Le Family Vietnamese Restaurant

I headed to Le Family Vietnamese, one of dozens of family-owned restaurants in Chinatown, on the recommendation of a friend. The first thing that struck me about the place was that it was completely empty, despite it being early afternoon on a Saturday. The second thing was a faint rotten egg-like smell in the area where I was seated at the front. Since the place looked clean and people who worked there were eating food prepared in the kitchen, I decided to assume it was coming in from the outside and proceeded to order my meal.

I ordered a beef vermicelli bowl, which is one of the first dishes I tend to try in a restaurant that is new to me. Noodle soup is the other one, but since it was warm out and I had had pho the day prior, vermicelli it was. My waitress suggested I try, for an extra dollar, the beef vermicelli with spring rolls. I have always been curious about, but never ordered, vermicelli bowls with spring rolls because the spring rolls always have pork in them. However, my waitress told me they could make the dish for me with vegetarian spring rolls. I eagerly agreed. Since I was rather hungry, I also ordered the onion cakes - at only $3.95 for two, I was still in for an inexpensive meal.

My onion cakes were brought first. They were not greasy in the least bit, while still being crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Almost too chewy. The cakes had a very bread-like texture and flavour. I found myself putting a lot of hoisin sauce on them for moisture and flavour.

The ample-sized beef vermicelli bowl with spring rolls arrived shortly thereafter. Sure enough, there were two crispy vegetarian spring rolls on either side of the bowl. They were quite flavourful and somewhat on the spicy side. However, it was the beef that stole the show. Somewhat chewy, it was lean and tasted heavily of lemongrass. The large portion of rice noodles sat atop the lettuce, cucumber, and sprouts, which were smaller in portion than I am used to. A very few shredded, pickled carrots and chopped peanuts sat atop the dish. Since I forgo the fish sauce, I used hoisin, but not much since the robust herbs sent flavour throughout the bowl.

Le Family Vietnamese offers most of the rice and noodle dishes anyone who dines regularly in Chinatown would come to expect. The prices are also very much in line. However, you'll probably stand more of a chance of getting a table during the lunch rush than in some of the other popular eateries.