Author: GCS

Kim Huong
304 10th Street @Harrison, Oakland, CA
(No website; Yelp reviews at http://www.yelp.com/biz/kim-huong-oakland)

Chinatown in Oakland is misnamed, as are most of them these days. It’s really Vietnamtown, or Little Saigon, or anything else you’d like to use to describe the fact that virtually all the stores are now Southeast Asian. 

We’re unimpressed with the quality of Chinese food these days, but we like Vietnamese food and so wandered into this good-sized Vietnamese restaurant. Unlike some of the restaurants it’s quite clean inside (no mean feat in this old-time district between downtown and Jack London Square) for a late lunch.

Both of us ordered Bun Thit Nuong, the Vietnamese rice noodle salad. There isn’t a Vietnamese restaurant I’ve gone into that doesn’t have several variations of this one-bowl entree. I’ve even made it at home, as it’s not overly difficult. A layer of chopped lettuce, usually romaine or iceberg, a heap of thin rice noodles, a large sprig of mint, and a few raw veggies like carrot shreds, cucumber, and bean sprouts (at home I do a sweet pickle of the veggies the day beforehand, but it isn’t strictly necessary). If you’re making it at home, a few slices of leftover steak make an ideal topper.

Then some protein is tossed on top: tofu, grilled sliced pork, shrimps, or the deep-fried spring rolls called cha gio. Almost always the latter is the vegetarian version, with translucent bean threads and slivered black mushrooms. A separate bowl containing the nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce), made from fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, and red chile, is added by the diner.

It’s a cheap, filling lunch that outside of the salt content, is one of the healthiest things you can eat anywhere. Every place makes it a little differently, but it’s always good. Kim Huong’s version was perfectly adequate, and with an extra plate of cha gio (Carlos was starving), the bill came to a very modest amount.

Two noodle salads, one appetizer, one soy milk, with tip came to $27.