Vietnamese food that isn't PHO?!

Let's get a little cultural and adventurous. When you say Vietnamese food. We say Cabramatta and Canley Heights. We're not always keen to head in the westerly direction but you'll be kidding yourself if you think you're enjoying authentic Vietnamese cuisine in the city (there are few exceptions)! This could be the next road trip with friends!

As suggested by mum, we paid a little visit to Huong Xua on 208 Canley Vale Road for a slightly different kind of Viet food.

The restaurant specializes in dishes with Oc which is Vietnamese for sea snails! A little French vibe oui? Well that made ordering a tad easier - just order the specialty.

And the reason we wanted to share this food outing was to show that there's more to Vietnamese cuisine than good ol' Pho soup and noodles! We're not hating on the Pho (we couldn't flick past it on the menu) but we just wanted to show something new. Pho we will save for another day don't you worry!

We ordered Bun Oc (pronun. Booo-m Op), not in the soup for but as dry form (you can choose between the two) which came with vermicelli noodles and bowl of soul with the sea snails to dip with a side salad. Everything tasted fresh and light - it was really satisfying. 

We also called for pork Hu Tieu (pronun. Who Teew) in soup form (thin flat glass noodles in pork broth) which the noodle was just a little chewy just as it should be and the broth was light but deep in flavour at the same time!

Here’s a little step by step on how to eat your Bun Oc (kind of like Oreo - dip and enjoy!):

How else do you end a Vietnamese dinner out than with the traditional dessert Che! We only had to cross the road before we were seated outside with our orders taken. There was simply only one choice on our minds: Che Thai

I'm not sure about the English translation but I can tell you what's in it: cubed fruit salad, agar jelly, mung bean, durian, lycée, sweet coconut milk and topped with shaved ice

Usually durian is too hard core for me but I can always manage it here only for some reason! Che Thai is always a personal fav of mine (I’m not even sure how it gets the ‘Thai’ in its name – just don’t take it too literally) and here is the best cafe I’ve had it at.

We were beaming inside by the end of the night – such great Vietnamese food to explore all the time even for us Viet sistas.Until next time!MVPD