Hippo Noodle House — Restaurant in Sydney

A lovely little restaurant tucked away in the backyard of a home in Lidcombe. Very popular (place was packed when we came for lunch), so would highly recommend calling/texting ahead of time to reserve a spot.

Menu was small and focused (love the approach of do a few things but do them well), the space was sunny and clean, and the service was so friendly and welcoming.

Ordered the papaya salad with beef jerky (very tasty, with the jerky lending a nice deep meaty flavour), and the bun bo (which was bright and sour, lots of lemongrass came through — broth was not as deep as I would’ve liked, but the cuts of meat were super tender and generous) for food.

For drinks we had the iced coffee (super flavourful and unique serving method — would’ve liked a bit more volume though), and the 3 coloured dessert drink (perfect level of sweetness; could really taste the peanuts with the red bean).

Overall definitely recommend, will be back to try more of the dishes!

Taste 8/10 Quality 10/10 — ingredients were super fresh Price 8/10 — portions were generous, but wouldn’t say this was the cheapest Vietnamese lunch (came to $60+ for 2 people) Setting 10/10 — loved this, so...

Seems they’re bun bo hue specialty restaurant. As a bun bo hue lover, it was hard not to order when I saw this restaurant in Ubereats.

The soup is rich in herb scent, medium thick and it's a bit sweet. Vermicelli noodles were dry and it wasn’t soft(like uncooked noodle)… When I first took a bite, I thought the noodles were not boiled enough so I cooked them in the microwave for few minutes but the texture of the noodles didn't change. It was typically a taste that went into and out of the refrigerator. Also they have housemade special sate sauce but it wasn't very impressive for me. (Marrickville, Khon has a best sate sauce in Sydney)

The ingredients for bun bo hue noodles in this restaurant are different from the ingredients that other restaurants usually put in It doesn't have blood jelly and viet pork sausage, pork trotter… but they put in lots of beef tendons and bork bone meat instead. they didn't give me any bean sprouts or cabbage on the side due to current shortage of lettuce and herbs. I think this is being very cheap with food because I can see cabbage and bean sprouts anywhere in the store with fair price tag on it. There was no hoisin sauce or sriracha...

I came here today with my in laws and partner to try out this local joint that has been popping up on my news feed.

Their vermicelli noodle salad and tapioca seafood noodle dish particularly left positive impressions. Their portions are generous and broth is clean (no hints of msg or artificial enhancers which is the way I personally prefer my dishes). I will definitely order the the vermicelli noodle salad over and over.

They have a cosy set up, clean environment and wonderful hospitality from both the owners and the staff, whom quiet clearly work very hard. Service was a little slow unfortunately and there is definitely room for improvement in that area but very happy to see a small family business trying to venture out especially after the pandemic.

We sadly overheard people complaining (and leaving 1 star reviews) for Hippo Noodle House not opening at 11am (they opened 11:10-11:15am from memory) and another for not taking walk ins. I can't believe how petty and unreasonable people are. We knew to book in advance from their website but maybe if Hippo Noodle House could make it clearer on their website to avoid any...