My Search for the Perfect Bowl of Bun Rieu Oc!

So about a month ago, I suddenly had a craving for Bun Rieu Oc and decided to head to the nearest restaurant in Irvine that served this soup. Unfortunately, it must have been a long time since my last craving as the place I normally go to no longer served this soup. Well, I mean they still did but they changed the sea snails out with clams. Still good, but just not bun rieu oc. So I guess that was when my search for bun rieu oc started and I have not yet found what I am looking for. It's only been a month and so far I've had this soup at five different restaurants which I will review here. I will continue to do this until I find the most perfect bowl. So this is the back story of how this blog came to be. Of course it will be more than a blog for bun rieu oc, as other foods will be reviewed at many restaurants. Yeah, cravings make me do the weirdest things.



This past Sunday, I was at Tapioca Express on Las Tunas with the sisters which was right across the street from Vietnam House which my sister S tells me served Bun oc. So despite the fact that I just had lunch 2 hours ago, my sister K and I jay-scurried acrossed the street and walked into Vietnam House. It looked like the typical vietnamese restaurant, kinda dirty but popular. I ordered the bun oc with high hopes while my sister K browsed the menu and noticed that they also served dessert drinks - no durian smoothie though :( - and bun xeo! Hehe.

Anyways, on to the review of the bun oc. Well, I didn't like it. It was very oily, more oily than anything I had ever eaten. It left an orange oil slick on my plastic soup spoon...yuck! The oc was fishy and the pieces were small and not tasty. The broth was not flavorful like other broths that I've had. There was no crab bits floating around and they charged extra for blood cubes - $1. It was very disappointing. I actually cannot think of anything good to say about the bun rieu at this place. Well, except that it was expensive ~$4.75, I think. My sister S tells me that the 7 course beef is good here. Maybe I will try something else if I am ever there again.

Vietnam House
710 W. Las Tunas Dr.
San Gabriel, CA
(626) 828-6327