Vietnamese - Da Vang and Central King Egg Roll

Last Tuesday, we met some friends for dinner at Da Vang. We probably frequent Da Vang more than any other Vietnamese restaurant in the Valley. It's definitely not the nicest looking place, but the food is excellent and the prices are extremely reasonable.

Here's what we had:

Grilled pork w/ egg roll over rice noodles

Beef pho

The next day, Patty was craving for pho again. Little Saigon (another favorite) and Da Vang are both a bit of a hike for us, so I did some research online and found a place near us that had Vietnamese food - Central King Eggroll. For me (and I'm guessing others), the name is a bit misleading, as it sounds more like a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant does serve some Chinese food, although the menu is primary Vietnamese dishes.

Here are two pictures of the restaurant:

Here's what we ate:

Grilled lemongrass chicken - I thought this came over rice (per the menu description), but as you can see, it came served over rice noodles. It was good though.

Beef pho - I thought this was a great bowl of pho! The sliced beef was fresh and tender, the noodles weren't mushy (from overcooking) and the broth was clear and complex (with noticeable hints of star anise and cinnamon). If you compare the picture above, to the one from Da Vang, you'll also notice that there is no oil on the surface of the broth (there shouldn't be any!).

The ethnic dining options in the far West Valley are pretty limited, so I'm glad we discovered Central King Egg Roll! It's definitely going into our dining "rotation". FYI - other restaurants in the rotation include India Garden (Indian), Sala Thai, Tomo (Japanese), and AJK Chinese.


Places mentioned:

Da Vang
4538 N 19th Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85015

Central King Egg Roll
13530 West Van Buren Street
Goodyear, AZ 85338