I always enjoy learning about the families that start their own restaurants for the first time. I had a chance to experience in this restaurant in North Vancouver that just celebrated their 1st anniversary for flavourful Northern Vietnamese dishes. Often the best Vietnamese restaurants are owned by the immigrants who have moved here from their home country. Owner Nick Nguyen, moved to Vancouver from Vietnam when he was 20. Now 27, he just celebrated his restaurant’s 1 year anniversary. Talking with him I understood his passion for each dish he serves his customers, many of these dishes originate in various neighbourhoods in the city where he grew up.

We started with the flavourful, Green Mango Salad with prawns, followed by the Fresh tofu salad rolls (vegetarian) came with a tasty peanut sauce for dipping. The beautiful, crispy Vietnamese Omelette—which we had the vegetarian version of—was filled with bean sprouts, lettuce, other veggies, and included fish sauce for dipping.

For drinks, I had the Blended Iced Coffee with condensed milk and Lawrence who joined me had the Hai Phong Floral Bliss Citrus Refresher.

The Turmeric fish with Vermicelli (Chả Cá Hà Nội) was outstanding; the basa fish, served sizzling hot to the table with a delicious sauce and topped with dill, was a WOW dish.

The other WOW dish was the Satay Lemongrass Chicken Noodle Soup (pho) made with a 27 hour beef broth (from beef bones and bone marrow), lemongrass chicken, rice noodles, onion and cilantro.

We finished the delicious dinner with the Mango with pandan sticky rice and coconut pudding.

I am coming back for more of that Turmeric fish with vermicelli and the Satay Lemongrass Chicken Noodle Soup (pho).

They are open daily at 11:30 a.m. for lunch with Happy Hour from 2 to 5 p.m. and dinner nightly with dishes also available for take-out and delivery.

Phonatic Social is located at 751 Lonsdale in North Vancouver. You can follow them on Instagram @phonatic_social

By: Richard Wolak