Searching for a good Vietnamese restaurant? With so many to choose from where should one start? I’ll tell you where, Pho To-Chau, that’s where. Word on the street is Pho To-Chau is the place, and when I say “the place” I mean “the place” to go for some really good pho. This place lies at the boarder of China Town and I don’t know if you guys have noticed or not but this place is popping. Every morning there’s a line streaming out it’s door that puts Studio 54 in 1977 to shame. Seriously, there’s always a crazy line and not only that but this place is sandwiched between two other Vietnamese Restaurants that seem vacant; no way, they’re open, I couldn’t tell.

So I mentioned it to one of my co-workers and she goes, “oh girl, this place is the shit, I use to go every Monday with my ex. They have the best pho on the island.” Really? Best pho huh? I’ll be the judge of that.

This is the line we walked up to. It was about a 30 minute wait.

This place had two rooms, roughly about the same size and was packed. I think I saw a total of three female workers. One was the waitress/host, another was the cook/waitress, and then the busser.

It didn’t surprise me to see that service sucked ass, but this place isn’t known for their stellar service. Actually, I thought it was a bit amusing. First one lady comes and takes our drink order, “what do you want to drink?” I order the iced coffee with condensed milk, $2.75 and Ray gets some water. She walks away, no thank you or smile, just completely emotionless. No one should ever get offended or upset over service like this, especially if it’s a hole in the wall and especially if it’s an Asian establishment. Old school Asians, particularly the Chinese/Vietnamese don’t really understand customer service, that’s not their business. Their business is pho, at least it is in this case and it’s about working as efficiently and productively as possible to get you your pho and make them money. At places like this tips stand for, To Insure Prompt Service, so if you get prompt service you should still tip well. Alright back to my coffee, if your a lover of coffee I highly recommend iced coffee with condensed milk from a Vietnamese restaurant. It usually comes out hot and compressed in a dripper with an extra cup of ice on the side. At the bottom of the ice is condensed milk. After the coffee is done dripping you dump it over the ice and mix. It’s sweet and strong and has the best coffee flavor ever. I love love this stuff.

They brought us a pitcher of water because obviously they weren’t planning on coming back to refill.

We ordered spring rolls for appetizer, $3.75, shrimp, pork, fresh herbs, vermicelli rolled in rice paper with special sauce. Each roll was cut up in four pieces each and were nicely and tightly roll. I didn’t like that they were cut in so many pieces. It made me feel like I was eating sushi. I prefer the traditional half cut.

Fuck, I got so excited when I got my pho that I forgot to take a picture right away. It didn’t come so green with basil and mint, that’s just how I like mine. In my opinion the soup is what makes the pho. A lot of people don’t even pay attention to the soup. When I get my pho, the first thing I do before I fuck with it is taste the soup, this lets me know how much I will be enjoying my meal. I loved the soup here. It was really authentic and hearty in flavor. I could tell that the soup was made from scratch and with real beef bones. I was so excited, I knew this was going to be a really good meal. I can’t tell you how much meat they put in here. Wow, these ladies don’t skimp on the meat at all. When I ordered my food they asked if I wanted my meat separate, which means raw on the side, or in my soup. I’m not really of fan of raw meat so I said in the soup. I did see them serve the meat raw on a separate plate to another table and the meat looked really good and fresh to me. It was nicely cut with good color. I was impressed. But the one thing I wasn’t impressed with was the beef ball. I love beef balls and the balls here suck, but they made up for it in everything else.

The pho came with plenty of basil. I love basil. After our lunch I boxed the rest of it up for later. They charge .25 cents for a to go box. Whatever, it’s a quarter and lunch was pretty cheap. When I had my leftovers later I was still so surprised to see how much meat was still left. I haven’t been to a lot of pho restaurants on this island but I think my friend is right, Pho To-Chau has to have the best pho on the island.

This was the line when we left. I guess I’m not the first to discover this place. If you decide to come here, come early or be patient. Also they have weird business hours, They are only open for lunch and close at 2:30.  By the way, the pho cost $6.95.  What a deal.

Pho To-Chau

At the corner of River and N. King.

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Pho To-Chau
1007 River St
Honolulu, HI 96817

Get Directions(808) 533-4549

Located right below Irish Rose, one of the best local bars on the island Pho Minh Thu would make great drunk food if only they were open till the wee hours of the night. A bunch of my friends come here often because it’s convienent and according to them, really good. Well as always I had to see for myself.

Inside Pho Minh Thu was about eight covered tables. There was only one other table besides ours, which usually means a short wait will follow.

It’s just hard not to start off with Summer Rolls. They’re just so good and the perfect appetizer to start off with since they’re light, refreshing and so darn good. These were $3.95 for two. I liked that the shrimp were bright pink because it meant that the shrimp was cooked well, which for me is a good thing.

Listed under the Vegetarian Section of the Menu was these Garden Rolls, $3.95, aka, Tofu Rolls. If your vegetarian or a lover of tofu I highly suggest these. They were just like the summer rolls but with tofu. The tofu still had the skin around and was cut just thick enough to where you can really taste the tofu but it wasn’t overwhelming.

I ordered the Tofu & Green Papaya Salad, $5.95. I guess tofu just sounded good today. The tofu was good, and everything tasted really fresh, but the papaya was shredded a little too thin for my liking. I love basil so it was nice to see it topped with lots of it.

Ray ordered the combination shrimp and chicken fried rice, $5.95. This was a little on the boring side. It lacked flavor. They gave us the small shrimp, which would of been o.k. if more were given. These are the small shrimp, so I know they’re really inexpensive. Also, we didn’t realize there was any chicken in there until we took a closer look.

See, there it is. I took a picture of it next to my fork so you guys have an idea of how small the shrimp and chicken pieces really were.

I would come back for the tofu rolls. Those were a winner in my book. I don’t know why more places don’t offer them. I would think they would be a better investment than the traditional summer rolls. Everything else was mediocre.

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Pho Minh Thu
478 Ena Rd
Honolulu, HI 96815

Get Directions(808) 946-2299

Wild Ginger had their grand opening back in November. I didn’t get a chance to make it but I did make it a few days after and boy I gotta tell you this place is good.

The inside is roomy so accommodating larges parties I wouldn’t think would be a problem. Everything looks clean and fresh, the way a new restaurant should look.

After ordering they brought us a small dish of pickled sweet and sour veggies. I loved this stuff. It was slightly sweet, slightly sour and crispy. It was a perfect appetizer to wake up my taste buds for more tantalizing dishes.

For starters we ordered Vietnamese Summer Rolls, $6.00. It came with four pieces, or two rolls cut in half. If you look closer you can see big chunks of seafood. The rolls were topped with seaweed and radishes.

Selena ordered the Vietnamese Salad, $6.00. Being the picky person that she is she ordered the dressing on the side. It was our server’s first day of work and she forgot to tell them to leave the dressing off. She felt really bad and it really wasn’t a big deal. After that the cook and manager, everyone kept coming up to our table asking how everything was, if we needed anything, more water, rice, a foot rub? Everyone was so nice but so there in your face. As soon as we finish swallowing someone new was there at our table happily ready it get us whatever our hearts desire. Everything’s great, food’s fantastic and service is a little over the top. We just want to eat our food in peace people. Leave us alone! Please, leave us alone. Anyhow, the salad was delish. Really fresh and crisp, slightly sweet and nutty.

We tried to get dishes that we all could enjoy. This is the Yaki Soba Dish with Chicken, $8.00. It was garnished with a ginger. I don’t really think that ginger was the best garnish for it but whatever, it’s garnish right? The noodles had great flavor. They weren’t skimpy on the chicken either. Extra hint of veggies made for a crisp bite every time. There’s nothing I would change about this one.

And here is the dish that tied everything together. This is where all the magic happened, the Steam XO Sea Bass, $15.50. It was a sea bass fillet steamed in XO sauce and served with fresh veggies. This dish is one of those dishes you would have a personal chef prepare for you when your still trying to be healthy. I don’t know what XO sauce is but I’m a fan. I always thought that XOXO meant hugs and kisses so maybe it’s just sauce that’s made with love. Works for me. The fish was tender and flaky and tasted so good. I think everyone could agree that this was the best dish.

There you have it folks. Another great find. Now I know this place isn’t the icon for cheap places, but It’s somewhat affordable. So if you feel like treating someone you love to a nice meal this would be the place. Like I said, service was a little over the top, but I think it had something to do with just opening up and trying to make sure everyone had a great experience. Overall I have to say we all did. At the end of our meal, the manager gave us 25% off our check for the inconvenience of the dressing on the salad. It wasn’t a big deal, but I’m never going to fight a discount. So in the end, for us, it was a cheap place to eat.

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Wild Ginger
3441 Waialae Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816
808 738-1168

Ray’s been tired of hearing me bitch about not eating enough Vietnamese so today he took me to Pho Pearl so I could get my pho fix. The truth of the matter is, since I’ve moved away from my parents my pho consumption has reached an all time low. I’m ashamed to admit it and my mother says it’s because I have no honor. My mom, she blames everything on honor. I try to explain, “no mom, I have honor, it’s money, I have no money.”

Here’s what it looks like on the inside.

We started off with these Summer Rolls, $4.25. These tasted really fresh, like you knew for certain they were just made and brought right to the table to be consumed. I made a request to have one shrimp roll and one pork roll to switch it up a bit. It wasn’t a problem and ended up being a really good call. Both were equally as scrumptious. Oh, also, the peanut sauce here is up there as one of the best peanut sauces I’ve ever tasted, truly.

I came here for pho so I made it a point not to go over the menu too much. I didn’t want to be deterred. What I love about pho is that it always comes in this ginormous bowl. One bowl is always enough for two. I got the Pho @ Beef Meatball, $6.95. Pho is generally topped with finely chopped white and green onions for optimal flavor.

Also, no pho would ever be able to live up to it’s full potential if it was not accommodated with all the fixings. A dish of limes, in this case lemons, but limes make it so much better. It’s like having a corona with a lime or lemon? Lime just adds better flavor than lemon. Anyhow, like I was saying, a dish of lemons, bean sprouts, slices up raw jalapenos, basil, and mint made a suitable pho partner in crime.

Crispy Fried Egg Noodle with Seafood, $8.50. The flavor of this dish was a winner. I thought it was slightly too salty but I’m weird and sensitive to sodium, but like I said, it was extremely tasty. Ray goes, “the sauce on this is so good I actually want to eat my vegetables.” As for the noodles, they were under-fried. Crispy noodles were a specialty at my family restaurant so I know one key to making a good crispy noodle is the crisp part. The noodles were just fried but not enough, so it tasted a little stale or Styrofoamy. Just a couple more minutes in the deep fryer would have completely transformed this dish.

Anyhow, when we got here, the host/waitress/chef/busser; basically there was one lady there and she was a one woman army, since her husband had just stepped out for a few minutes. She was overly apologetic and would apologize for everything. She apologized for us waiting to be sat, she apologized for her husband being gone, for us waiting for food, for anything she could do to make it better, for her husband being gone again, for how the food turned out, for bringing us the bill. Also, when she did bring us the bill, she was so sorry that she gave us a 10% discount. The point is she apologized for everything that went right. Isn’t it the basic procedure to wait to be sat, order, wait, eat and pay when you go out to eat? The only thing that was out of the norm was her passive attitude. As a matter of fact, we waited less than a minute to be sat, and wait time for the food was about 10 minutes. Normal right? Whatever I wasn’t going to fight the discount. Sure, I’ll take 10% off. I’ll take it as payment of all the unnecessary times I had to say, “it’s o.k,” or “everything’s fine.” All I’m saying is, next time, I go there and I see her husband, I’m expecting the royal celebrity treatment. I want a red carpet, candles, fireworks, the whole shabang.

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Pho Pearl Vietnamese Bistro
804 Kapahulu Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816

I’ve been wanting to try this place out for some time now. Back in February when we were here on vacation we went to China Town for Chinese New Year. For dinner we went to this crowded restaurant where they sat you with strangers in order to accommodate everyone. The people that sat with us were totally friendly and suggested we try The Green Papaya if we get a chance. Well we didn’t get the chance to then but I made it a point to remember the name just in case we came back. One month later, we’re back and I finally got around to experiencing it for myself.

We ordered the seafood spring rolls to start, $9.95. It came with vermicelli noodles, lettuce cucumbers and mint leaves. They were really tasty and a perfect dish to start out with. It came with 7 so each of us were able to have a few. I suggest putting some of the rooster hot sauce in with the sauce that it comes with. It gives it a nice kick. After the egg rolls I mixed the rest of the stuff together and made a tasty salad with it.

For my entree I had a shrimp papaya salad, $8.95. I’m a sucker for papaya salads. They’re just really filling, light and scrumptious. Also, it’s the only salad that’s worth taking home for left overs because it doesn’t get soggy from all the dressing. I love that it came with plenty of basil. Basil is the best herb ever and not used enough. I added some rooster hot sauce to this plate as well. I love that stuff.

Shane got the Curry with Chicken, $8.95. Shane’s a curry whore. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him order anything else when we eat Vietnamese or Thai. It’s just too good to pass up. He was very pleased with his decision.

Ray ordered Chow Fun with Chicken, $8.95. This dish I saved for last because it was the reject dish. This would probably rank up there as one of the worst chow fun dishes that we have come across. First off, this isn’t chow fun. I don’t know who they think they’re fooling, maybe they ran out of chow fun noodles and tried to play it off with some other type of noodle. Perhaps they’re having a shortage on noodles all together because there was way more bean sprouts than noodles. The noodles that were there were over cooked and mushy. It was so disappointing. Now, when it comes to credentials, Ray and I are covered. Chow Fun is like Shane’s curry to Ray, he hardly orders anything else. As for me, I’m Chinese, not knowing what chow fun is is like not knowing what rice is. If you want good chow fun go to The Golden Eagle.

If your driving here there’s parking in the back, you could also enter the restaurant from there.

Overall, since the chow fun dish was not my order I’m quite pleased with this place. The prices aren’t super cheap, but still in the affordable range. I most definitely will come back, just not anytime soon. There’s just so much of Oahu I still need to see.

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Green Papaya
629 Keeaumoku St.
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 953-2340

Don’t let the name fool you. If your in the mood for European food this isn’t the place for you. I think the only thing that can be considered French here is the croissant and the French bread or baguette that the sandwiches are made with. At lot of Vietnamese dinning establishments will refer to themselves as “French” this is because in 1900 Vietnam became a colony of France with the French in control of all the levels of government. That all for the fun facts lets get on with the food. I got a steamed pork sandwich. If you have never had a Vietnamese style sandwich and your totally open to trying new things, then you should definitely have one. I’ve been eating steamed pork sandwiches ever since I was a little girl. My mom use to take me to the Vietnamese sandwich shop in San Jose, California. I love them. However, they aren’t for everyone. My fiance absolutely loves sandwiches, but refuses to even try these sandwiches. He won’t even take a bite because he says he already knows he’s not gonna like it.

A very friendly China-men greeted me at the window. I don’t know if he was nice to me because I was of the same ethnic background and spoke to him in Cantonese or maybe he was physic and knew I wrote a food blog and he wanted me to give him a good review. I guess we’ll just never know.

A typical “French” (Vietnamese) sandwich will consist of cilantro, steam pork meat, sweet and sour (pickled) radishes and carrots, meat paste spread, mayonnaise, raw hot peppers and sometimes cucumber.

The sandwich cost me under $5.00. I asked for extra pickled radishes and carrots and it was given with no additional charge. Pickled radishes and carrots are used a lot in Vietnamese food. I brought my sandwich home and ate every last bite.

Among sandwiches they also have milkshakes, fresh coconut, fruit, and shaved ice. Yum. The French cafe is located in the heart of Waikiki on Kalakaua St inside the International Market Place. There’s a large food court there so if you don’t fancy yourself a “French” sandwich that’s cool, eat something eles.

Directions to French Cafe

O.k. I found a place that is worthy of a visit. While out looking for a place to live, my fiance and I stumbled upon a cute little restaurant called Royal Pearl Vietnamese Restaurant. Skimming the menu I noticed the prices were about 2-3 dollars cheaper, per item, than the Vietnamese restaurant that I went to the night before in Waikiki. I ordered the beef salad for $6.75. If your idea of an Asian salad is the typical Chinese chicken salad I highly suggest you venture out of your realm, especially if your one of those people that just don’t do salads, like Ray. Vegetables are good for you. My salad consisted of finely sliced beef strips, roman lettuce, finely sliced onions, sweet and sour radishes and carrots and fresh herbs like mint and basil with toasted onions and peanuts atop. I don’t know what type of dressing that was used, but it tasted like somewhat of a vinaigrette, without any oil. I think the most fattening item was the toasted onions, as there was no visible fat on my beef. I ate ever last bit of it because it was too good to go to waste and too little to pack up. Although I took in more than I should of, it didn’t give me that nasty, heavy feeling; no food coma what so ever.
Ray, he’s not a huge fan of Vietnamese or Thai. He says it smells like skanky hooker pussy. He’s referring to the fish sauce of course and how he even knows what skank hooker pussy smells like, I really don’t want to know. If your not familiar with fish sauce, it’s used in many Asian dishes especially Vietnamese and Thai. I’m not sure what it actually consists of or if it even has any fish in it at all, but it’s really salty and rarely used alone. Usually sugar, vinegar and other spices are added to balance out the salty flavor. Now about the smell, it only has a strong pungent scent if it gets on your clothes or skin. Next time your at a restaurant with fish sauce go ahead and take a whiff. Sure, it’ll smell a little, but that’s only because your all up in it’s business. Now take a little drop of it and rub it on the back of your palm. Now smell, mmm, there’s nothing like skank hooker pussy that makes your taste buds dance. Take a napkin and wipe your face because your drooling and embarrassing your family and friends.

Ray ordered the summer rolls. There’s two per order for $4.25. There’s only one in the picture because the other one was in his mouth. His only complaint was that there wasn’t any crab meat in it. Sometime back he order spring rolls that came with crab meat and shrimp. I told him it was a fluke because they don’t usually come with crab meat, just shrimp, rice noodles, basil, and lettuce with peanut sauce as dip. However, this apparently traumatized him as he is still is not over it and mentions every time he eats a summer roll that he likes the kind with crab in it. Whatever, if you know of any places please leave me a comment.

As for the ambiance, it was quaint and humble. There were even a few tables separated by bamboo screens, giving a very private and exotic dinning experience. The chairs were of Asian decor and not the typical cheesy 1980′s hotel freebees. The only thing cheesy about this place was the Christmas lights that hung inside above the window in mid April. This wasn’t a super cheap place but definitely affordable. Within the menu I found some low budget meals : Vietnamese sandwich – $5.50, Tofu salad – $5.95, Curry beef or chicken – $6.50, and Banana tapioca – $2.50. I think this place is worth a try and if you do, please don’t steal the fish sauce as a souvenir. Karma will bite you in the ass and it will spill all over your suit case and everyone will know what you did in on vacation in Hawaii.

Directions to Royal Pearl Bistro