog, like something you bought at the grocery, a salty-sodium laden, tubular mystery meat. My favorite item by far were the meatballs which, while laden with filler were moist, tender orbs of beefy goodness. The eggs had a bit of "fishiness" to them and lacked seasoning, obviously not of the best quality, but decently sunny side up.
The cilantro and onion came in handy, especially for the overly bland beef.
It struck me as I ate…..that this is the Vietnamese equivalent of the American bacon-eggs-toast-hash browns! A good amount of grub to hold you for a day of labor!
Personally, we'll stick with the banh cuon, which is currently our favorite version in San Diego.
It's good to see new places like this opening up!
Thien Huong
9349 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Mon – Tues 8am – 5pm
Thurs – Sat 8am – 5pm
Sunday 8am – 4pm
Closed on Wednesday
When all the planets align this is a good dish….of course no one wants to only have a dish be good once every 30 years, right? This was actually better than 
My order was waiting when I returned. Overall, for eleven bucks this wasn't bad at all. The rice wasn't of the best quality, but was cooked decently. There was a standard green salad which was on the verge of heading south.
This was not bad at all. A humble dish, decently flavored, and nicely priced for this day and age. Nice folks working here too! There was a steady flow of folks eating in and picking up takeout. I'm happy that business, at least to me seems to be doing well.
I quickly noticed that some of the basil had gone south already and the portion of sprouts was even smaller than on 
I'm used to Pho Fusion being a bit miserly with the sprouts and basil and they lived up to that reputation; though at least it was of decent quality.
The noodles were in the typical clump, but were not over-cooked. As mediocre as this bowl was, it was still better than what I'd had at Duyen Mai. Kinda sad….
Whoa, this was by far the largest "small bowl" of the three places as well. The soup had a good amount of cilantro and onions.
Man, these were super stuffed, full of porky goodness, hint of sweet- savory tones, and wrapped with rice paper. It was slightly more chewy than I prefer, but man, the overall package was much better than anything here is San Diego. This also heated up well in the air fryer!
And yes, it was quite full of Cha Lua, Thit Nguoi…… What I think banh mi purists' will appreciate, I'm looking at you "Billy" is that Phoung Nga still includes cucumbers in their banh mi, a rarity these days. The bread, as usual is a bit heavily baked (onsite), making it more hard and crusty than having a nice balance of light, crusty-flaky. But these days, this is almost a blessing, as much of what I've had is soft and doughy. There's a good amount of pickled veggies, the jalapenos were present, but not overly spicy on this visit. This was a nice lunch for me.
The pig tongue was as expected, fairly chewy and very porky. Quite typical.
We quickly noticed that on this visit, the dumpling wrappers were very soft, lacking in the slight "pull" that we enjoy in jiaozi wrappers. The filling of the shrimp, pork, and leek was very moist and actually had a good amount of "soup" in them…very nicely flavored, though a bit short in the shrimp department.
But man, that filling was so gamy, moist, juice just poured out of it when I took a bite.
We did notice that the dish has changed since our last visit. The shrimp shells and the shrimp seems to have some coating; like the tofu skin, the portion size is smaller. The shrimp is not quite as delicate as it used to be. But the flavor is still there and the shells and tail are a pleasure to eat.
Soon enough the large plate of bun, herbs, and veggies. And of course the Missus enjoys the Banh Trang Me dipping it into the mam nem. As for the Mam Nem, we noticed that it's not quite as potent as it used to be.
I enjoyed that the bread was airy, crusty, and slightly yeasty. The bright and acidic pickled veggies pared well with the good amount of cilantro which was mostly leaves…having a banh mi full of cilantro stems is a pet peeve of mine. There were two slices of sinus clearing jalapenos in the sandwich. I enjoyed the savory, slightly sour, nem nuong, which also had a nice slightly chewy-meaty texture.
