Feasting on Northern, Central, and Southern Vietnamese food across Toronto
Toronto has the largest Vietnamese population in Canada. Outside Vietnam, it is also one of the cities with the largest number of people of Vietnamese descent. Waves of immigrants came in with the onset of the Vietnam War. And with them came a blossoming of the Vietnamese food scene in Toronto.
Phở (rice noodles with beef) has become synonymous with Vietnamese food in Toronto. Naturally, there is far more to Vietnamese cuisine and it’s a shame that many Toronto diners don’t venture beyond the familiar dishes. The major regional cuisines of Vietnam are divided into North, Central, and South, each differing slightly in terms of ingredients and spices. So, to inspire your next meal, here are some of the best restaurants to check out for each regional cuisine. Please don’t come to these places for just phở.
Northern Vietnamese: Phở Sơn
Northern Vietnamese food shares similarities with Southern Chinese food. Flavours tend towards sweet, salty, and mild. Phở originated here and the broth is simple and clear, letting ingredients speak for themselves. There aren’t many Northern Vietnamese restaurants in Toronto. Phở Sơn stands out for being consistently good in every dish.
No tour of Northern Vietnamese cuisine is complete without bún chả Hà Nội. This is a specialty of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. It consists of rice vermicelli (bún) with a bowl of sweet-sour fish sauce (nước mắm) to dip into. Grilled pork pieces (chả) are served on the side.
Phở Sơn has the best bún chả in Toronto. It was a refreshing change from other Vietnamese restaurants to find vegetables treated with such care. Every leaf in the herb garnish was free of blemishes. Carrots and daikons were cut into flowers. It might be old-fashioned but I appreciate a restaurant that showcases its knife skills.
Expert technique was evident on the grilled pork as well. The fish sauce and soy sauce marinade seeped throughout the meat. The exterior was lightly charred and not burnt. Pork was succulent. Did I mention the accompanying vegetables were carefully carved?
The nước mắm was a refreshing counterpoint. An intense combination of sour, sweet, pungent, and spicy. It was one of the best traditional Vietnamese dishes I’ve had. 8.5/10.
On weekends, Phở Sơn cooks up offal and sausages. They are famous for their cháo lòng dồi (pork offal congee). I don’t see this offered at most Vietnamese restaurants, probably because Toronto diners are squeamish about eating intestines and stomachs.
The congee had a style distinct from Chinese ones. It was more peppery, smokey, and oily. It was also deliciously savoury. There was an assortment of offal like large intestine, liver, and stomach. They were succulent and not overcooked. 8/10.
Their phở is traditional Northern style. But I would recommend trying their other noodle dishes first to broaden your horizons, like bún đậu mắm tôm (vermicelli with shrimp paste).
Phở Sơn doesn’t have an actual outdoor patio but they’ve taken advantage of the covered space outside their door step.
In regular times, the restaurant is not a bad place to dine in. The overall decor is grey and contemporary. It has an Asian family diner feel.
Central Vietnamese: Đà Nẵng Restaurant
Central Vietnamese cuisine is not a mix of Northern and Southern as one would expect. It stands out with its preference for spicy and bold flavours. The most famous dish from this region has got to be bún bò Huế. Think of it as a spicy and pungent phở. Turmeric also makes an appearance in several dishes.
While the majority of Vietnamese restaurants have bún bò Huế on their menus, Toronto only has a handful of dedicated Central Vietnamese restaurants. Đà Nẵng Restaurant is the best representative for this cuisine and is hands down one of my favourite hidden gems in Toronto.
For a quick snack, try bánh bèo, a classic Central Vietnamese dish. It is a steamed, gelatinous “cake” made from rice and tapioca flour. It’s bland on its own, but that’s what the toppings are for. The ones at Đà Nẵng Restaurant were sweeter and more savoury than most. It’s made up of red shrimp paste, sugar, and a small amount of chillies. Paired with a simple nước mắm and peanut crumbs, it was an explosion of flavours.
My only nitpick was that the rice cakes were formed in a shallow saucer, which gave it a flat shape. If the cakes were twice as thick, it would have a more satisfying bite. 8/10.
Tourists to the ancient city of Hội An might have fond food memories of mì Quảng. It’s flat rice noodles, semi-soupy style. Meaning, a small amount of broth. Toppings vary but typical ones include banana flower, peanuts, and bánh tráng mè (rice crackers). The one at Đà Nẵng Restaurant came with shrimp, pork, and all the standard fixings except bánh tráng mè.
Curiously, the noodles were stained yellow with turmeric powder. When dipped in the soup, it made the soup even more yellow. Usually it’s the other way round: the turmeric in the soup is supposed to dye the noodles.
The highlight is definitely the soup. It is concentrated with surf and turf flavours with a kick of chillies and lemongrass. There were three shrimp and a generous amount of fatty pork in it. It’s an incredible steal at less than $10. While the soup may be too intense to drink on its own, it works wonderfully when noodles are blanched in it.
The assortment of herbs was slightly different from regular phở. Notably, there were brown slices of banana flower. Mild in flavour, their main function was to add some bite to the dish. 8/10.
Đà Nẵng is actually a port city in Central Vietnam and has its own food specialties. For example, bún chả cá Đà Nẵng is that city’s version of a Central Vietnamese noodle dish. Bún chả cá is rice noodle soup with fried fish cakes. In Đà Nẵng city, the defining ingredient of that dish is pumpkin. The fish cakes used are also distinctive: thin, ground fish patties fried until it develops a brown skin.
Đà Nẵng Restaurant serves a classic bún chả cá Đà Nẵng. As with their other dishes, the amount of protein was satisfying. Fish cakes were savoury and the caramelization from frying amped the umami factor.
Undoubtedly, the star was the soup. Đà Nẵng Restaurant sure is a master of soups—each one is different from the other. This one featured pork fat, pineapples and chunks of pumpkins. The soup was bright and had a pleasant tang. It was formulated to match the fried fish cakes.
Honestly, it was the first time I’ve seen pumpkins in Vietnamese food.
The bundle of herbs for this dish included mint, cabbage, bean sprouts, chillies, and lime. I liked how they customized the fresh herbs for each dish. 8/10.
Because the restaurant shares the same name with a Vietnamese city, it can be difficult to tell the difference between the restaurant’s specialties and the city’s specialties on the menu. A dish can be both. You have to know to know.
The interior teleports diners to a typical family-run restaurant in Vietnam. Spartan and no-frills. Each table has its own basket of condiments and cutlery.
Photos of landmarks in Đà Nẵng city grace the wall.
As with some restaurants in Vietnam, photos from their menu are displayed on walls, to advertise their specialties.
Southern Vietnamese: Phở Linh
Southern Vietnamese cuisine transitions into stereotypical Southeast Asian flavours associated with Thailand and Laos. Their phở has more spices. At one extreme is phở sa tế, a sacrilegious creation that is murky with chillies, peanuts, and sometimes coconut milk.
Southern Vietnamese restaurants vastly outnumber other types of Vietnamese restaurants in Toronto. It’s difficult to find one that offers a wide range yet executes everything well. But Phở Linh fits the bill nicely.
Phở Linh is well regarded for its phở but it is no slouch when it comes to other dishes. It does a really good cơm tấm, translated in their menu as “minced rice”. More accurately, it’s broken grains of rice. Seen as damaged produce in other countries, the Southern Vietnamese salvaged these imperfect grains of rice and made it their own. It tastes like regular rice but the smaller pieces make it easier to chew and give a smoother appearance.
Since cơm tấm is just rice, it needs other components to be a complete meal. The classic combination is sườn bì chả: grilled pork (sườn), shredded pork skin (bì), and meat loaf omelette (chả trứng hấp). At Phở Linh, every component is great or above average.
My favourite was the pork chop. It was grilled the right amount, with just enough char while keeping the meat tender. Lemongrass and soy sauce permeated the meat. The shredded pork skin was bouncy and tasted ok. I personally prefer pork skin to be braised or really crispy. A bit of nước mắm and đồ chua (pickled carrots and daikon) helped liven up the dish.
Phở Linh translates chả trứng as egg pancake. Frankly, it was almost all minced pork with little egg. Not that I mind. It was a densely-packed meatloaf. I also liked the little bits of greens and carrots in the mix. Although it was still heavy to eat, the nước mắm came in to save the day.
The humble base for this meat fest was, of course, the broken rice. It was prepared superbly. It had a consistency between long-grain rice and glutinous rice. I think imperfect rice grains have their own beauty. 8/10.
People in the know come to Phở Linh on the weekends for their bún bò Huế. It’s actually a Central Vietnamese dish and their version is not exactly authentic. Indeed, Phở Linh omits uncommon ingredients like cubes of pig’s blood and banana blossoms. But the soup stands on its own merits. It was moderately spicy with a distinct layer of chilli oil. Shallots, lemongrass, and pork fat were discernible. Hours of boiling resulted in a soup infused with rich flavours of beef and pork.
The main protein were medium-well beef slices. No tendons and tripe to scare off the squeamish. This is bún bò Huế adapted for a non-Vietnamese clientele, while still remaining flavoursome. 8/10.
I haven’t reviewed phở so far in this Vietnamese food odyssey, so I’ll end off with Phở Linh’s signature phở dặc biệt (house beef noodles). The soup had the deep flavours of Northern-style phở and the dark colours from Southern-style phở. It came with a cornucopia of fresh herbs that Toronto diners have come to expect: Thai basil, mint, bean sprouts, chillies, green onion, and coriander.
A phở restaurant’s dặc biệt bowl is a good test of its skill. It has an assortment of beef parts with different cooking temperatures: rare beef slices, brisket, tendon, beef balls, and sometimes tripe. I am pleased to report that Phở Linh did these justice. This is my favourite phở within pre-1998 City of Toronto boundaries. 8/10.
Phở Linh has the same interior design philosophy as Phở Sơn. It’s an archetype of a contemporary Vietnamese family restaurant. They don’t do outdoor dining, so takeout is the only option for the pandemic.
Practical information
Phở Sơn
- Rating
- 8.5/10
- Prices
- Bún chả Hà Nội: $14.69 ($13.00 excluding tax)
Cháo lòng dồi: $10.17 ($9.00 excluding tax) - Address
- 2319 Keele Street, Unit 100
- Hours
- Daily 1100h – 1900h
- Date of visit
- October 2020
Đà Nẵng Restaurant
- Rating
- 8/10
- Prices (including tax)
- Bánh bèo: $5.99
Mì Quảng: $9.60
Bún chả cá Đà Nẵng: $9.60 - Address
- 2725 Jane Street
- Hours
- Daily 1100h – 2200h
- Date of visit
- August 2020, February 2021
Phở Linh
- Rating
- 8/10
- Prices
- Cơm tấm bì sườn chả: $14.12 ($12.50 excluding tax)
Bún bò Huế: $10.74 ($9.50 excluding tax)
Phở dặc biệt: $10.17 ($9.00 excluding tax) - Address
- 1156 College Street
- Hours
- Monday to Thursday 1100h – 2000h
Friday to Saturday 1100h – 2030h
Sunday 1100h – 2000h - Date of visit
- November 2020, December 2020