Last night, my fiance and I decided to finally try Viet Royale in Eden Center. We've window shopped it on several occasions on boba tea runs at Song Que Deli next door. I have to say that Viet Royale impressed me immensely. The dining room has a clean and pleasant ambiance and we received attentive service. The extensive menu presented a daunting choice so we went with our tried and true favorites – PHỞ and BÚN , agreeing to go halvsies (split 'em). We also ordered an appetizer – GỎI CUỐN CHAY ( Vegetarian Fresh Garden Roll). These tasty rice paper rolls were filled generously with basil and fried tofu, accompianied by a carrot and peanut garnished dipping sauce.
The PHỞ TÁI - Rice Noodle Soup with Rare Flank Steak : I love the fragrant broth of this soup! It has hints of cinnamon, star anise, ginger, cardamon, fennel and clove. I think it's the clove that's most pleasing to me... it's always been one of my favorite spices for taste and scent. PHỞ always comes with a plate of garnishes – generally basil, beansprouts, jalapeno slices and lime wedges. I like to put them all in right away so that they can cook with the soup and my last spoon fulls have absorbed the maximum jalapeno kick.
The BÚN - Rice Vermicelli Bowl : Viet Royale gives you a choice of grilled pork, beef, chicken (my choice) , shrimp, spring rolls, or stir-fried beef as garnish for this dish. Beneath your meat choice will be bean sprouts, basil, mint, pickled carrot/radish, peanuts and of course the rice vermicelli. On the side is a small bowl of "broth" meant to be poured over your noodles... a combination of fish sauce, chilli and sugar from what I can tell. This is a cold dish... except for the freshly grilled meat on top. The grilled chicken was scrumptious! Tender and moist on the inside, crispy on the outside. Perfection.
The best part about this meal... it's was so inexpensive! The PHỞ and BÚN were each under $9 and the appetizer was under $4. We even got a complementary tapioca dessert! I can't wait for my next visit to explore more of the menu. I'm happy to say that there seem to be a good selection of vegetarian choices on the menu but I'll have to check them out myself to report definitively if they are actually meat-free.
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After Viet Royale, the call of boba was too strong to resist. For those of you that know and love boba/bubble tea, you understand. Here are our drinks (coconut and honeydew melon) outside the neon glow of the gelatinous wonderland that is Song Que Deli. For those of you that don't know about boba tea yet, I'll leave it a mystery for now because it clearly deserves it's own post.
