Danang (Photo by Ted Goertzel)
Vietnamese and Cambodian
Restaurants
in the Delaware Valley
| Vietnamese: Chinatown |
West Philly |
|
Danang (Photo by Ted Goertzel) |
Vietnamese restaurants in Chinatown are generally inexpensive and as a whole offer perhaps the best culinary bargain in the Delaware Valley. They tend towards the simplicity and plainness of typical Chinese restaurants. Other visual influences of China will often be evident: the ancestral shrines, Chinese- style lanterns and pictures, etc. But be on the lookout for distinctive Vietnamese markers as well: the adapted Romanized printing, the occasional manifestations of Vietnamese Buddhism, the French influence sometimes evident in the menu, and of course the food itself. |
| Two distinctive characteristics of Vietnamese food are its
use of fresh herbs (often provided on a special plate for you to add to
the soup or other dish) and its use of grilling (often referred to on menus
as "charbroiling"). An appetizer definitely to be tried, available
almost everywhere, is the "shrimp and pork spring roll," enclosed
in a folded, moistened round of rice paper. Be sure to make sure that you
are getting the spring roll that is not deep fat fried (the latter, while
good, is less distinctive and more like its Chinese cousin).
Soups at most Vietnamese restaurants come in large bowls, and you may want to split one unless you want to make a whole meal out of it. They come with a plate of Asian basil and other herbs, bean sprouts, chillies and lime slices to add according to your taste. Be sure to try a marinated, "charbroiled" meat (pork is particularly good), generally served on vermicelli noodles. If the restaurant specializes in northern Vietnamese cuisine, see if it has some version of thit kho, pork simmered in caramel sauce. Vietnamese dishes with lemon grass are also often distinctive and good. Finally, pay attention to the condiments in Vietnamese restaurants. The little bottle that looks like soy sauce is actually fish sauce--the basis of Vietnamese cooking which reflects its access to the sea. You are also likely to find various hot sauces; many Vietnamese like their food hot and spicy, but it is left to the individual to spice up the food to the desired level. |
 Saigon Cathedral (Photo by Ted Goertzel) |
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Pho Ha Pho Eden
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| Chinatown
Hoa Viet
Vietnamese Grilled Noodle House Viet Thai
Vietnam
Palace Vietnam Restaurant Pho & Cafe
Saigon Vietnamese Soup RestaurantsThe substantial soups on the menus of all Vietnamese restaurants in Philadelphia are very possibly the most healthy, and cheapest meals around. Soup (pho) is so popular among Vietnamese-Americans that one restaurant specializes in soup alone: Pho 75, near the Vietnamese Atlantic Supermarket in the 800 block of Adams Avenue (just off Roosevelt Blvd.), Northeast Philadelphia. Only beef and chicken soup is served here, but the place is almost always busy with customers from all over the region. Explore the Atlantic Supermarket afterwards. There are also several Vietnamese supermarkets and shopping centers along Washington Avenue, both east and west of the Italian market. (See also Pho Eden in Cherry Hill above.) |
South
Philadelphia/Italian Market Area
Anh Hong Dong Phuong Restaurant Nam Phuong Pho Ha Pho 75/Saigon Palace Saigon Restaurant
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Updated December 13, 2004
