We arrived a little bit before the lunch rush period and managed to find a table without too long of a wait. They've a different group of waiters now from a few years ago but the son is still doing the same things after all these years; directing people traffic, pointing instructions to the wait staff, occasionally taking food orders from customers and also dropping checks (bill in Malai). You almost never have to wait too long for your food. Their efficiency can sometimes be misinterpreted as 'sit you down and get you out the door in as little time as possible'. On the other hand, because of it's lack of ambiance, most customers usually come here to 'sit, order, eat and leave' anyways.
At a Chinese dinner table, silence is golden. Silence is a way of saying the food is so good it can't be any better. We eat while every dish is nice and warm and the soup is pipping hot. We chat after, over a hot cup of malau meat (type of Chinese tea) or during a card game of chor dai dee. This is how we do it. No pretense, certainly no political correctness conversations.
Bo Ky Pho
A place frozen in time; still in the same location, still the same signboard and still crowded after all these years. It's smack in the middle of Chinatown, a few shop lots to the right of one of the largest shops selling replica watches, handbags, Ralph Lauren polo's etc in the whole of the United States. You get a chance to put on a replica Rolex and walk around Chinatown like a 'tauge'. Seriously, on my first ever visit to Chinatown, Bo Ky Pho was the first restaurant I ate at, and I also bought my first replica Rolex here. Wallet empty never mind, gotta walk around in style
'Loe Soi Ngap'
A place frozen in time; still in the same location, still the same signboard and still crowded after all these years. It's smack in the middle of Chinatown, a few shop lots to the right of one of the largest shops selling replica watches, handbags, Ralph Lauren polo's etc in the whole of the United States. You get a chance to put on a replica Rolex and walk around Chinatown like a 'tauge'. Seriously, on my first ever visit to Chinatown, Bo Ky Pho was the first restaurant I ate at, and I also bought my first replica Rolex here. Wallet empty never mind, gotta walk around in style
Bo Ky's signature dish. The first thing you notice when you walk into the restaurant is this dish is practically on every table. It's braised duck in soy sauce and their own secret blend of herbs. The meat is amazingly tender and braising draws out most of the fat below the skin. The braised herby soy sauce is so tasty my favorite thing to do is have it with a side order of fluffy white rice. Where roast duck can be a tad gamey sometimes, especially the lean thigh meat, loe soi ngap is not. Where roasting keeps the meat moist and the taste inside which explains the sometimes gamey taste of roast duck, in braising, the meat looses some of it's taste and quite a bit of it's fat but tend to absorb the liquid it's being cooked in. The thin slices of daikon (white carrot) and carrot pickles is not just for presentation. I find them able to draw out the full potential taste of the duck
'Suen Choi Dai Cheong'
The name of this dish says it all, a prefect combo. Dai Cheong in America is also known as chitterlings. Chitterlings has a 'big acquired' taste which sometimes can be overpowering, depending on how it's cooked. At Bo Ky, their chitterlings are also braised but in their own juices. The preserved mustard, because of it's sourness are able to pare down that 'big acquired' taste of the chitterlings. It's soft, at the same time slightly chewy when you bite into it. Each mouthful of this glorious dish is eaten with a teaspoonful of the restaurant's unique blend of chili oil. I usually goes through 3-4 side dishes of their chili oil on this dish alone. I'm rubbing my hands together in glee now just writing about this
Fried shrimp roll
Fantastico, deliciouso, a plate of crispy wonders! They look like Malai's ja sar kot liew but the taste's not anything close although it has a similar ingredient in it. The main ingredient of this dish is shrimp, complimented well with diced jicama (sar kot). The diced sar kot gave the rolls a fresh taste. They were nicely crisp on the outside and moist inside. Coupled with the sweet and spicy chili dip, we sapu out this dish in a matter of minutes. Waiter, one more order please, with extra chili dip! Had a feeling for sure when we leave, we've to hold up our stomachs with all these good food
Fantastico, deliciouso, a plate of crispy wonders! They look like Malai's ja sar kot liew but the taste's not anything close although it has a similar ingredient in it. The main ingredient of this dish is shrimp, complimented well with diced jicama (sar kot). The diced sar kot gave the rolls a fresh taste. They were nicely crisp on the outside and moist inside. Coupled with the sweet and spicy chili dip, we sapu out this dish in a matter of minutes. Waiter, one more order please, with extra chili dip! Had a feeling for sure when we leave, we've to hold up our stomachs with all these good food
All my favs
I wish I've a picture of just the curry noddles but what the heck, I'll just make do with what I have. In my opinion, the curry soup at Bo Ky is better than all the Malai restaurants out here in southern California. Just like most curry soup back home in Malai, Bo Ky's curry is also coconut milk based. It's spicy but not to the point of lighting a fire to your tongue. One thing different from our curry soup is Bo Ky's come with a small handful of sliced raw white onions, also a big cut of fresh lemon minus the nga choi. Don't neglect the piece of lemon, it adds a touch of sour goodness to the curry soup. My favorite ingredient for my curry is 'curry sliced beef soup mai fun, add suen choi dai cheong'
Stew pig's feet over white rice
I wasn't too interested with this dish when it arrived at our table. It just looked way too much pork on one dish. But I've been taught that looks alone can sometimes be deceiving, so I cut a small piece to try. The feet were just not tender enough and the taste too bland. Because it's not tender enough, I automatically formed an opinion that it's also too dry. Another thing is, if I order stew pig's feet over rice, I'd prefer my rice soaked with the stewed sauce.
Chu Chow 'kap dai' hor fun soup
Glorified pig's innards. Livers, kidneys, sai cheong, stomach...you name it, you got it. One or two slices of every imaginable innards of a pig, served in a bowl of tasty and sweet broth with hor fun is a typical Asian fare. The soup is clear, flavorful and just sweet enough to accompany the innards mix. From the picture, you might wonder what's a piece of shrimp doing so out of place in a bowl of innards galore? What I know is Vietnamese has a habit of adding a piece of shrimp into their soup or dry noodles.
'Kon loe cho mein' (wide egg noddles) with shrimp balls
The kon loe version from other South East Asia countries is vastly different from our Malai version. Where dark soy sauce is the main ingredient in ours, theirs is regular soy sauce and if you're lucky one or two dashes of white pepper or sesame oil. I always order this dry version to be shared with my friends. What we do to spice it up is add 2-4 spoonful of my favorite chili oil, toss the noodles around a few times and we got ourselves a spicy bowl of cho mein. Their egg noodles is always cooked to perfection, with a slight chewiness to it. The shrimp balls are shrimpy tasty, moist, and with the right amount of tenderness and firmness to them. The minced pork and scallions adds to the goodness
I wasn't too interested with this dish when it arrived at our table. It just looked way too much pork on one dish. But I've been taught that looks alone can sometimes be deceiving, so I cut a small piece to try. The feet were just not tender enough and the taste too bland. Because it's not tender enough, I automatically formed an opinion that it's also too dry. Another thing is, if I order stew pig's feet over rice, I'd prefer my rice soaked with the stewed sauce.
Glorified pig's innards. Livers, kidneys, sai cheong, stomach...you name it, you got it. One or two slices of every imaginable innards of a pig, served in a bowl of tasty and sweet broth with hor fun is a typical Asian fare. The soup is clear, flavorful and just sweet enough to accompany the innards mix. From the picture, you might wonder what's a piece of shrimp doing so out of place in a bowl of innards galore? What I know is Vietnamese has a habit of adding a piece of shrimp into their soup or dry noodles.
The kon loe version from other South East Asia countries is vastly different from our Malai version. Where dark soy sauce is the main ingredient in ours, theirs is regular soy sauce and if you're lucky one or two dashes of white pepper or sesame oil. I always order this dry version to be shared with my friends. What we do to spice it up is add 2-4 spoonful of my favorite chili oil, toss the noodles around a few times and we got ourselves a spicy bowl of cho mein. Their egg noodles is always cooked to perfection, with a slight chewiness to it. The shrimp balls are shrimpy tasty, moist, and with the right amount of tenderness and firmness to them. The minced pork and scallions adds to the goodness
Watcha looking at? Never die before ar (mei sae kor ar)?
I've always like Vietnamese food, especially pho (noodles). Different soup noodles are served with different kinds of fresh herbs and vegetables. How can one go wrong nutrition wise with a bowl of tasty broth, with pho, meats and fresh herbs and vegetables. Usually I'm stuffed by the time I'm done with a bowl of pho as I never leave the broth alone. To make it easier on my conscience, I always tell myself it's a 'nutritious liquid full'. Gotta cheat once in a while...in this case, 'no pain, everything to gain'. I've never before left here unsatisfied, if you know what I mean. I used to walk from my college campus, 2-3 miles away (many years ago) all by myself just to have lunch and take care of my 'curry sliced beef soup mai fun add suen choi dai cheong' cravings. I remembered vividly there were days when I chose to 'ponteng' class without a second thought, just so to satisfy my cravings.
Another dish that comes to mind when one talk about Vietnamese food is the grilled meat on rice dishes, especially the grilled pork and chicken slices. I did not mention any of these in this post because on a personal note I very much dislike the type of rice that Vietnamese restaurants uses. Each grain of rice is usually broken up into a few smaller pieces, and most of the time only 3/4 cooked. I shouldn't because of this reason alone not write about these rice dishes, right? Next opportunity, I promise.
Bo Ky Pho Restaurant
80 Bayard St.
New York, NY 10013
Tel: (212) 406-2292
Another dish that comes to mind when one talk about Vietnamese food is the grilled meat on rice dishes, especially the grilled pork and chicken slices. I did not mention any of these in this post because on a personal note I very much dislike the type of rice that Vietnamese restaurants uses. Each grain of rice is usually broken up into a few smaller pieces, and most of the time only 3/4 cooked. I shouldn't because of this reason alone not write about these rice dishes, right? Next opportunity, I promise.
Bo Ky Pho Restaurant
80 Bayard St.
New York, NY 10013
Tel: (212) 406-2292
