By Tam Nguyen, Nguoi Viet
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – On a chilly night in Little Saigon, many Vietnamese will eat a bowl of vermicelli soup, a bowl of pho or hot pot.
Beef soup with a side of rice at Red Flame. Photo by Tam Nguyen/Nguoi Viet
Red Flame, at 9762 Chapman Ave., in Garden Grove is a new place specializing in hot pot, just a few minutes away from Little Saigon. Each guest gets an individual pot, and it includes a bowl of rice or vermicelli. The hot pot comes out on a portable stove, and it stays flaming hot throughout the meal.
When I arrived at the restaurant on a cold night, the wait for a table was about 45 minutes. Be advised that it can get a bit crowded at times. On cold days, it gets pretty busy, and on warm days, less so.
The wait can give diners time to decide what to order. There are 10 soup selections on the menu, and diners can choose the broth to be non-spicy, mild, hot or flaming hot (extra spicy).
The beef soup is one of the top choices, according to the waiter. I decided to order the beef soup, mild, and a bowl of rice.
It was nice for the waiter to mention it would be a while for the soup to be prepared. He said it would take about 15 or 20 minutes, but it didn’t took that long.
The pot came out boiling hot, and I thought it was hot enough, but the waiter lit the stove to keep it hot. The soup burned my tongue, but it tasted similar to the pho broth. The soup was a bit sweet and a little too spicy for me even though I ordered it mild.
The soup tasted even better with the bowl of rice. I actually finished the rice bowl before trying the rest of the soup.
There were plenty of beef slices and beef balls. The beef slices were still a bit rare, but it continued to cook in the soup. The meat was tender, and the beef balls were cut in half and stuffed with ground beef. The beef balls were soft and juicy from the soup.
Other than beef, the soup comes with corn, mushrooms, tomatoes, tofu, cabbage and vermicelli. Good thing I chose the side of rice instead.
And don’t worry about running out of soup. They will give you extra soup if needed at no charge. After I was done with the soup, the pot was still smoking hot, and the fire from the stove went out at the right time too.
Sure, it’s more expensive than pho, but at $10.95, it’s more filling than an extra-large bowl of pho.
In all, it’s a great place to warm up on cold days, but come early to beat the wait.
