Hofun beefstew is loaded with all manner of the meat, steeped in a broth made slighly sweet by star anise and chives. (Wyatt Olson)
Hofun beefstew is loaded with all manner of the meat, steeped in a broth made slighly sweet by star anise and chives. (Wyatt Olson)
Chock full of the good stuff: a char siu sandwich at Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine in Honolulu satisfies meat and veggie lovers alike. (Wyatt Olson)
The dining is casual at Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine and caters to the lunch crowd. (Wyatt Olson)
There are a handful of Vietnamese restaurants in Honolulu's Chinatown, but Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine stands out for its friendly service and fresh baguette sandwiches. (Wyatt Olson)
Perhaps the best attribute of Vietnamese food is its range, from fresh, raw vegetables to rich and meaty soups, making it the perfect ethnic cuisine for a group of diners with mixed tastes.
It’s also distinctive from the neighboring fare of China and Thailand due to the roughly 100 years that Vietnam served as a French colony, ending in the 1950s.
Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine has plenty of competitors in Honolulu’s Chinatown, but its cheerful staff and wide selection of barbecued sandwiches make it stand out.
One of the first times I ate a late lunch here, a mother and daughter sat down at an adjoining table and giddily proceeded to order two bánh mì sandwiches. The server apologized to the two regulars that an earlier customer had placed a huge carry-out order of sandwiches so they were out of crispy baguette bread for the day. Their crestfallen faces looked like kids discovering that Santa Claus had skipped their tree.
I knew I’d have to try those sandwiches.
During a later visit, I ordered a char siu pork sandwich and understood their letdown. The sandwiches are served on freshly baked baguettes and stuffed with shredded, marinated carrot and white radish, fresh basil, cucumber and a creamy sauce with hints of horseradish and mustard seed.
Choices of meat for the sandwiches are four styles of pork — shredded, barbecued, steamed or char siu — and barbecued chicken and beef. Different styles of meats can be combined on sandwiches.
Sad to say, liver pâté, one of my favorite ingredients on Vietnamese sandwiches, isn’t available here. No matter, the meats they do offer are freshly prepared and juicy.
For beef lovers, the noodle soup is the hearty lunch, running from $8.99 to $9.99 for a large bowl that’s a challenge to empty. Various cuts of beef are available, such as steak, tendon, tripe, brisket and meatball.
I favor the Hofun beef stew on the menu because the broth is thick and slightly sweet with star anise and chives. For the right level of “heat,” I spice the bowl to my taste with the red chili paste that’s present on all tables. This soup also comes with chunks of liver; I’m not a fan, but I don’t request a hold on them because I think they add flavor to the broth.
Each bowl comes with a heaping platter of raw vegetables, such as spicy green peppers, bean sprouts, basil and other Asian leafy greens, along with a sliced lime, for adding to the broth. The hot soup lightly scalds the greens but leaves them sufficiently crispy to hold their own distinctive tastes.
If beef isn’t your thing, soups are also served with seafood, fish balls, won tons and duck.
Another standout here are the build-it-yourself spring rolls ($15.50 to $16.25).This is too much food if you’re dining solo, so bring a friend and start rolling.
The crispy rice skins are dipped quickly into a bowl of water to soften them. Then you layer them with shrimp prepared in a variety of ways — including sugar-cane-coated — clear vermicelli and a mix of leafy-green vegetables, bean sprouts and pickled veggies. Once they are rolled, they’re dipped into sauce that is at the same time sour, sweet, salty and spicy.
