Anh Hong Saigon — Restaurant in Milpitas

The first time I came here must have been over 10 years ago. I don’t think the items changed, but prices must have gone up through inflation.

The first course was the house special beef salad. The beef was scarce or so minced that some folks thought it was chicken or pork. It was quite refreshing, but felt that the beef disappeared. The second course was the lukewarm pot shaba-shabu style. The heat was low and took a while to cook the rare beef. Not that the beef needed to be well cooked. The idea of this was nice, but the reality was different.

Then came the heavy weights and probably the stars of the 7-course beef: One plate that had steamed beef patties, beef sausages, beef rolls and beef wrapped in leaves. With the 2 kinds of fish sauce (one that looked almost nasty but packed a punch of shrimp paste) as dip, these four different beef items were delicious. The dipping of the rice paper and adding veggies and meat to create the wrap was fun initially, but I got lazy later on. The staff forgot about the last course until we asked - the beef porridge. The porridge was flavorful, but I had only one thin beef strip in it.

We also heard that the cat fish was good so we got a medium one. I’m not a cat fish person, but I felt it was tasty enough. I was lucky to try this dish as we had a huge group. Overall, not a bad meal, but for the salad and the porridge, beef was an after-thought. They could have replaced the beef with another meat and it would not have made much difference. I gave this place 3.5 stars. The service was lacking since it was a busy Saturday night. A few people had asked for chili sauce 2-3 times, but it never came. Since we had 10 people, the service fee was automatically added at 20%. With a required 20% fee, I expected better service. Thus, rounded down to 3 stars. It’s good to try it once, but probably don’t need to...

This is not your typical Vietnamese place where you get a bowl of noodle soup.

This place serve ‘Bo Bay Mon’ aka seven courses of beef for a prix price. You can exchange 1 course with no extra cost.

This is also a very hands on place where you have to make your own wraps/rolls, just like Mushu pork but with rice paper, your choice of rice noodles (optional as this is a side dish) your choice of protein and veggies/herbs.

Beef salad Beef Fondue Beef Meatloaf Grilled Beef Sausage Grilled Beef wrapped in Betel Leaves Grilled beef rolled aka. Onions in a blanket Beef porridge

We usually change the #1 with #5 and it was always a hit. But #5 let us down this time. The Betel leaves had no flavor whatsoever. I think we will change #1 with #7 next time we visit.

It is fun if you go in groups of 2 or more.

Tip #1, if you have a group of 4, order the BBM for 3, then get an order of Cho Gio Anh Hong ‘V egg rolls’ and/or Chao Tom ‘grilled shrimp wrapped in Sugarcane’ or both. Your belly will thank you for this. Chao Tom only comes in 3 pieces but they are big. You can cut it into multiple strips to share, plus, it is much easier to wrap too.

Tip #2, order a side dish of either Bun ‘thin rice noodles’ or Banh Hoi ‘superfine rice noodles’ or both for your wraps.

Tip #3, they offer 2 sauces, regular seasoned fish sauce and seasoned fermented fish sauce. I highly recommended the fermented fish sauce. It’s all about the sauce that makes...

This unique Vietnamese restaurant is nestled in between Tofu House and Jang Su Jang, and in the same shopping mall as several other restaurants and a grocery store, meaning parking is increasingly challenging on weekends (business has clearly picked up in the last few years!). The restaurant itself is moderately sized, with simple but clean decor, and seating doesn't feel too cramped. It was packed on a Sunday night, so reservations are recommended. I've had Bo 7 Mon, their signature 7-course beef, which is delicious and unique. It includes La Lot, which I love. Another of my personal favorites, the beef rice porridge, is like Chinese congee with a soup base that's slightly richer and more savory than pho broth, and has ginger --- perfect on a cold night! I also tried their claypot with mushroom, chicken, and shrimp. Shrimp was small and slightly over cooked, but the flavor of the chicken/shiitake mushroom/rice combination was wonderful. Service was sufficient and efficient. I'll be...