Thai Son

I headed out for lunch with some family friends to Thai Son on E. Broadway. I’d never been there before so was excited to try a new restaurant.

The menu looked pretty extensive. On the back were pictures of people posing together. I was told that they were HK movie stars. Really? I’ll let you be the judge.

I was feeling like a Vietnamese coffee.

To share, we  ordered summer rolls, egg rolls, and a steamed vermicelli, grilled beef ribs, and vegetable dish.

For myself, I ordered spicy beef and pork hock with vermicelli in soup. It had some cut up meat balls and sliced meat in it as well.

My soup dish was spicy but not crazy hot where you are drinking water every two seconds. It had a good taste. Enjoyed it. The summer roll was pretty standard. The peanut sauce that accompanied it seemed a bit more watery (not as thick) than I’m used too. Taste wise it was fine. The fried egg rolls were tasty and slightly different than others I’ve had. The meat maybe?

The noodles had a nice chew to them.

The beef ribs dish was good. I haven’t had vermicelli prepared this way before. Reminded me of those gauze pads you would use to treat deep cuts and scrapes. Guess that’s not the most appetizing thought. The vegetables consisted of pickled radish and carrots (although very mild), basil, lettuce, and this other leafy herb.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal very much and will be back again.

Thai Son

373 E. Broadway

Vancouver, BC

Lotus Garden

I was trying to figure out a place for takeout tonight and came across Lotus Garden in our neighborhood. I’ve seen the restaurant before but I must admit I rarely walk that part of Mission Street since it seems kind of sketchy.

There aren’t too many Vietnamese places around us so if this place was good it would give us another good option. We called in our order – Five Spiced Roast Chicken, Lotus Garden Beef in Coconut Milk, and Sauteed Tofu with Mixed Vegetable – which would take 15-20 minutes before being ready for pickup.

Mission gets pretty busy during this dinner time so I had a difficult time finding a parking spot. Actually I had a spot lined up pretty quickly but there was this homeless dude with this shopping cart stacked with cardboard boxes and he was standing beside the spot! I thought he was going to ask me for money so I kept going. But then I looked in y rear view mirror as I was driving away and he had kept moving down the street. Darn it.  I ended up parking on a dead end side street.

The place was empty except for a waiter. Place seemed a bit cleaner than the typical Vietnamese restaurant.

He went to the back kitchen and after a few minutes came out with my order.

Overall, the place was ok. Nothing special. Chicken was a bit dry but not bad. The beef tasted ok but had too many onions and not enough beef. And the vegetable dish was pretty standard.

Even with this lukewarm review, I ‘d still go back and try it again given the lack of Vietnamese options close to our place.