Back in January, I noticed that Hao Vi was gone, replaced by Ly Heng. I was intrigued so I decided to stop by for a some noodle soup.
The interior look basically the same.... it seems like a nice family is running the place now.
The menu looked overwhelmingly Vietnamese, having seen the writing on the window, I asked the nice young man where their family was from. It turns out that they are from Cambodia. So, Ly Heng is one of those hybrid noodle houses, like Trieu Chau and 777 which reflect the family's travels.
I wanted to try the Hu Tieu Nam Vang - Phnom Penh Noodles, but they only had a Banh Pho version on the menu - which I ordered.
Served with blanched bean sprouts, I found the broth to be a bit too salty for me. The noodles were overcooked as well.
There was a nice variety of protein items, but nothing really stood out.
The nice young man told me that they had just opened and would soon be adding more items to the menu. So I decided to wait a couple of months to return.
Flash forward a whole six months....Ly Heng had slipped my mind. One Friday evening, MrQ mentioned how much he missed Hao Vi...... which reminded me that I had always intended to return to Ly Heng.
Man, look at the grafitti on the sign.....why on earth would folks waste their time defacing a business's sign like that?
The same folks were running the place and there seemed to be a few more items on the menu. I took my time looking over the menu this time and found one of my favorite dishes; Beef Sate Noodles, which I ordered "dry".
And guess what? They even had Hu Tieu.
To be perfectly honest, the highlite of the meal was the pork bone soup, which, though a bit on the salty side hit the spot, as did all that tender pork. This was more of a rib than pork leg bone, which suited me just fine.
There were a couple of slices of fairly tender beef. The "sate" in this case was mainly peanut and chili paste, lacking the shallots and other flavors that add complexity to the sauce. I will say that it might be the spiciest sate I've had.
The portion of noodles was very generous, and it was prepared well, with a nice stretch and not mushy.
While I wish the menu was more diverse, it's heavy on Vietnamese style noodles dishes - thre are many places in the area that do it just as well or better, I'll probably return and try something else.... so long it has that pork soup!
Nice people and decent prices.
Ly Heng
4451 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105
Hours:
Thurs - Tues 8am - 8pm
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