When we got there it was around 12 pm and the tiny place was almost packed. We got seats on a long marble table that could fit ten people. But each end of the table was occupied by a different party so we were sandwiched between these two groups. The place is tiny so having a long table just didn't make sense to me.
The menu was printed on a tiny piece of light weight wood. And a similar but bigger version of it was posted on the wall as well. Menu was small consisted of mainly banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches), some appetizers and only two types of noodle soup (pho).
Hubby was craving for pho so he ordered the pho tai bo vien (noodle soup with rare beef and beef meat ball). I should probably go for banh mi since that seemed to be their strength but I felt like having noodle so I ordered the grilled pork with spring roll bowl instead. Last minute we threw in an order of savory mini crepes.
The place looked new and the staffs looked a bit overwhelmed so I thought our orders would take a while. But surprisingly they were pretty fast. Though the savory mini crepes came last.
My grilled pork bowl consisted of rice noodle, cut up lettuce, pickle daikon and carrot then topped off with grilled pork and fried spring roll. The grilled pork here was thick and it looked like it was precooked prior to being grilled. And because it was pretty thick so it wasn't well marinated and the taste wasn't strong. Also it was precooked so the grilling process was quick and pork didn't get enough smoky flavor to qualify as grilled pork. The fried spring roll was okay, crispy but not fried through so part of it was a bit chewy.
The winner probably was hubby's pho noodle soup. Which supposedly didn't have MSG. The broth had a strong star anise smell and the bowl came with a big piece of bone with bone marrow. The broth had nice robust flavor. The beef meat ball tasted like my favorite meat ball from a local grocery store. Maybe that's where they got their meat ball as well ? I tried the bone marrow and I didn't quite like the greasiness. But the noodle soup all together was great.
Our appetizer came out last. It was nicely presented on a worn looking chopping board. The crepes were still in their cast iron mold and we were supposed to take them out ourselves using the utensils provided. Neat idea. I have seen these in the past when we lived in San Jose. There was a huge Vietnamese community in San Jose so Vietnamese food was easy to find. And quite a varieties too. But I have never tried these crepes. But this version at Banh Mi Tres Bon was pretty bland in my opinion. The sauce sort of helped a bit but not much. The crepes themselves were not seasoned at all. And because they were baked in the cast iron so they were pretty greasy.
Banh Mi Tres Bon
Central at Garden City
4720 Mccleland Road #1840, Richmond, BC V6X 0M6
604 273 4422
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