By Tam Nguyen, Nguoi Viet
WESTMINSTER, Calif. – It’s not an authentic noodle restaurant unless you hear people slurping their noodles and soup before you have reached your table. The smell of the soup makes you even hungrier than before you came to the restaurant. An authentic noodle restaurant also reminds us of being at home in Vietnam or in the home of an authentic Vietnamese cook like my mom.
Banh canh thap cam at Banh Canh Que Anh & Que Em. Photo by Tam Nguyen/Nguoi Viet
So how about the noodle soup at Banh Canh Que Anh & Que Em, located at 14500 Brookhurst St.? The name itself is pretty catchy, meaning “noodle soup from our hometown.” The noodle soup is similar to udon noodles.
The restaurant has countless different kinds of soup, ranging from seafood to pork. It was hard to choose from the menu but, thank goodness, there is a bowl of soup that has bits of everything put into it.
Banh canh thap cam, or house special soup, has shrimp balls, squid paste, fish paste, boneless pork leg, chicken and beef balls. For the soup, diners can choose between thick and regular. It’s recommended to get the thick soup as it adds flavor to the noodle bowl.
The noodles were soft and just a bit thicker than udon noodles. The shrimp balls were amazing; it was like biting into three shrimps at once. The squid and fish paste had too much black pepper, and the black pepper hid the taste of the squid or fish.
The pork was tender and a bit salty, maybe because it was sitting in the soup. Same with the chicken: tender and salty. The beef balls were a bit cold. It was like they were in the refrigerator before dropping them into the bowl.
The soup was thick as it should be. I didn’t worry that the soup looked a bit yellow. That’s normal. The soup had bits of crab meat, and it was awesome. I didn’t realize I had slurped all the soup until my bowl was dry and only noodles remained.
Overall, I would give it three stars out of five. If the squid and fish paste didn’t have so much pepper, and the beef balls weren’t as cold, I would have liked it more.
For $10.95, it’s pricey for a bowl of noodles compared to most pho restaurants, where soup is about half the price. Don’t forget to bring cash. The restaurant does not accept credit cards.
