Vien Huong Noodle House

In Oakland Chinatown, Vien Huong serves the ultimate comfort food for me. There is nothing like a bowl of Chow Jew Ho Fun from Vien Huong after a long Saturday night out, or any other time actually! The broth tastes relatively MSG-free, unlike most pho broths, so that alone is killer for me. Ho Fun (or Rice Noodle, however you want to call it), topped with shredded chicken , grounded pork, beef balls, fish balls, fishcake, scallions, and bits of fried garlic/shallots, it really hits the spot.

How to order and eat like a local:

Noodles: I recently learned that I could order a mix of the noodles, so here you can see I ordered both egg noodle and ho fun as a combo, perfect for the indecisive like me! I just love the slippery texture of the ho fun, and the bouncy texture of the egg noodles.

Broth: For the Chow Jew Ho Fun, you can order it “dry” or “soup on the side”. Some like this option because they can add the sauce directly to the noodles and savor it. Me? I personally love the soup, so I always order it with soup and dip my noodles into the sauce from the sauce plate.

Sauce: Of course, I have to have my hoisin sauce and their “homemade” hot sauce on the side. Their hot sauce really gives me another reason to come here, seriously. I don’t put my sauce in the soup because as I mentioned, their broth is too pure for me to pollute with sauce. I also love adding the pickled green chili peppers with some vinegar to cut through some of the fat.

Come here, bring cash, order Chow Jew Ho Fun, and maybe a cold Horlick or Ovaltine, you won’t regret it. Trust.

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Vien Huong Noodle House
712 Franklin Street
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 465-5938