Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho To Go From 777 Noodle House

This past weekend the Missus wanted me to drop off some coffee from Her favorite place at work.

After dropping off Her caffeine fix; I felt a bit hungry and decided to head on over to City Heights, a regular stop for me, but not so much in these days of Covid-19. While I had visited the area for some takeout, that was before Christmas....to think that I'd usually be in the area at least every other week in those days "BC" (before Covid).

I was craving some Bun Mang Vit from Tu Thanh and since it was after the scheduled opening time; about 930am, I drove on over....only to find them closed...sigh.....

I quickly decided on a "plan B", 777 Noodle House. Man it had been over a year since I last visited and I was wondering how things were.

As I arrived to the back parking lot, I noticed that sets of tables and chairs had been set-up for outdoor dining.

The interior was stark and looked so bare with all the tables and chairs stacked up in the corners. Plexiglass had been set-up on the counter, all those Covid precautions.

The one thing that has remained the same is the wonderful woman who works here; even though I hadn't been back in over a year she greeted me and even with her mask on I could tell she was smiling! I ordered my "usual", the Hu Tieu Nam Vang ("Phnom Penh Noodles") Kho ("Dry"), though this would be the first time I'd be having it to go. I paid and waited in the back parking lot for less than ten minutes before my order was ready.

Here's what it looked liked unpacked at home.

Things nicely packed. And like other experiences I've had with take-out, I noticed that the portion size seemed a bit larger. A lot more ground pork, noodles, and soup.

The broth was still hot, so I didn't need to heat anything up.

The noodles were still warm and had been coated with a mildly sweet soy. It wasn't stuck together in a clump which was good; but like on a few previous visits were on the overcooked side and somewhat mushy.

When eating at 777 the bean sprouts are blanched which made for a nice textural contrast. In this case it wasn't blanched....I could have taken some time to heat up the broth and blanch those bean sprouts, but I was hungry.

Nice combination of flavors and textures with the ground pork, the fried garlic, slices of char siu. The shrimp were nicely cooked, but tasted a bit on the muddy side. I really liked the mildly pungent, citrus tones the cilantro added to the bowl so I added a bit more that I had onhand.

The soup was pretty good this time around, not overly salty, but not as deeply flavored. That rather hefty pork hock was just perfect swiney goodness, tender, but not mushy, nice bits of slightly chewy tendon.

I did enjoy this, it did "hit the spot", and for the price of slightly north of seven bucks how can you complain? And that woman who is always so nice and gracious....I need to visit more often.

It had me thinking of how the other stops for Hi Tieu Nam Vang was doing. Perhaps in the next few weeks I'll find out!

777 Noodle House
4686 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105
(619) 283-3185
Current Hours:
Daily 8am - 9pm

Comments

[Soo]

Nice piece of pork there! Glad to see 777 Noodle House still prices their dishes under $8.

[Junichi]

Glad to see they kept their prices low.

[kat]

nice that this didn’t disappoint.

[Kirk]

It is a good value Soo!

Me too Junichi!

It was a decent plan B Kat!