DINNER AT NOODLE KING - Northeast

Located just off of 32nd Avenue on 23rd Street in the N.E. (in the same strip mall as Thai Boat), this hidden gem of a Vietnamese restaurant is my friend's favorite in this area. I think it is because her family knows the owners, and the food is pretty good here. This is my and my friend's default restaurant when we want to get together for lunch or dinner. We have been coming here a few times a year since they first open at this location.

Upon coming in, you usually receive a friendly greeting. We usually go during non-busy hours, so there is only one server working. The servers here are pretty efficient - making drinks, taking orders, delivering food, adding chit-chat and recommendations. The decor is pretty up to date, and the place has a nice warm atmosphere. My friends and I were here earlier this month. I forgot how good their spring rolls were, and I was craving it all week. So on Friday, after a long week of working a lot overtime, I dropped by after work for take-away. I noticed on their menu that they raised the price on all the mains by $0.75 which is fair due to food prices right now. This is a very recent change since they didn't add this the last time I was here.

Deep Fried Spring Rolls (2 rolls) $3.50

I haven't had their spring rolls in a while and forgot how good and different they are from the other Vietnamese restaurants. They put taro in it, along with pork, onion, and carrots. The taro makes a big difference in taste. If you love taro like I do, you will love these spring rolls as you can really taste the taro. These rolls are also longer than other Vietnamese restaurants I've been to. These two rolls are like having three in other restaurants.

Pork Chops (2) with Fried Egg on Broken Rice $11.25

Usually with this dish, you get one pork chop and then a choice of charbroiled beef or chicken, but I always get just pork chops so they give me two. You can always get one pork chop and then add an egg for an extra price, but why would you do that when their pork chops are so good, tender, and big. You also get a lot of rice regardless if you are eating in or taking away. I usually can't finish all my rice. The rice you get here is truly broken, little pieces of it and not whole grains. The rice is good for soaking up all the fish sauce. The egg was a little over-fried this time, in that there was not a lot of runny yolk left, but that was okay.

Taro Bubble Tea with Coconut Jelly $4.50

Of course, thinking about the taro spring rolls got me thinking about taro bubble tea. Call me crazy, but sometimes you just want the fake powder stuff. Although, not my first choice of bubble tea flavours, powder taro bubble tea just has that nice vanilla ice cream flavour to it. They didn't have any pearls at this time, but that's okay. Those big dark tapioca pearls are not my favorite any where, too chewy. They also offered coconut jelly which I took.

Overall, this is a nice restaurant. They also offer some Chinese food as well like fried rice, beef and broccoli, salt and pepper squid, etc. I don't think they get too overly busy, and the service here is always quick and attentive. Everything I had here so far is pretty good. I would recommend this place for people to try. Since there are a lot of Vietnamese restaurants in N.E. (I can count 4 within 6 blocks from my house, including this restaurant, and I live in a semi-secluded neighbourhood), everyone has their favorites that they always go to and is hard to get them to try others.

Noodle King
2323 32 Ave NE
403-250-9808