Pho Van Tuan

[jsibley]

I drove by the strip mall on the Belleville Turnpike in Belleville yesterday and noticed what appears to be a Vietnamese restaurant that hasn't opened yet.

The supermarket, East-West, in the mall isn't particularly good, but the restaurant looked like it might be authentic. No idea when it will open, and I don't remember the name (Viet something?).

[tommy]

wow. my first thought is that it had better pretty good to compete with little saigon in nutley. but if it's bigger, it might even get some overflow, since LS is so small.

good news though.

[Jason Perlow]

Rachel and I were driving down Belleville Ave and saw the above referenced Vietnamese restaurant. It is called Pho Van Tuan. Address is 61 1/2 Belleville Ave, Bloomfield NJ 07003. Phone 973-680-8440/8441. They offer delivery to a 5 mile radius.

Everything on the take out menu is priced between $3.25 and $6.95 and is mostly Vietnamese traditional stuff with some common Chinese dishes thrown in. There is a page on the in-house menu that is entirely Vietnamese (no translations) with some more expensive dishes. The waitress (part of the owning family?) said that she's translated that page but they didn't have any printouts available.

We had already had lunch, but we swung back to pick up the takeout menu and ordered some Goi Cuon (Spring Rolls, not the fried kind) just to try. Here they are:

[image place marker]

To be continued, we are now going to try the summer rolls.

[Rachel Perlow]

OK - good summer rolls. At least as good or better than Little Saigon. We'll have to return to try other dishes. Jason's hoping for Caramel Chicken (maybe it's on the all Vietnamese page?).

[Rachel Perlow]

We're gonna check this place out tonight if anyone wants to join us.

[Rachel Perlow]

We went to Pho Van Tuan for dinner tonight. Conclusion: The food is cheap (total for 3 people, including tax & tip was $57) and the portions are therefore appropriately small, but the food is very good. We ordered a large assortment of dishes, including a few appetizers (the roast quail and sauteed beef cubes being the standouts), pho tai (tasty broth and fresh salad/condiments but little meat), Beef rolled with green onion over Rice Noodle (Bun), and Lemongrass (grilled) chicken over rice. I can see going there if you live in the area or when Little Saigon in Nutley is packed (which is frequently due to their small seating capacity). Since they deliver (sometimes, when they have extra help, like on the weekends), we'll probably be ordering from there when visiting our friends in the area. There is a language barrier, and we had trouble ordering some of the dishes from the all Vietnamese list, even though they had an English translation. They were out of a lot of what we tried to order. Apparently more choices are available on the weekends. Jason took some pictures, they should be posted soon.

[Jason Perlow]

Pho Van Tuan Traditional Vietnamese Restaurant

61 1/2 Belleville Avenue

Bloomfield, NJ 07003

Local Delivery: 973-680-8440

A couple things I want to add about this place -- the owner, Tony, explained to me that although they are from Vietnam, they are ethnically Han Chinese, which is why the regular menu has "Chinese" food items on it such as Chow Fun and Chow Mein (the soft stir fried noodle kind, not what we east-coasters know as Chow Mein) and Egg Foo Young. However, according to Tony all the "Chinese" items on the menu exhibit Vietnamese flavors, such as their "Young Chow" fried rice and other stir-fried dishes like Beef and Broccoli and Chicken with Cashew nuts, so do not dismiss them offhand.

They have a "regular" Vietnamese menu that has about 120 items on it (which includes "Chinese" stuff interspersed with the Vietnamese dishes), plus a "special" Vietnamese menu with about 72 items on it which includes weird Bourdainy-offaly stuff on it (stuff like deep-fried pigs intestine). I was able to take a high-resolution photo of one copy of the menu (click, large photo, 800K) which one of the owners had transcribed english translations on it -- all of the others are strictly in Vietnamese.

Diced beef cooked with "special sauce" appetizer

Beef Scallion Rolls with Banh noodle

Chicken Lemongrass over rice

Chicken Fried Rice (from another customer's table)

Pork fried rice, with LOTS of black pepper in it.

Pho Tai

BBQ Pork Roll

We think this might be the grilled shrimp paste rolls with sugar cane stick, we had some language barrier problems with the server. But it was tasty!

Roast Quail Appetizer

Unknown brand of Sriracha sauce from China. Seems to be a copy of the Huy Fong "rooster sauce".

Hatuey Beer bought from liquor store next door. Went great with the food.

A small shrine in front of our table where we watched 3 visiting Buddhist monks light candles and incense. They also blessed us a few times as well.

Edited August 19, 2003 by Jason Perlow (log)

[menton1]

How does this place compare to Saigon in Englewood? Is it worth the extra drive to Bloomfield? Looks a little different.

P.S. They have the same hot sauce bottles on the tables in Saigon Republic.

[Jason Perlow]

Saigon Republic uses "Rooster" or Huy Fong brand Sriracha. You can tell the difference because it has a picture of a rooster in front. There is also a "Flying Gull" brand. All of them look nearly identical. Huy Fong is manufactured in California, the stuff at this restaurant comes from China.

This place is TOTALLY different from Saigon Republic. Its a traditional pho-house type place like that you would find in Vietnam or in California. Despite Saigon Republic's name, K.T. makes Southeast Asian fusion cuisine, not traditional Vietnamese food. K.T's menu is also only about 1/6th the size of this place too, the dishes she makes are very specialized. The only things that are traditional on K.T's menus are the Phos and 2 of the appetizers, everything else are dishes she invented.

The food at this place is good, and its cheap. Most dishes arent more than $6.95. Don't expect any kind of atmosphere, its only slightly better than a chinese takeout place in that regard.

[tommy]

jason, the menu that you posted, i suppose that's just one section of it?

[Jason Perlow]

Yes, thats only the "special vietnamese menu" which is not normally translated.

[tommy]

regarding the pho, would you say it compares to little saigon's? all too often pho is way too lame, lacking that deep intense flavor that we all know and love. it's the benchmark.

[Jason Perlow]

regarding the pho, would you say it compares to little saigon's?  all too often pho is way too lame, lacking that deep intense flavor that we all know and love.  it's the benchmark. 

It was good, it passed the test.

[Rachel Perlow]

How does this place compare to Saigon in Englewood?  Is it worth the extra drive to Bloomfield?  Looks a little different.

I would say it is definitely not worth the drive if you like Saigon Republic. However, if you are in the area or are driving down to Little Saigon but they are full up, then it is worth checking out.

No tommy, the pho is just OK. The broth was good, but a little light in flavor, bean sprouts were fresh, plenty of herbs, light on the meat (we only had 1 sample of Pho Tai, rare sliced beef). It depends on what you're looking for in a Vietnamese place.

[Rachel Perlow]

Obviously, Jason and my opinions differ. Jon - what did you think of the pho?

[Jason Perlow]

I definitely think Saigon Republic's pho is better in the sense it has a deeper flavor. However, in no way does this place serve "bad" pho. In regards to the quantity of rare beef in it, it's only friggin $4.95. Its definitely better than the place in Ridgewood.

We'll definitely go back to this place when we are visiting our friends who live in Nutley.

[Rachel Perlow]

OK, that I can agree with.

[Jason Perlow]

Pho Van Tuan has closed and has been replaced by Binh Duong at the same location. Please see the discussion here:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=36469