Loving Hut - Oakridge Mall San Jose
We saw this little stall in the mall about a few weeks ago. I think it replaced a take out Asian restaurant similar to Mr. Chow. When we passed by we saw a family ordering noodle soup so we decided that we got to give it a try at least once.
There were a few tables and chairs set up for customers who want to eat-in. Well, it's inside the mall so I guess pretty much majority would do eat-in. The wall next to cashier where we order the food had pictures of the menu which helped a lot in deciding. We ordered Loving Hut Pho, Spicy Noodle Royal and Summer Roll. I didn't know until I started ordering that Loving Hut is actually a vegan restaurant. But I decided to stick with it anyway.
Summer roll came out pretty quick. Instead of the usual bbq pork slice and prawn, we were treated with jicama, tofu and carrot. Jicama and carrot were cooked in some sort of sweet sauce before wrapped. Rolls were served with typical sweet peanut sauce like the Vietnamese spring roll. Rolls could do without the dipping sauce because it already has taste of its own but I liked to dip it anyway.
Both bowls of noodle came with basil in the bowls and a smaller saucer with tiny wedge of lime and slices of serrano chili. The pho had regular fare like bean sprout (cooked) and rice noodle. Because it's vegan so no beef, instead slices of tofu, mushroom and tofu skin that supposedly replaced the meat. The tofu skin actually tasted good and the slightly chewy consistency made it taste like meat. The broth was good with a little bit oil on top which I don't know how it came about since there's no chicken involved in making it. But nevertheless, the broth was good and the soup was fulfilling.
Unfortunately I couldn't say the same for the spicy noodle royal. The color was soo nice and made it looked spicy. But the taste just wasn't there. It was bland. I put in sriracha sauce and hubby put in more but it was just bland. We could totally used more salt in it. I refrained myself from asking for salt. The noodle they used for this noodle soup was round (rice?) noodle, though hubby thought it was spaghetti.
They did get quite a few customers when we were there. A girl from another table actually ate in and did a take out as well. All in all the experience was not bad. Though I would say I am a meat person so I might not go back.
One thing that I think they should be able to improve on was to put another set of sriracha/hoisin sauce combo on their tray. I picked up our bowls of noodle and asked for the chili sauce. The girl behind the counter pointed me to a small area where they kept sugar, tooth pick, hot taco sauce, mustard, ketchup but no chili sauce. When she saw that the chili sauce wasn't there, she pointed to another customer and said oh, they have it. Hmm..okay, so I went to the that table and took the chili sauce from them. I guess it is not hard to have like two sets of those just to make it easier for the customers.
They do have quite a varieties of menu. From Asian noodles to burger, charsiu and spaghetti bolognese. They also have cake and other dessert.
Loving Hut
925 Blossom Hill Road Oakridge Mall, Ste 1078 San Jose, CA 95123
(408) 229-2795
There were a few tables and chairs set up for customers who want to eat-in. Well, it's inside the mall so I guess pretty much majority would do eat-in. The wall next to cashier where we order the food had pictures of the menu which helped a lot in deciding. We ordered Loving Hut Pho, Spicy Noodle Royal and Summer Roll. I didn't know until I started ordering that Loving Hut is actually a vegan restaurant. But I decided to stick with it anyway.
Summer roll came out pretty quick. Instead of the usual bbq pork slice and prawn, we were treated with jicama, tofu and carrot. Jicama and carrot were cooked in some sort of sweet sauce before wrapped. Rolls were served with typical sweet peanut sauce like the Vietnamese spring roll. Rolls could do without the dipping sauce because it already has taste of its own but I liked to dip it anyway.
Both bowls of noodle came with basil in the bowls and a smaller saucer with tiny wedge of lime and slices of serrano chili. The pho had regular fare like bean sprout (cooked) and rice noodle. Because it's vegan so no beef, instead slices of tofu, mushroom and tofu skin that supposedly replaced the meat. The tofu skin actually tasted good and the slightly chewy consistency made it taste like meat. The broth was good with a little bit oil on top which I don't know how it came about since there's no chicken involved in making it. But nevertheless, the broth was good and the soup was fulfilling.
Unfortunately I couldn't say the same for the spicy noodle royal. The color was soo nice and made it looked spicy. But the taste just wasn't there. It was bland. I put in sriracha sauce and hubby put in more but it was just bland. We could totally used more salt in it. I refrained myself from asking for salt. The noodle they used for this noodle soup was round (rice?) noodle, though hubby thought it was spaghetti.They did get quite a few customers when we were there. A girl from another table actually ate in and did a take out as well. All in all the experience was not bad. Though I would say I am a meat person so I might not go back.
One thing that I think they should be able to improve on was to put another set of sriracha/hoisin sauce combo on their tray. I picked up our bowls of noodle and asked for the chili sauce. The girl behind the counter pointed me to a small area where they kept sugar, tooth pick, hot taco sauce, mustard, ketchup but no chili sauce. When she saw that the chili sauce wasn't there, she pointed to another customer and said oh, they have it. Hmm..okay, so I went to the that table and took the chili sauce from them. I guess it is not hard to have like two sets of those just to make it easier for the customers.
They do have quite a varieties of menu. From Asian noodles to burger, charsiu and spaghetti bolognese. They also have cake and other dessert.
Loving Hut
925 Blossom Hill Road Oakridge Mall, Ste 1078 San Jose, CA 95123
(408) 229-2795
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