Genuine Food & Travel Review

Nga Son is located on 10909 Yonge St, Richmond Hill in Toronto. The restaurant is part of the outdoor plaza. To my surprise, the interior as well as the quality of the food far exceed its modest exterior look. Let’s dive in to this hidden gem!

Historical Context

The feature dish that I would like to cover on this post is “Bun bo hue”. In the past whenever I go I typically go to a Vietnamese restaurant, I usually get “Pho” so I would like to try something different this time. This dish originated in the Hue City during the time of the Nguyen dynasty in the 16th century. At that time the city was famous for vermicelli or rice noodles. Since that time, the dish has gone through many alterations and improvements which ends up with the current version of the hot and spicy noodle soup that we now know today.

Picture Source: Wikipedia

Value & Vibe

Value: Overall great value for a large portion of noodles. This time I got a special dish that have both short ribs and beef flank therefore it is slightly more expensive. But the quality and the portion of the meat that I have received is well worth the value. Other than this dish a typical “pho” that I would get would range from $15-$18 (small to extra large). So I would say very affordable for the portion. The special bun bo hue that I ordered was $21.95 but I thought its worth it!

Vibe: Overall great atmosphere on the inside. Plenty of space. Well lit and decorated. The staff are also nice. Family friendly vibe.

Taste

I ordered Bun bo hue suon bo. This was my first time having bun bo hue and I went all in. AND I was not disappointed. This dish was LOADED with different meat. This dish contains short rib, beef flank, rib eye beef and homemade pork balls. They also gave me an extra rib 🙂 (Thank you!).

I honestly love the soup and the meat. It was a new flavor for me. I thought it was going to be thicker but its surprisingly lighter than my expectation. I thought it was a great soup base that is much spicier and richer than the typical “pho” but was not as thick as the curry-based dish that you may have imagined. The only thing that I would say is that I might not be the biggest fan of this type of noodle. Full transparency, I thought that the noodle was very well cooked, firm and not soggy. So I cant really complain on how well it was made but personally for me, I would prefer a flat style rice noodle. (This is just my personal preference). So my verdict on this dish would be I really enjoy the broth and the meat, but if I have an option to customize I would change the noodle to be the rice noodle flat type or eat it over rice.

We also ordered deep-fried spring roll. Nothing too special but the spring roll was well executed.

Score

Atmosphere: 8.5/10 (Great service. Thank you for the extra rib!)
Price: 8/10 (Great value)
Taste: 7.5/10 (Great food)

Scale:
Would not recommend: Below 2
Need some improvement: 3-5
Average: 5
Decent: 6
Great: 7
Excellent: 8
Outstanding 9+

Website: https://phongason.com/