Thanh Huong - A Colorful Budget-Friendly Vietnamese Spot
This Vietnamese place in North San Jose, 95132 is a feast for the eyes! So many Vietnamese snacks I've never seen before, all bursting with color and amazingly cheap, averaging $10-15 per person! Here's what I got:
- Chicken Banh Mi: Crispy French baguette filled with shredded grilled chicken, onions, pickled radish, cilantro, and green chili peppers. Sweet, tangy, and plenty filling! Oddly, this isn't their best-seller. Saw quite a few Vietnamese people coming in and straight-up ordering the No.2 Banh Mi. No clue what number 2 is!
- Veggie Banh Mi: As above, Vietnamese sandwich without meat, purely vegetarian. It came with tofu, seemed like fried tofu skin. Crunchy, nice!
- Pandan Waffle: A pandan leaf flavored waffle, soft and sweet. Loved it!
- Xoi Mam Rice: Sounds like it's supposed to be like sticky rice stir-fry with sausage but the rice was a bit hard. At $5 a box, I'm not gonna complain.
- Spring Roll: Regular offering from a Viet place, $7.5 for 3 rolls with meat and veggies, worth it! Pro tip: Always eat Vietnamese spring rolls with sauce and cold; don't heat them up. I made the mistake of microwaving mine when I got home for a minute. Ruined the texture, boo!
- Xoi: Colorful sticky rice half wrapped in a thin rice skin with purple and green sticky rice. Came with a small box of powdered peanut sugar, not bad!
- Banh Bonh Lan: An old-school honey mini cake. Cake is quite dense, be careful not to choke!
- Beverage & sweet: Not sure what they're called! The beverage was this really sweet combo of jujube, longan, goji, white fungus, and barley. Had to dilute it 1:1 with water. The dessert was sticky rice with coconut milk, sweet but not too cloying. OK!
Overall: Got a ton of stuff, only cost me around $40. Apart from Vietnamese snacks, they also serve boxed meals and noodle soups. Lots of choices and easy on the pocketbook. Super excited to find a budget-friendly spot with signature dishes in this era of rising prices!
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