I came here during lunch period per the recommendation of my colleague. I've had Pho a lot, but…read morethis place was special bc the Pho broth wasn't necessarily too heavy and the food was just enough with an appetizer! I think if a person with a bigger appetite would still be satisfied since there's free refills of noodles! I particularly loved the butter garlic fried chicken. SO delicious! If you haven't tried it I would recommend getting it, I thought it was better than the Pho even though the Pho was still good. Lastly, the customer service is great (a rarity when you eat at a popular Asian restaurant in hong kong). The staff is very courteous and thoughtful. I also really enjoyed how at the bottom of the menu they give "priority to pregnant ladies" for seating, I believe. The average price spent here per person is $100, and for good quality food in Central that's pretty rare. Tip: Beat the lunchtime crowd by arriving at 11:45.

Review of my visit in Nov 2018:…read more A Bowl of Pho to Remember, by Chua Lam, celebrated writer and food critic based in Hong Kong. I am a snob when it comes to Vietnamese food (or Asian food in general..) and I enjoyed my bowl of pho at Chua Lam's. It is located on Wellington Street, Hong Kong's Michelin-Star Mile, along with numerous other popular restaurants. During rush hours, you always see a long line outside the restaurants and according to the reviews on FB and Open Rice, you may not get the most out of this restaurant if you do not have the luxury of time. I went shortly before noon and was quickly seated on a table with tall stools. As I was taking my time to study the menu, most of the previously vacant seats were filled, including the ones at my table - sharing table with strangers in Hong Kong is the strangest thing to foreigners but also the most natural thing for locals. I was left alone while waiting for my friend - which is a terrible thing to do to a business that has to pay premium rent. If you don't believe me, go to Mak's noodle - you'd be asked at least 5 times whether you are ready to order if you haven't made up your mind within 60 seconds, be sure to avoid eye contact with the ferocious servers if you are indecisive like me. We ordered three dishes: Beef Pho, Fried Shrimp Steak and Cold Vermicelli. The portion of every dish was ginormous, which was a pleasant surprise given that everything in Hong Kong is kid's meal size of what you would get in the US. Beef Pho ($68 HKD) was a solid 5, came with bean sprouts, fresh herbs, raw beef and beef balls. Beef bone broth was clear, not very greasy, and has a pleasantly refreshing and sweet taste to it. It feels very comforting drinking the broth and we finished every last drop of it. According to the menu, it takes overnight to make the broth. The noodles were delectable and made fresh inside the kitchen with free refill! The proteins were good, according to my friend as I am not a big fan of anything other than the actual beef. If you are feeling adventurous, there's a Special Beef Pho that you could order which includes "all parts from a cow" including raw beef, shank, brisket, beef ball, tribe and pizzle (yup, cow's penis). Fried Shrimp Steak ($78 HKD) was mind blowing: as we get older, we get pickier and don't get easily impressed. - generous portion, fried just right with golden color, moist, springy and bouncy. Cold Vermicelli ($68 HKD) was delicious, but not outstanding. It's a good dish to order if you don't care for warm soupy noodles. This was one of the better meals that I had in Hong Kong with quality and fresh ingredients, efficient and yet friendly service. Overall, it was very enjoyable.

I am currently based in Hong Kong for the spring semester for a business school exchange. I love…read moreCantonese food to my heart, but I definitely was afraid I wouldn't be able to find semi-authentic Vietnamese food if I had the cravings. I was wrong when I found Nha Trang in Tsim Sha Tsui. Nha Trang is surprising a local favorite as the queue times can be to upwards of 25-30 minutes for a two person table. When we were given our seats, I reviewed the beautiful menu and saw the fish sauce bottle and know that this was truly a Vietnamese restaurants. There were many dishes that I do not typically see offered when I am in the states such as Hanoi skewer and imported Saigon beer. The prices for the dishes are standard of TST and on par with U.S. We ordered the pho tai ga, bun thit nuong, crispy banh xeo, Hanoi skewer, and two imported Saigon beers. For the most part, these dishes were decent and definitely a step above other Vietnamese Hong Kong based chains. I love the broth of the pho. It reminded me of home and definitely satisfied me with the clear and simple flavor. The bun was interesting as it is not the noodles that I typically see in this dish. It was good nonetheless. The banh xeo was okay... a bit expensive as it was $7 USD for one banh xeo. And lastly, the hanoi skewers were very delicious when wrapped with the herbs and dipped into the fish sauce. Overall, I agree with other Yelpers that Nha Trang Restaurant is the closest thing to Vietnamese food in Hong Kong. Enjoy!

Nha Trang 芽莊 In a…read moreweekend evening, we were in line waiting for seats from both Nha Trang and Pizza Express located in Harbour city, side by side, in the same floor. It took 15 mins to get seats from Pizza express (we cancelled), instead continued to wait for Nha Trang until 30 mins. If you are first time visitor to HK, this is good place that you can shop and eat inside Harbour City. About the food, frankly, this is a beautiful fast food, you will be asked to check within 1.5 hour or less. It seems all food are ready in Kitchen, then, order, reheat, deliver, and check. If you don't have much expectation on food, the sea view is amazing! You should come and see but I will go pizza express next time. Thank you for reading:)

This place doesn't seem like it's very popular but don't let the exterior fool you. There's not…read moremuch of a wait outside during dinner but it was packed inside so the food took a little longer than usual. The food here is seriously delicious and worth your time and money. My friends and I ordered their curry beef stew, beef pho, king prawn, and their lemongrass fish (forgot the name of it). The best part of the curry was the garlic bread that comes with it. You're not able to order the garlic bread as a side order so it's worth trying with the curry. The pho bowl was huge and it's meant to shared with 2 individuals but with the 3 of us, we still couldn't finish it. The king prawn was out of this world! I've never seen or tasted prawns of that size and it kind of reminded me of lobster meat. The fish was decent but nothing amazing. It takes a while for the fish to warm up and you'll have to flip it because one side will be hot and the other will still be cold. Overall, I enjoyed my meal here and it was definitely something to experience since I haven't tried anything of the sort here in LA.

Came here after playing ball & had afternoon tea. It was great. The Phó & drink was HK$52. The pho…read morewas light and fresh. Not made ahead of time like other places. This is a chain so I will start looking out for it. If it's not too late in the day, I will do the Viet drip coffee. I'm coming back.

Brand new pho place in Central still in its soft opening phase, as I understand it. I read about…read moreit on a food blog and knew I had to try it! Their big delicious bowl of rare steak pho is $68 (I think... wow I am sucking at this review already!!). And get this -- the rare steak is FILET MINON. Ooooohhhh my goodness it is so tender it practically melts in your mouth, and they do not skimp on it!! In addition to rare steak they offer the other usual pho offerings -- beef balls, tripe, tendon, etc. I opted for rare steak and beef ball with cilantro and onion, and a yummy ice lemon tea that came in a cute mason jar. The service was great, and after the owner or manager saw that had waited for my food what apparently to him was too long, he took the drink off my bill. How nice! I hadn't complained -- or to be honest, really been sitting there THAT long -- so I thought that was really nice! Next time I go I am definitely trying their spring rolls. They looked delightfully crispy. They also had chicken wings and garlic fries -- both looked amazing! I concentrated on the pho for this trip :) Hidden up Li Yuen St behind the stalls, so keep an eye out!

I am been searching for a decent pho place in HK and having lived in Los Angeles for a long time, i…read moream very picky when it come to vietnamese. A friend of mine recommended this place and if you are looking for a quick bite for lunch or even dinner, this is the place to go. Their steak pho and fried chicken wings are amazing. Must try ! you won't be disappointed.

I had been scouring Hong Kong for good Vietnamese fare. This restaurant was just the place to help…read moresatiate my Vietnamese food cravings. I don't know how I decided to eat here for the first time (whether it was a recommendation from a policy coworker that would serve as a gleaming recommendation, or noticing a Vietnamese restaurant named after a famous beach town), but I enjoy trying Viet food in non-Viet areas whenever I can (think outside of Vietnam or Vietnamese community centers). Of all the Vietnamese restaurants in Hong Kong I have tried so far, the food at this restaurant tastes closest to what I remember eating as a child, which is Vietnamese food made by Vietnamese people for Vietnamese people. Mind you, I was based in New Territories, so it's not as internationally oriented as Hong Kong Island is, so options are limited. If you're in New Territories and want to taste more traditional Vietnamese food, this place holds promise. I've tried their com tam, bánh cuon, bún bò Hue, bánh xèo, and bún riêu. These are all safe things for me to order, as they're all dishes that I've grown up eating. The fish sauce of course is the key element of flavoring to many of these dishes (the non soup noodle dishes), so don't forget to add the fish sauce!

While this isn't the best Vietnamese food I've ever had in my life, this is definitely good…read moreVietnamese food at very reasonable prices. To start off, make sure you get the coffee -- it packs quite a punch and is not too sweet. If you're visiting from the United States or Canada, you'll instantly notice that there's many more dishes than the Pho, Bun, and Banh Mi -- which are really the only widely available dishes you'll find in North America. There's still a definite influence from French cooking on the other available dishes, but I would recommend venturing out of your comfort zone and definitely trying something spicy or some grilled meats. For something a little different but familiar, I would give the rice paper salad rolls and vermicelli cake a try. Overall, a nice place to visit for fresh, light Vietnamese food.

Old Chiu Vietnamese. I don't know who old Chiu is but it sounds like an over seas Chinese guy in…read moreVietnam and he moves back it HK. That my story & I'm sticking to it. Any way, this HK version of Vietnamese is not bad. Been here a few times (along with Mings Kitchen down the street) and this is regular place after playing back in KL Park.

Some of the best food we have had in HK (yes I know this is Vietnamese). Good prices, fast service…read moreand friendly staff.

Still love the pomelo salad and raviolis. The pork belly this time was a plus. Wish i still lived…read morein Hong so I can come here more often. With so many great dishes here, I would not restrict myself to just having the pho.

After a failed attempt at getting Bún bò Hue (BBH) at Nha Trang in TST, I manage to convince my…read morefriend to go to the Nha Trang in Times Square instead, much to my friend's opposition to Causeway Bay crowds... It wasn't too bad, a fairly tame 'crowd' on a Friday night... No lines thankfully, as we arrive fairly late - almost 9:20pm - for dinner. We decide to share the Spicy Hue Beef Noodle Soup (Bún bò Hue), the Pork and Shrimp Spring Rolls (Cha Gio), and the Cold Vermicelli Bowl with Grilled Lemongrass Pork Cutlet (Bun Xuong Nuong). Within 5 minutes of placing our order, a steaming hot bowl of BBH comes out. "THIS?!" we shout out loud at the same time and burst into simultaneous peals of laughter. It does not look like the BBH we are used to seeing in Southern California --- which, for your information, is supposed to be bright deep orange in color, with LOTS of thin beef shank slices, thick round noodles, and a cube (or two) of congealed pork blood (ha, not for everyone...). We call over the waitress to double check, "Is this the Bun Bo Hue?" I ask. "Yes, number 409 right?" she confirms. Okay okay, here comes the taste test. I kid you not, it was spicy. Perhaps my taste buds have subsided in their resistance to spices ever since leaving California (where bottles of Sriracha, Cholula, Tabasco, Tapatio were the norm for any college student). Was it that soul-searching, soul-satisfying, soul-edifying bowl of BBH we were looking for? Ehhh...to fulfill our BBH craving, I'm afraid not. But it was a solid bowl of noodles, nevertheless. We'll have to keep looking, even if it means scourging the entire HK territory for this special BBH. But hey, that means more food adventures! And who doesn't like those? I don't consider myself an expert at Vietnamese cuisine (although I absolutely love its intricacies and multitudes of flavors), so to avoid making a fool of myself, my friend demonstrates how to eat the spring rolls with lettuce leaves -- break off some basil and mint leaves, dip or douse your spring roll in nuoc cham (Vietnamese fish sauce), and assemble your roll with the lettuce as your wrap. The vermicelli bowl with pork was quite refreshing (think of it as a summer salad with fish sauce as the dressing) and provided a nice balance against the spicy BBH. Overall, the meal was healthy and very filling!

Wow..I wasn't expecting to enjoy eating here as much as I did. The restaurant is not easy to find…read moreand is hidden in an alley in between central and Sai Ying pun. It is totally worth the effort to come here though. This is definitely my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Hong Kong. You won't find the typical pho and lemon grass pork chop at most Vietnamese restaurants. The menu is small and tight and focused on a modern take on Vietnamese food. Food: 4.5 stars Service/atmosphere: 4 stars Overall: 4.25 stars Recommendations: suckling pig, banh my tacos, cauliflower Let's start with my favorite dish here, which is the suckling pig. The pig is moist, succulent and the skin is crispy. It is paired with a home made siracha sauce which is more heat forward and has less sweetness than the famous American brand. The dish is also paired with a mixture of fresh herbs (cilantro, Thai basil, and mint). This is everything I like about Vietnamese food in one plate. The most famous dish here is the banh mi rice flour tacos. Each bite is packed with flavor and you get a bit of sweet, sour, acid, and fat in each bite. Honestly doesn't really taste like banh mi but who cares the dish is really good. The cauliflower dish is also highly recommended. It is paired with a caramelized pork sauce and pork floss. Surprisingly the pork floss paired well with the cauliflower. Pairing with the housemate nuoc cham really makes this dish. Really delicious!

We found this place randomly walking through the backstreets of sheung wan. The location is really…read morepeculiar. Down a small ally for foot traffic only, down some stairs and into a dead end. The meal was pretty good. Even though we're more traditionalists when it comes to Asian cuisine, the quality was still good. The beef cheeks were soft and tender. Same with the octopus. The sauce they were in was quite tasty as well. Not traditional items but good nonetheless. We also had the banh xeo, kind of a Vietnamese omelette / crepe / pancake kinda thing. Didn't love that one. The sauce wasn't great. The banh xeo was crispy but not as crispy as we like it. Good choice of restaurant though if you're looking for a mondern spin on some Vietnamese dishes. Or just good quality, modern food at a good price. Taste: *** Service: *** Ambiance: *** ------------------------------ Nhau 12 Circular Pathway, Central, Hong Kong ------------------------------