GoGo noodles

Today was a sad day. I don’t often meet a noodle that I don’t like….but unfortunately, I met one today. Excited to try somen for the first time and intrigued by the word “fresh” on the label, I had high hopes for this noodle. When I opened the lid, I was delightfully surprised to find a vacuumed sealed package of what looked like rice noodles (so this is what they meant by “fresh”!) and a seasoning packet. As soon as the hot water hit the seasoning, the savory scent of bonito wafted up my nostrils. The noodles turned out tasting like mushy rubberbands which was a bummer because the soup was pretty tasty. The flavor of the broth was on the milder side as with most bonito soups and had hints of seaweed and green onion. The huge bowl is misleading because the actual serving size of the noodles are teeny! Even for me! Bit of a disappointment…perhaps it was user error?

(1 votes, average: 1.00 out of 5)

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This is the best bun bo hue ever. And good bun bo hue is so hard to find because, first, there aren’t a lot of restaurants that serve this and second, there aren’t a lot of restaurants that make this well. We were first introduced to this place by a good friend. He sold us on the fact that this restaurant only served 1 item on the menu. We figured the food must be good to open a restaurant for just one item. So there are 2 food items on the menu and sometimes 3. You can order regular bun bo hue or bun bo hue with ngau pin (cow penis). They sometimes serve pho and it’s on a while supplies last basis. I love everything about the bun bo hue here….the broth is full of complex flavors, spicy and has a clean, fresh taste. The noodles are soft and chewy.

Bun Bo Hue An Nam
740 Story Road
San Jose, CA 95122
(408) 993-1211

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Raw and cooked Shanghainese noodles.






I’m not even sure how to describe the flavor of this. No idea what’s in the sauce. As I was getting ready for work this morning I ran into anthony’s mother rummaging through the pantry looking for the other jar of Chinese spaghetti sauce. Chinese spaghetti sauce? I didn’t realize there was such a thing. I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me…it kind of makes sense…why not? Spaghetti did originate from China after all, why not have sauce to go with it? When I got home from work I walked into the kitchen and found the sauce simmering on the stove. I think she added ground pork to the sauce but not sure because I was too excited to try Chinese spaghetti that I forgot to ask her. She instructed me to top the Shanghainese noodles with the sauce, bean sprouts, green onions and sambal olek if I wanted spice. The noodles were perfect, kind of like mini udon. How do I describe the sauce? It was like spaghetti bolognes without the tomatoes and a little spicy. There were bits of soy and other stuff that I couldn’t figure out. The flavor was very concentrated so the green onions and bean sprouts balanced it out and added another dimension of texture. If you can find a jar of Chinese spaghetti sauce in your local asian foods market, I would recommend trying it. Why not?

(1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

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Okay, don’t laugh but this was my attempt to make Laotian rice noodle soup. I realize now that the noodles are a wee bit thicker than it’s supposed to be….but considering that this was my second time making the noodles from scratch, I was happy that these turned out edible. The ingredients (rice flour, tapioca starch and boiling water) are simple but making the noodles are a challenge. Aside from not cutting the noodles the right size, I don’t think I kneaded the dough for as long as I should have because the texture was a little off. Despite the sub par noodles, the broth came out pretty tasty and was also simple to make. I started by adding a whole stew chicken to a pot of water. If you don’t have a stew chicken, you can use thigh meat. Then ginger, a stalk of lemongrass goes in the pot and some salt. A neat little trick that I learned is to pound the stalk of lemongrass to release the aromas and tie into a knot before you add to the stock. Bring the liquid to a boil and simmer for 2-3 hours. The longer the better. So simple but soo good.

(1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

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