Ever since experiencing our first Bun Bo Hue (Vietnamese beef noodle soup) at Mien Trung, my brothers have been pretty obsessed, visiting almost every week.
I’ve been curious to explore Bun Bo Hue and Bun Rieu (crab noodle soup) at other places, so we recently went to check out Hoai Hue after reading good reviews on yelp.
On the menu, I liked that there were different choices to customize your Bun Bo Hue. Full menu can be found here.
We were served a plate of shredded vegetables to be added to the hot soup.
I chose the Bun Tom Cua (shrimp and crab noodle soup), which I believe is the equivalent to Bun Rieu.
It arrived bright pink, full of shrimp balls.
One thing I noticed right away was that the soup wasn’t hot enough to cook the raw vegetables. I also thought the taste was a little bland.
The boys all ordered some version of Bun Bo Hue.
The soup wasn’t as spicy as Mien Trung. But it also lacked flavor. I felt like the spice and broth were separating from the sips I stole from FH’s bowl and the broth portion was too light in flavor.
The noodles used for the Bun Tom Cua are thinner than the ones used for the Bo Bun Hue. I prefer the thicker noodles.
Overall, we were disappointed with the Bun Bo Hue and the Bun Tom Cua. Perhaps we ordered the wrong items. But we’ll stick to Mien Trung for now when we want Bun Bo Hue or Bun Tom Cua
Hoai Hue
4660 El Cajon Blvd., Ste 102
San Diego, CA 92115
(619) 563-5358
https://www.hoaihue.com/
Oh too bad. The pictures are gorgeous, though!
Yeah, I was disappointed, especially because it was a little far of a drive for me too. Oh well. Never know unless you try.
Hey Kirbie – I’ve always thoguht the meat at Hoai Hue was better than Mien Trung. The veggies used to be better too, but that has changed. Everything else, the broth and executiion, Mien Trung has always been much better.
I didn’t have a chance to try the meat, only the shrimp and crab balls that came with mine. I was really sad about the broth though.