Someone who loves you ate every soup on Annam VL's menu
and all you got was a 2300 word treatise about six great meals
I, alongside every Portlander with tastebuds, love Há VL and Rose VL Deli. They both make such terrific food, and couldn’t possibly be run by nicer, more inviting people. They’ve introduced me to Vietnamese dishes I now love and crave all the time (the same goes for Bui’s, but that’s another story). The only problem; our car-free lifestyle1 made getting to either location a bit of a challenge — I mean, don’t get me wrong, I will trek for soup, but only so often.
Imagine my delight when Annam VL announced they were opening just a short walk from my house, across the street from the H Mart we frequent. The proprietor of Há VL was nominated for a James Beard award this year, of which Portland Monthly had to say: “Each location offers daily rotating soups and its own nuance—more like branches of a family tree than franchises”, a sentiment which is… unreasonably poetic to me. There are a handful of long standing Portland institutions that, just by existing and being so blatantly loved by the community, quieted any uneasiness I had about our decision to move here. The VL family of restaurants most certainly fall into that category.
I felt the need to commemorate this momentous occasion, but how? What do I know about regional Vietnamese soups, other than that I tend to love eating them? How valuable could my reviews be when I’m near certain, based on past experiences, they will all be some variation of “10/10, please do yourself a favor and go eat this soup”? The menu is short, 12 rotating soups and a handful of appetizers, and since it’s so close, it seems well within the realms of possibility that my forced lunch companion the love of my life will be able to join me for a weekday lunch2. So we will go, and taste the soups du jour to identify our personal favorites, until there are no days left.
Day 1: Wednesday - Bún Riêu & Hủ Tiếu Bò Kho
Bún riêu is much more familiar to me, I’ve had it a few times before moving to Portland, and a lot since — It’s on Rose VL Deli’s Friday menu, which historically has been one of the only days I’ve been able to go. This iteration tastes richer? Or perhaps I’m in my head trying to tease out tasting notes. The broth is pork based but distinctly shrimpy, with a little bit of acidity, maybe from the tomato, and color from crab paste. I’ve read a few recipes that call for the inclusion of tamarind so I could also be tasting that. It’s a real treasure trove of distinct ingredients: vermicelli, tofu, ham, sliced pork, and a meatball that is potentially the best literal bite of the meal.
Hủ tiếu bò kho on the other hand is completely new to me, and wow is it good. The broth is very rich with a bit of sweetness, I’m guessing from the carrots, delicately spiced and lemongrass-y. The beef shank is tender and flavorful, I’m not sure if it’s just the Hungarian in me jumping out but it has a kind of goulash quality? No, there is definitely some vaguely Eastern European synergy that dissipates by the time I get to the chewy rice noodles. Each soup is served with dish-specific plates of herbs and accompaniments, which is helpful as someone who needs the occasional foolproof assist.3 Thai basil and sliced jalapeño of course only take things to the next level, as they tend to do. I am a very happy eater of soup.
After one sip of each broth I already know I’ve made a huge mistake. How could I possibly choose a favorite between these two marvelous soups? I text a Food Friend back in Brooklyn for emotional support. “Just eat your soups!!!” lights up my lock screen a few minutes later as I’m loudly slurping beef broth (is that star anise? cinnamon?). This is fair feedback, but unfortunately I’m too deep in it now, I have been thinking about this soup showdown for at least a couple weeks at this point, I can’t not do this to myself. I wonder if novelty bias plays into how I’m feeling? Bún riêu is like an old friend — fine, a familiar acquaintance — where as hủ tiếu bò kho is a new and exciting stranger, seated across from you at a dinner party. Ultimately, it’s the sweetness of the broth that wins us both over, although we concur the meatball in the bún riêu was also a standout.
Remi’s favorite: Hủ Tiếu Bò Kho
Cris’s favorite: Hủ Tiếu Bò Kho
We also ordered the bánh ít trần which was delicious, but I’m focusing on soups for my own fledgling sanity.
Day 2: Thursday - Bánh Canh Chả Tôm & Phở Gà Lá Chanh
Round 24 is in interesting pairing — the soup I’m probably most familiar with and the one that speaks the most to me from the menu description.
I can’t remember exactly the first time I had phở gà — mostly likely with my mom when my age was still in the single digits. I can remember the period of my life where I had it most often; hanging out downtown, getting up to no good5 with friends in my teenage years. While certainly reminiscent of the phở I would scrape loonies together to eat in high school, this rendition was on a totally different level. The broth had a much more herbaceous quality than what I’m accustomed to. Cris is obsessed with makrut lime leaves, which this soup used in abundance. I don’t really know what else to say about this dish, it’s simply the best phở gà I’ve ever had, a really well executed version of a very nostalgic meal for me.
I had the pleasure of having the bánh canh chả tôm a couple of times before writing this, so I feel fairly confident in my assessment that this is one of the most enjoyable soups I’ve had in recent memory. Similar to the previously mentioned hủ tiếu bò kho, the broth is notably sweet, which I’m once again attributing to the carrots. The fried onion and garlic work overtime for bites of extreme savoriness, in some moments I’m actually reminded of Mi Goreng Indomie. I could go on and on — the peppery pork and shrimp meatballs are springy and delicious, the soft but toothsome udon-width tapioca noodles are perfectly slurp-able, the chayote squash counter balances some of the other dominant flavors with a soft earthiness. 10/10, standing ovation, if it’s wrong to love a soup this much, I don’t want to be right.
Remi’s favorite: Bánh Canh Chả Tôm
Cris’s favorite: Phở Gà Lá Chanh
Discord at the table! I yet again wonder if the novelty factor plays a role here — regrettably, Cris did not have a ‘constantly hanging out in Vietnamese restaurants’ phase as a teen. For me there is no contest though, and I can’t wait to have this bánh canh chả tôm again.
Day 3: Friday - Bún Cà Ri Gà & Hủ Tiếu Mỹ Tho
Bún cà ri gà was immediately reminiscent of a Malaysian-style coconut chicken curry. Alongside potatoes and carrots, the tender chicken was delicious in the mild lemongrass-y curry. What made this dish really sing was the fresh herb accompaniments. I love perilla leaves, I’m always so happy to eat them in any capacity. Never in a million years would I have thought to garnish a curry dish like this with perilla, I will be stealing this move for coconut based curries I make on occasion.
The hủ tiếu mỹ tho is probably the first soup we’ve had that really screams seafood soup, even though it was thoroughly punctuated with pork. Fish balls, squid, shrimp charsiu, beef liver, a couple of jammy quail eggs, I really appreciated the wide diversity of flavors that worked together in harmony to round out this dish. The eating experience kind of reminded me of the bún riêu in that there seemed to be an endless amount of treasures to discover at the bottom of the bowl. Some sort of pork fat fried bits floated at the surface to provide that consistent punch of umami with each spoonful.
Remi’s favorite: Bún Cà Ri Gà
Cris’s favorite: Bún Cà Ri Gà
Cris is a curry fanatic, and I just couldn’t get over this perilla usage, so another unanimous day at the lunch table.
Day 4: Tuesday - Miến Gà & Bún Mọc
The bún mọc had a lot of the characteristics of a homey, comforting, sick day soup — perfect for the rainy day breaking up a few weeks of unseasonably warm weather. With three? four? distinct types of pork, it was definitely one of the meatier dishes we’ve had so far. Heavily black peppered, with sliced pork, ham, and dense mushroomy meatballs, the dish was very meat forward; however, the cuts were quite lean, so it ended up eating surprisingly light.
We had the added treat of the kitchen letting us pick the meat off some of the bones used to flavor the broth. Served with a little lime & fish sauce mixture on the side, really good fall off the bone deliciousness.
The miến gà had a much more fragrant broth, featuring ginger and perhaps some coriander seed. I’ve become a big fan of glass noodles over the last few years, relishing the slippery mouthfeel and chewy texture they offer over their wheat and rice counter parts. Both soups today were a little more mild than some of their contemporaries — not derogatory, just factual — so the subtle and delicate flavor of the broth in this dish was really the star of the day.
Remi’s favorite: Miến Gà
Cris’s favorite: Miến Gà
Day 5: Sunday - Bún Bò Huế & Bún Bò Nam Bộ
Bún bò huế has got to be one of the more famous Vietnamese soups in North America. At least in my experiences, it’s probably what I hear referenced the most after phở. This rendition was a little more mild than I’ve had in the past, but the lemongrass and shrimp paste aromas came through very strongly. I didn’t catch any of the coagulated pig’s blood that is often in this dish, but I have to call out the cuts of beef shank as exceptionally tender and delicious. Sunday also features the aforementioned bánh canh chả tôm (Thursday) and of the two, I have to say that I still gravitate towards those stunning tapioca noodles.
We’ve been at this for long enough now for the menu to change slightly — originally I had planned on only writing about centerpiece soups, but this vermicelli noodle salad was added to the main menu for the summer time when soups are famously less popular. This bún bò nam bộ was one of the better vermicelli bowls I’ve had around town (if not the best?), the lemongrass beef stood out of course, but there seems to be something special about their nước chấm. This was one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes when I was younger, so I’m pleased to have a delicious non-soup option rotate on to the menu.
Remi’s favorite: Bún Bò Nam Bộ
Cris’s favorite: Bún Bò Nam Bộ
Day 6: Saturday -Phở Annam, Phở Bắc & Mì Hoành Thánh
Phở Annam… the namesake. Saturday is notably busier at Annam, I’ve never had to wait for a table before. I didn’t pick up much of the advertised culantro flavor, but the dish ate very beefy, with a lot of black pepper and generous portions of the sautéed garlic beef and thick sliced meatballs — a really souped-up phở (see what I did there). This feels like a gateway soup in a way, like anyone who likes phở will enjoy this rendition of it — it has a sort of crowd pleasing quality to it, is the best way I can explain it. The wider noodles add more texture to the dish, as does the beef being grilled instead of solely cooked in the soup broth as is customary.
Phở bắc falls into the much more familiar soup category for me. I didn’t get to try it on the same Saturday as the Phở Annam, so it’s hard to make a true an apples-to-apples comparison. I will say, the broth tasted much “beefier”, which makes me wonder if it’s the flavor of the thinly sliced raw beef that is coming through in a different way. Wonderfully executed beef phở, much like the phở gà, I don’t have all that much to comment on.
Mì hoành thánh is obviously very Chinese influenced, which makes it one of the more unique soups on the menu. The slightly sweet broth was such a deep golden color, I don’t really know how it could be accomplished without the addition of turmeric? The noodles were the perfect texture, the wontons beautifully stuffed… perhaps the charsiu faded into the background a little bit as the other stars of the show took center stage. The fried garlic & shallot was also reminiscent of some of the flavors in bánh canh chả tôm, which remains my favorite all around soup as we reach this end of this menu tasting. I’m glad to have another contrasting item on the menu — for a place that serves soup almost exclusively, its kind of wild that nothing really tastes same-y to me at all. You can really feel the attention to detail and care put into each distinct soup.
Remi’s favorite: Phở Annam
Cris’s favorite: Phở Bắc
And there you have it, a lot of words on soup. If you’re a Portlander and haven’t made it to Annam VL yet, I highly recommend you do — it’s a really special and wonderful addition to the neighborhood. If you’re not a Portland resident, it’s hard to imagine you made it this far… but if you did, take note of what soup sounded most up your alley so I can treat you when you come to visit 🫶🏾
R
RIP. We’re now the proud ambassadors of our friend’s 2009 Honda Fit
Not codependent — can’t eat two soups alone / subject a friend to my charming brand of food-oriented mental illness
Still mortified about accidentally adding salad dressing while mixing my own tonkatsu sauce however many months back
It’s worth calling out that we started this little taste test months ago, not eating soup six days in a row
Voluntarily studying at the central library