Hoan Kiem

This place had it’s name changed before but always the same family owned spot. My mom would take me here when I was sick since I could remember. We knew the family and they knew us by name. The healthiest broth you can get, and the noodles are different from other phở places but I love it! So flavorful and since (I felt) it was low on sodium, I could eat a whole large bowl in one sitting and not feel bloated. I wish the rumors weren’t true but sadly it is closed. I thought id leave a last review on one of my favorite child hood/​comfort food memories.

My mom loves it here. She can’t get enough of their chicken phở and those rice roll things with the stuff inside. I haven’t dined there but have had both of these dishes as takeout (courtesy of my mom). Each order is like $ 6 or $ 7 only.
The chicken phở is hearty — has chicken breast (so fresh), pieces of dark meat, chicken liver, chicken gizzard, and a chicken heart (no heart for me). Comes with all the goodies that go with phở — bean sprouts, cilantro, etc. The broth is good — not a lot of MSG if any at all. I’m pretty sensitive to MSG [dry mouth/​thirst] so always appreciate it when Asian restaurants lay off of it!

downgrading experience.
their take on hainam chicken leaves much to be desired. it wasn’t fresh, the sauce was wrong, chicken portion was small. the only good thing was the rice, which was lightly fried instead of just steamed.
we also tried the banh cuon, which were soft, warm rice paper dumplings with ground pork and mushrooms inside. nicely garnished with cilantro, crushed peanuts and fried garlic, but overall felt like eating a bunch of steamed rice paper. very little stuffing.
my bro said that he enjoyed the beef phở but felt that the portions were on the small side. I think it may be time to start checking out some phở options east of the 101.

This place was located inside an Asian mall. It was easy for my friends and I to find since we parked right across the street (our first time in LA). I’ll try to keep this review short and simple with detail of course. :)
First off, I would like to say that this place is really small. only a few tables inside. probably like 4 – 6 tables.
Secondly, the food was good. but what really irks me is the menu. There are only 2 phở options, and 2 more that I don’t remember. I ordered the chicken phở and the portion is about medium sized compared to other places. The drinks look pricey in my opinion. I wish they had more options for the food.
Third, customer service was a bit slow. but they were nice. I guess.
* You get a free beverage (soda or lemonade) with a check-​in on Unilocal!:)
Low stars due to menu. sorry :/

I am kinda disappointed by other Unilocalers… really…
This place was hard to find in the big, busy plaza in Chinatown.
It is a very rundown small restaurant with only 4 things on the menu.
The owner was extremely kind with fluent English.
But, we had better phở and Vietnamese food elsewhere in LA. Sorry.

I’ve been going to Hoan Kiem when they only had two items on their menu, the banh cuon and phở ga.
Service is friendly, and the food has been consistently authentic, fresh, and healthy.
Get the banh cuon and the phở ga; for those with a more adventurous palate, try adding a side of gizzard /​liver in the phở.
Hainam chicken is decent, the same free range chicken are used as in the phở ga.
I’d stick with the chicken dishes. I recently tried the Phở Tai. The broth was light and not filled with MSG, which I liked. Besides that, they give you the same sides as the chicken phở, the meat were sparse and overcooked. Quite underwhelming.

Hoan Kiem is located next to Ten Ren’s Tea Time in the shopping plaza. The place is tiny! There are only a handful of tables. This place is definitely worth returning for and I’ll have to try their banh cuon which I’ve been hearing so much about.
Food:
It’s not your typical Phở for the following reasons:
1) The noodles are wider, which I prefer over the skinny noodles found at most Phở joints.
2) There were thicker pieces of steak that were much softer than your typical phở places. The meat quality was noticeably better, so the phở was costs a few dollars more, which I’m willing to pay for the quality difference.
3) The broth was savory and tasted cleaner. It didn’t feel like there was ton of MSG in it. Also, the server who dropped off our bowls of soup didn’t have their thumbs in it which was a plus. It might’ve taken away from that flava tho…
Drink:
1) Lemonade was delicious! It definitely wasn’t the kind you find at the soda fountains.
Service:
The staff and the owner were very nice. It felt like they were welcoming me into their house.
Parking:
There are minimal spots for street parking

ummm… how did they place get anything above 2 stars? When LA is pretty much made up of Vietnamese people, how did this place get this many stars?
menu is extreme small, extremely I think there are only like 6 items.
but overall wasn’t that great. sorry wont come back.

I have been coming here since I was a wee child when my parents first introduced me to banh cuon. I have, since then, been thoroughly addicted. Banh cuon is always like a treat to me and I begged my parents to go to Chinatown to get it for me until I was able to drive myself there. Now, every now and again, I’ll go ahead and make a trip out there myself or with friends and family to enjoy this delicious dish.
Hoan Kiem is in the shopping center with the ginseng store — I believe it’s a Wing Hop Fung — and it’s been there for ages. Sometimes there’s a wait and sometimes there isn’t. Their menu is very simple, three dishes. That’s up 1 from the 2 that I remember when I was 8.
My aunt is a fan of the phở, she likes the simplicity of it. Me? I have always loved the banh cuon. It comes out piping hot, the noodles are thin and light and the meat is very flavorful. I pour on the fish sauce and just nom nom nom away. This is my absolute favorite spot to get banh cuon!
I believe this place is cash only but it’s so worth the trip to the ATM.

I went by this small Phở place for the first time on Chinatown’s biggest day of the year, the Golden Dragon Parade. Its one of two Phở places in Chungshan Plaza, and I chose this one because it had a table available, which we had to share. Because it was the only place I encountered without the lines, I walked in a grabbed a seat. After the parade was over, it soon got to be really crowded with crowds waiting anxiously to get a table. The owner was really nice and attentive and could speak both Viet and Chinese, and he immediately recognized me as a new customer LOL! Becuase of that, he checked up on us more than once to see if everything tasted ok.
What we ordered was the Hainan Chicken Rice and Phở Tai. The Hainan Chicken Rice was fresh and neat with the chicken cooked in spices and having the right color, and with the rice shaped like a bowl. The Phở Tai was nothing to write about since they make it like most other Phở places do. But I the place credit for not being to stingy on meat inside my phở and using a tasty beef-​infused flavored broth. Every meal I think includes a tangy lemon-​water drink (or maybe the owner was being nice to new customers like me).

Great northern Vietnamese style phở! Thick rice noodles with chicken broth. Not what you normally think of when you think phở, but definitely a great bowl of noodles!
Service is great. It is located just behind Ten Ren in one of the buildings in Chinatown on the 1^st floor.

There’s something to be said for simplicity. In true in-​n-​out fashion, this place has a very limited menu, but does those things right.
I’ve tried:
bun cuon– one of the better bun cuons i’ve had
phở ga– thick noodles FTW! good noodles, and good flavor
hainam chicken– its aight. you can’t really go wrong with hainam chicken, and this place doesn’t go wrong. but its a tiny portion
So in a nutshell, i’ve pretty much had their menu =)
Good food, good prices, and super nice folks there.
Parking sucks, like anywhere in Chinatown. $ 5 parking rubs me the wrong way, but then again, its LA. And its not Hoan Kiem’s fault

A tiny, clean hole-​in-​the wall in Chinatown serving basically three things: chicken, rice rolls, and phở (served with thick rather than the standard thin vermicilli you find everywhere else). Everything is fresh, tasty, and very inexpensive (no msg in the broth either). Great service, too!
Cash only.

To sum it up, it was over-​hyped, overpriced and under-​seasoned.
We got the 3 main items on their menu:
Com Ga Hai Nam
Phở Ga
Banh Cuon
The chicken rice was ok but the rice was a bit hard. The chicken phở was bland and boring. We were convinced that we’d be full after getting those items but nope, the portions were pretty small for a Vietnamese/​Chinese place so we ended up getting the Banh Cuon too. $ 25 is kind of steep for a total hole-​in-​the-​wall. This place would not survive in the SGV.
On the positive side, the owners were super friendly. They asked how we found their restaurant and smiled when we told them Unilocal.The only thing that I thought was kind of weird was that the owners seated a party of 3 at at the same table where a single diner was already sitting. He had no idea what was going on and looked really uncomfortable to be sitting with a bunch of strangers.
It was an ok meal but reinforces my belief that there’s no good food in Chinatown.

A well made Banh Cuon is as hard to find as Rick Perry’s intelligence. Ok, that might be a bit of an exaggeration as Perry’s intelligence is non existent. Anyhow, I digress. The Banh Cuon here is perfect. Its made fresh to order with just the right amount of pork and mushrooms, sticky rice paper, bean sprouts, fried shallots, cilantro, ham, and nuoc cham. In fact, this is only one of three salty items they serve on the menu. One of the other things is Phở Ga (chicken noodle soup). A well made Phở Ga is hard to find as. well you get the point. The broth was light and delicious, with the noodles being slippery and a perfect complement to the chicken.
The owners come out and chat with you and will even give you a quick history lesson of the origins of north vietnamese cuisine.
Basically, I totally dig this place.
Oh, and get the Café Su Da also. It tastes just like the ones I had in Da Lat, Vietnam.

Three items on the menu: chicken phở, chicken rice, and banh cuon.
My friends and I tried all three and everything was great. Definitely the most flavorful and fulfilling chicken phở I’ve ever had. Usually chicken phở is so bland but this one wasn’t. Maybe these low reviews were there on a bad day? Add a little ginger and a little siracha and it’s so good.
The banh cuon was the best I’ve had outside of Vietnam, (although I haven’t tried every option in Little Saigon so I’m sure there’s something better out there) but I WILL be back for it. Almost got a plate to go. The chicken rice was pretty standard.
The owner/​server (not sure) was super sweet and was curious how we heard about the place and showed us pictures of her hometown in Vietnam. So cute. She was really excited we had come and told us that on weekends they serve beef phở as well (which I want to try the next time I’m there…). I really like this place!

To date, there are sixty-​one out of possible seventy-​three Unilocalers who gave this Chinatown restaurant 4– and 5-​star ratings. They specialize in Northern Vietnamese cuisine and offer a limited menu. The tiny, antiquated décor is a pure hole in the wall with moderate lighting, six tables, and food photography to fill the walls. The foot traffic was sporadic past lunch hours, and the idea of getting boba at Ten Ren next door was too good to pass up.
Fellow Unilocaler Julia V and I started off with Banh Cuon ($ 5.95) that came with silky layers of rice crêpe rolled flat with ground pork, mushrooms, sprinkles of green onion, fried shallots, and thin cuts of steamed pork arranged on the perimeter of the plate. The quality of the crêpe was good, but the price was steep for Banh Cuon. The steamed pork was also cut thinner than expected, and the fish sauce desperately needed full-​on flavor. I was pleased about the overall freshness but I wasn’t blown away by it.
The next thing we tried was their signature Phở Ga ($ 5.95). It arrived in a decent size bowl with small pieces of hand pulled chicken, rice noodles, and clear broth. Some reviewers raved about the authenticity of this dish, but the overall flavor was too «clean» to have street cred. The chicken wasn’t as flavorful as expected, and the broth was missing all the aromatic flavors. Unfortunately, the side plate of veggies wasn’t accompanied by the essential herbs. For a comparison, the Phở Ga at Turtle Tower is far more robust, flavorful, aromatic, and authentically came with quail eggs, chicken hearts, gizzards, and other innards to make it count.
Service was friendly and hands off after the food arrived at the table. The overall flavor was bland and not as excitable as advertised. Maybe I’m the only Unilocaler left that despises the idea of «clean» phở. The experience was decent and not amazing. Not sure what the hype is all about. 2.5 stars for the experience.

Best Phở and quaintest little Vietnamese place in downtown. I’ve already been back twice and the waitress remembered me. Made me feel good.
Their Phở selection is limited and the menu is only a few items, but it is all good. I got the Phở Ga and the iced coffee. Was sitting there the first time when a couple of friends came by specifically to eat here and surprised me. They both had the Bahn Cuon. Good stuff.
Parking in this area is not good, but there are lots close by at a price. Park and wander around after.

Found this place through Unilocal and thought we’d give it a try since it was probably the only restaurant in Chinatown with close to 5 stars.
At first, we couldn’t find the restaurant. We knew we were in the right plaza but couldn’t find hoan kiem. Turns out, it’s tucked away in the back of the plaza. Right next to TEN REN tea.
Since we were pressed for time, we wanted to order take out for the road. They only have three things on their menu so we opted for the hainan chicken & rice as well as the banh cuon.
The noodles was the bomb! You can tell the rice noodles are freshly made since it wasn’t overly hard and oily. But i felt they could’ve put a little more filling inside there was so little I felt like I was just stuffing my face with rice noodles.
As for the hainan chicken & rice, there were only about 4 pieces of chicken and about half a flat take out box full of the special rice. Omfg was the rice good! The rice was so flavorful, every bite made me want more! However, the rice was a bit too soggy for my liking. The rice seemed like it was cooked with too much water.
As for the chicken, I liked how it was boneless (I hate picking out the bones!) but the flavor was only okay. I’ve definitely had better at other establishments.
For a place that only specialized in three menu items, I expected more out of them. I’ll definitely be back for the rice noodles but I’ll pass on the hainan chicken next time.

Been here at least 3 – 4 times already for lunch. The phở ga (chicken phở) is great with a nice presentation and great taste. They only have 3 items in the menu: phở ga, Bánh cun, and chicken rice. The Bánh cun, which is basically vietnamese crêpe roll, is soft and taste great with the sauce they give you.
Pro: quick, easy, clean and tasty phở
Con: only opens till 4pm so pretty much lunch is the only time you can come here. No beef phở.