Noshwellmenu

[rating: 3]

It’s Saturday evening and Tre and I are in Richmond. We just finished up some shopping and our attentions turned to grabbing a quick bite to eat. We decided to go to Green Lemongrass, a little joint that’s just off No. 3 road on Westminster Highway. We’ve been to this place a couple times before. Green Lemongrass is a Vietnamese restaurant that seems to be pretty popular. There aren’t many good Vietnamese places in Richmond so I can see why this one’s hit.

This restaurant is housed in what was once was a Greek taverna. Unfortunately, once you walk in, you are hit with a not so pleasant odour. Usually if a place doesn’t smell good, I wouldn’t eat there, but curiosity got the better of me. I definitely need to be careful with my curiousity, it could get us in to some serious trouble one day. As you look around you can still see it has remnants of the Greek influence; doesn’t quite feel like a Vietnamese restaurant really. The feel is cold and clammy. You can smell the tables that have been wiped down with unrinsed dish rags. Smells sort of like wet dogs. I wouldn’t say this is a nice comfortable place to eat. It’s somewhat clean — but the ambience — we just weren’t feeling it. Luckily, we come here for the soup, not for a place to hang out.

Tre ordered the usual Pho with beef brisket and I ordered a Pho with only beef tripe. I’m not sure why I always order it with just the tripe. But, the way the Vietnamese make the soup with tripe is just like peanut butter and jelly — the perfect combination. Usually, It’s difficult to find good Pho. The broth has to be made well, not too dense and not too heavy. The noodles need to be cooked just right and the combination of noodles and meat should compliment each other. Some restaurants give more noodles than meat and vise versa.

When our soup arrived, it was delicious. Perfect balance of noodles and meat — and the broth was just right. This broth has a little more sweetness to it — which I think makes it great. The only complaint we had was our bean sprouts were served cooked. We like our bean sprouts raw which is how, in our opinion, it should be served. Raw sprouts give it that extra crunch. Overall we were satisfied. Green Lemongrass is definitely a place worth trying.

The Details

8180 Westminster Hwy, Richmond
604.270.6188

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