A new Vietnamese restaurant recently opened in town! In fact, just like two blocks away from my house! With 626 being Chinese-dominant, I was skeptical yet excited to try this place because let’s face it, if you want legitimately good Vietnamese food, you have to make that effort to drive an hour south to the OC area. Well, thank you Lotus House, for being such a fine Vietnamese restaurant in Temple City. 

This Vietnamese restaurant is opened by a Chinese-Vietnamese man. Therefore, the decor of the restaurant when you first step inside is so roomy, so nice, and has that Chinese feel to it. However, it is predominantly Vietnamese food made and served well! There are a variety of the typical Vietnamese appetizers as well as entrees and noodle soups and rice dishes. 

Now this time I opted out and didn’t go for the pho noodle soup, but I’ve heard it tastes good and has no MSG in it. No. This time I wanted to try something else that my parents have never made for me before (I noticed it on the menu)! 

Okay. It wasn’t this one, but we will get to it shall we? This is banh beo, which is water fern cake. As it looks, it is a steamed rice cake topped with dried savory toppings such as shrimp, scallions and shallots. It comes with a small bowl of fish sauce, rice vinegar and oil. How you eat it is first using the small spoons to scrap the rice cake off the bowl. Then pour some of the sauce on top of the rice cake and spoon it in your mouth! 

One of the classic dishes of bun bo hue, which is a beef noodle soup served with thick vermicelli noodles. It is served spicy so beware! The soup includes a variety of meats: ox tail, pig knuckles, pork’s blood and beef shank. 

Now this was the new dish I wanted to try! It is called banh canh cua dac biet, which is slippery crab special noodle soup! This noodle soup uses the udon-like noodles but made from rice cake texture called slippery noodles. It is served with one entire crab! (Minus the body.. BOO)! The soup is thick, gooey and filled with egg. It is good. So good!!! Looks like chicken broth but no, it’s crab soup I think. And did I mention very savory? No MSG either! 

I took the liberty of taking out all the crab and cracking the legs open first and just chucking the crab meats in my bowl. It took an amount of work and time, but by the time I was done, the soup wasn’t boiling hot anymore and ready to slurp! The noodles are short so it was easier to scoop with the soup spoon. In the end, you didn’t need chopsticks to eat with, which I like. 

The classic Vietnamese dessert called che ba mau, which is the three color dessert. It includes red beans, mung beans, Pandan paste and coconut milk. 

I am so happy that a good Vietnamese restaurant has opened up a few blocks from where I live! It is even walking distance!! The restaurant was clean and neat. Food was good. All the waitresses were attentive and nice. You can’t beat that! 

So come try it!