Lotus is the newly minted name for this Vietnamese restaurant – but the full name is Lotus, the Place for Pho Lovers. We’ll stick to Lotus for the brevity of this post!
I started off with some rocket fuel aka Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk. One of my favourite ways to enjoy coffee (when I do drink it, that is). It was good, strong and not too bitter with the condensed milk. A bit darker than most places, but that isn’t a bad thing.
We ordered Pho Tai Nam (Steak and Flank) to start us off, a large was good to share between us (with our other food). The broth was nice and light, not too greasy and the steak was pretty good. There was a good amount of meat and lots of noodles.
We also ordered the fried chicken wings, they were nice and crispy, tender on the inside. It’s served with a slightly spicy red sauce that had kind of a fish sauce and sriracha type taste to it.
We also ordered fried roll with ground pork, glass noodles and veggies inside served with a side of fish sauce. Nice and crunchy with enough on the inside.
Finally, we shared a grilled pork chop with julienned pork and an egg on top of rice. The pork chop was good, not too salty and seemed pretty fresh in comparison to other Vietnamese places. My only gripe was that the egg looked premade some how – it was perfectly round and the yolk was smaller than usual.
Overall, I enjoyed my lunch here and the service is pretty fast. It’s not amazing service, but you aren’t expecting it to be when you go to a Vietnamese restaurant. The space is big and comfortable, we got to sit in a booth so we sat for a long while to catch up.