Pho 24 Express

When Emily remarked she was "getting tired of eating out" after our multiple culinary forays during the Chinese Restaurant Awards and Poutine Challenge, I remained skeptical.  Tired of eating?  Yah right...  But after a Friday night league game, I was beginning to realize what she meant.  It was if I was suffering from eating fatigue.  A 2-month stretch of non-stop eating (sometimes up to 4 dinners a night) was beating me down.  Yes, #firstworldproblems  Hence, Milhouse and I went for something lighter at Pho 24 Express.

As for the aforementioned Pho, we had the Pho Dac Biet in the extra-large size.  Unlike the version at Pho Extreme Xe Lua, this one actually consisted of more noodles and meat rather than just broth.  We found the broth to be clean yet rather light tasting.  It was mildly sweet, but not much in the way of meatiness.  Noodles were chewy while the meats were decently tender.  We also shared the Phnom Penh Dry Noodles which were pretty average.  It was nowhere as good as the versions found at Phnom Penh and Pho Tan.  The noodles were pretty clumpy without the aid of enough "sauce".  That also meant there was a lack of flavour and impact.  On the other hand, there was enough supporting ingredients to keep things interesting.

For good measure, we added the Banh Mi Dac Biet.  It featured light and airy bread that was toasted up until crusty.  There wasn't exactly a boatload of cold cuts nor pickled veggies, but the sandwich ate pleasantly nonetheless.  With that being said, the overall flavours were rather mild due to the lack of ingredients.  On the flip-side, this was still pretty decent considering the place doesn't specialize in banh mi.

Suffering from the same eating fatigue symptoms, we returned the following week for a bowl of Bo Kho Noodles.  Also in extra-large form, the soup base was aromatic, yet weak at the same time.  There was the sweetness of carrots and a certain meatiness, but it lack depth-of-flavour.  Furthermore, the little cubes of beef were dry and somewhat chewy.  Changing things up, we got the Lemongrass Pork Chop, Chicken and Shredded Pork Broken Rice with Fried Egg.  Sure, the pork chop was on the drier side, but it was not particularly chewy.  However, it lacked char much like the chicken.  They were well-marinated though with obvious lemongrass hits.  I enjoyed the chewy broken rice underneath as it didn't soften too much from the egg yolk.  So as much as the food at Pho 24 Express is not the best I've had, it is definitely serviceable especially for late night.

The Good:
- Extra-large is actually extra-large
- Reasonable pricing
- Fairly good service

The Bad:
- Flavours are generally weak
- Good for late night, but there are better options 
 

Angkor Restaurant

As much as Phnom Penh is synonymous with Cambodian food in Vancouver, there are, in fact, other places where one can get similar eats including those famed chicken wings (albeit usually not as good).  After Sunday morning hockey, Milhouse, Kaiser Soze, JuJu and myself decided to hit up Angkor for some Cambodian eats in hopes of finding an alternative to the always busy aforementioned Phnom Penh (and the fact it has been blogged to death!).

For myself, I ended up getting the Phnom Penh Dry Rice Noodles which was pretty good.  Topped with the usual seafood and meats including shrimp, liver, sliced pork and ground pork, it was also sauced with a sweet soy.  When mixed together with the chewy noodles and side of blanched sprouts, it was a good balance between savoury and sweet.  The noodles were a bit clumpy though.  The accompanying pork bone soup was sweet with a good amount of melt-in-my-mouth meat.  Milhouse had the Angkor Beef Stew Noodles which looked quite appetizing.  Sampling the soup and it was indeed flavourful and somewhat aromatic.  There was depth and a sweet meatiness.  As for the meat itself, it was fatty and tender while the noodles were al dente.

Kaiser Soze had the Phnom Penh Rice Noodle Soup in a sweet, flavourful broth.  Obviously aided by MSG, there was depth which helped flavour the noodles.  The meats were tender and abundant while the large pork bone was a treat.  JuJu wanted to be different, so he went with the Chhar Kropus & Rice.  The prawns had a meaty snap while being bathed in a garlicky and onion spiked stir-fry.  The rice itself was dry enough to absorb the moisture without getting too soft.  As tasty as it was, JuJu was left a bit hungry due to the modest portion size.

No matter though as we got a large order of the Deep Fried Chicken Wings to share.  Served with 2 large bowls of lemon pepper dip, this was trending towards the Phnom Penh version.  Yet, it was not as good.  Although lightly crisp on the outside, the skin was not a rendered nor was the wings themselves that flavourful.  Inside, the meat was juicy though. Although not without faults, Angkor offered up eats that satisfied.  Furthermore, the prices were very reasonable.

The Good:
- Cheap
- Decent eats
- Good service

The Bad:
- Modest portions

Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh???  Hasn't this joint been blogged about by a gazillion people???  Well not that many, but you get the idea.  No, Phnom Penh is not exactly a hidden gem anymore. Go back 15 years and include their long gone Broadway location, it was a somewhat hidden gem then.  I remember Rich Guy and I would go there all the time for their Luc Lac Beef and Chicken Wings.  Heck, we still do that.  Things just don't change, except for our age.  Yikes!  Well, seeing how I haven't blogged about the place in nearly 5 years, we decided to hit up the place after Monday night softball. 

Okay, let's cut to the chase.  We were here mainly for their famous Fried Chicken Wings.  These crispy pieces of joy were wok tossed with onions, garlic, chilies, pepper, MSG and salt.  Served on the side was the necessary and highly effective lemon white pepper dip. Another one of their most popular dishes is the Butter Beef.  Now personally, I find it not bad, but not exactly outstanding either.  The reason for this is the beef itself.  I find it overly chewy for a nearly rare application.  However, the seasoning rocked in my opinion.  It was a good combination of salty, sweet, tart and herbal (from the cilantro).  On the other hand, I found that there was just a touch too much of it on the plate, but I can see cilantro lovers disagreeing with me.

We had another classic item being the Dry Noodles.  It consisted of flat egg noodles with shrimp, ground pork, pork slices, liver, dried shrimp, fried onions, cilantro and green onions bathed in a sweet and salty soy concoction.  Mixed together, all the different textures and flavours created a symphony in my mouth.  Yes, other places offer the same dish, but Phnom Penh does it best.  Going off the board, we decided to give the Fried Rice Cake (Bot Chien) a try.  This was a simple stir-fry of fried rice cake cubes, egg and green onion.  Naturally, the rice cake cubes were dense, but they had a pleasant chew.  The side of sweet chili soy added the necessary flavour as the dish itself was quite mild.

Back to the the classics, we had the Oyster Pancake.  It had a nice exterior crispiness which gave way to a starchy "oystery" (I realize that is not a word...) interior.  This was a good dish, but paled in comparison to one of their most popular items (chicken wings withstanding) being the Luc Lac Beef (or Filet of Beef with fried egg).  Just something about the way they prepare it, it just works.  From the tender slices of beef to the rich, flavourful sauce, I could eat this over and over again (wait, I do!).  And really, we were happy to do a return visit.  Sure, some people may not get why this is one of the most popular restaurants in Vancouver.  But we do.

The Good:
- Chicken wings!
- Relatively inexpensive considering everything
- Lots of choice

The Bad:
- Service is okay, but not stellar either
- Pick the favourites, other dishes are pretty average
- Super busy

Kim Penh Xe Lua

For a big metropolis, there are not really all that many choices for late night eats in Vancouver. Sure, there is Denny's, Knight & Day and Tops. But I'd rather stand in the middle of #3 Road in Richmond with a bulls eye painted on my chest than eat at those places. This is the dilemma Polka King and I faced after our weekly late night Wednesday hockey - 1:30am on a weekday looking for eats... Well, there was one place that we noticed when we were at #1 Congee Noodle a couple of weeks ago. It was a Pho restaurant and it was open 24 hours. But we really couldn't remember the name. Well, it turns out the name is Kim Penh Xe Lua. Alright, what happened to easy to remember names such as Pho Tam, Pho Hong, Pho Hoa or even Pho T&A??? Like there is any chance we'd remember Kim Penh Xe Lua.

We got to the restaurant pretty fast because not many people would be on the road at 1:30am on a Thursday morning. We stepped into the restaurant and it seemed like we'd never left the ice rink. Talk about a slippery floor! Did they mop the place with oil??? More on the oil later... Another thing we noticed was the communal tables. In the middle of the restaurant, there are 3 long tables. I guess you'd better not be OCD about personal space because you won't get any here. Despite a free table for 2 available, we sat at the communal table since there was sufficient lighting for pictures. Hey, you know me! I decided to order the XL bowl of #16 which was the Pho Chin, Nam, Gau, Gan and Sach. However, #17 was exactly the same thing. I was a bit confused. But in Chinese characters, #16 had one more item, so I went for that one. I still don't know what I got extra for ordering #16 and honestly, I don't want to know.

I gotta say, for $6.79, the XL is a fantastic value. The bowl was large, the noodles and meat were plentiful. One problem. The broth was fattier than Rosanne's liposuction. In addition to the considerable oil slick, oily "floaties" were everywhere. Not the most appetizing sight. Looking beyond that, the soup itself was quite flavourful without being salty. The noodles, however, were a bit clumpy. Good value; but overall disappointing execution. For curiosity sake, I also got the Grilled Chicken Banh Mi. It came steaming hot and I really enjoyed eating it, the bread was crunchy and light and the chicken was tender. Polka King had the Chicken Curry (yah, I wouldn't order that here) and predictably it was so-so. I guess we shouldn't be complaining since it's early in the morning and choices are limited; but compared to other Pho places, this would not be my first choice.

The Good:
- Large portions
- It's cheap!
- It's open 24 hours

The Bad:
- Pho is pretty average and the broth is oily
- The floor is oily
- What else is oily? I don't want to know...

Phnom Penh

What a hidden gem (quoting Snake) Phnom Penh happens to be in the darker regions of Vancouver's Chinatown. If you are a foodie in the GVRD, you must know about Phnom Penh. There used to be another location on Broadway near Oak, but it was shut down more than 5 years ago. Now we are left with their one location which is endlessly busy. Phnom Penh seems to fill a niche in the Vancouver restaurant scene. There are plenty of Vietnamese restaurants around, but what sets Phnom Penh apart is that it is also a Cambodian restaurant too. Therefore, the menu is an eclectic mix of foods not usually found anywhere else.

Rich Guy and Vandelay have frequented Phnom Penh a lot over the years, but not recently. So we make the trek into Chinatown for some grub. The restaurant itself is very non-descriptive on the outside, you can easily miss it driving or even walking by. It's not a very big place, and that makes for long waits if you come during dinner time. The one signature dish at Phnom Penh is their fried chicken wings. We order it every time and it was delicious as usual. It's fried perfectly with a crispy coating over the juicy meat inside. The lemon pepper dipping sauce is an excellent accompaniment to the dish. Somehow with the addition of a bit of acidity to the wings, it comes alive. We also ordered the Butter Beef and although it's one of the more popular dishes, it was a definite miss. The beef is essentially raw and is exposed to high heat only slightly before serving. For raw beef to be good, it must be awfully tender and sliced thin. However, the beef was sliced a bit thick and it wasn't too tender. Also, it could be just me, but there is way too much cilantro on the beef, it kills any other flavour that is supposed to be present. It's the same idea as a beef carpaccio, you wouldn't kill the delicate flavours with loads of herbs and sauce. One more appetizer-type dish we ordered was the Banh Cuon or steamed rice noodles filled with ground pork and wood ear mushrooms. It is served with a side of Cha Lua (Vietnamese ham) and Nuoc Cham, which is sweet fish sauce with a touch of lemon/lime or vinegar. The rolls tasted good, but the rice noodles were a bit stiff compared to other Banh Cuon that I've had.

We ordered the Luc Lac Beef with Egg on Rice, which is cooked tender beef on a bed of rice with a fried egg. The dish is a little different than how I remembered it, since the beef seemed to be in smaller slices and it was swimming in sauce. Don't get me wrong, it still tasted good, but just seemed a bit different. We also had the dry egg noodles which are topped with shrimp, minced pork, dry shrimp, sliced pork, sliced liver, cilantro and green onions. It is served with a side of pork bone soup and that in itself is delicious. The noodles are just the right texture, being the right level of chewiness. The ingredients work well together and it's actually one of my favourite dishes at Phnom Penh. Lastly, the Deep Fried Squid is prepared similarly to the chicken wings served with the same sauce. The squid is tender and fried really crispy.

The service at Phnom Penh is efficient; but just like any other Asian restaurant of this class, it's impersonal. One major problem I have with Phnom Penh is that it really needs to be cleaned up. The dining room itself is pleasant enough, but the hallway to the washrooms and the washrooms themselves are unappealing. I realize that it's quite typical of Asian restaurants to have nasty washrooms, but it is an observation I won't ignore. Overall, it was another satisfying visit to Phnom Penh. I think Phnom Penh is a definite "must-visit" if you are in Vancouver.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- More hits than misses in terms of food
- Unique dishes

The Bad:
- Not the most appealing location; sketchy area at night
- Washrooms and hallway are just bad
- Long waits during peak hours

Phnom Penh
244 East Georgia Street
Vancouver, B.C.
(604) 682-5777

Business Hours:
10:00am - 9:00pm (Mon - Thu)
10:00am - 10:00pm (Fri - Sun)