Recently, there’s been an influx of what I call ‘hip, cool vibe’ and trendy Vietnamese restaurants popping up in Edmonton. These restaurants all offer unique-to-them or harder-to-find Vietnamese dishes, and all have—you guessed it—hip, cool vibes, lol.
They are really awesome additions to the city!
And they come after a steady build of Vietnamese restaurants in general over the years.
These days it’s really hard NOT to find a Vietnamese restaurant in any suburb, any area of Edmonton. Many of these spots are what I’d classify as a more traditional or typical Vietnamese restaurant, offering much of the same menus—your classic soup dishes, rice dishes, and vermicelli dishes. Often, menus even use the same fonts, and the restaurant names follow a pretty typical format (Pho ____). They’re all serving up super consistent Vietnamese food.
You really have some excellent options for Vietnamese in Edmonton, even before these trendier spots popped up, but because so many of those trendier Vietnamese spots have opened in such a short amount of time, I thought I’d put together a little guide: From the Trendy to the Traditional Vietnamese spots, for your Vietnamese food crawl-ing pleasure, or just to help you work through these places over time.
Of course, I cannot talk about or blog about Vietnamese restaurants without shouting out to my own parents’ Vietnamese restaurant: King Noodle House Pho Hoang located in Edmonton’s Chinatown. My parents’ restaurant would 100% be considered one of the OG, original, old school, traditional Vietnamese soup joints in the city.
As of 2023, King Noodle House is in its 27th year in business (though my parents are looking to retire / sell the building if you know anyone looking for a business opportunity in Chinatown!)
There are maybe less than a handful of Vietnamese restaurants that have been operating in Edmonton for as long or longer than we have, and actually it’s been a lot of fun visiting the newer Viet restaurants because many of their chef/owners are longtime customers of ours.
So this is my brief aside so my mother isn’t appalled that I’m talking about other Vietnamese places and not hers (lol). Be sure to try my parents’ soup (recipe passed down over three generations from Vietnam), in addition to trying new, trendy spots—and other traditional Vietnamese eateries or spots offering unique Vietnamese dishes in Edmonton!
From Trendy to Traditional: Guide to Vietnamese Restaurants in Edmonton (with Unique Dishes!)
listed in no particular order
A Few Trendy Vietnamese Restaurants
- Chi & Em
- Mai Mai Viet Street Kitchen
- Đa Kao
- XO Bistro
- Co Chin Saigon
- Miss Saigon Vietnamese Noodle House
- An Chay
A Few Tried, True & Traditional Vietnamese Restaurants
- King Noodle House Pho Hoang
- Xu Hue
- Tau Bay
- Pho Hoan Pasteur
- Co Do Hue
- Thanh Thanh
- Pho Thanh
A Few Vietnamese Spots with Specialities
- Pho or Kuy Teav Noodle Shack
- Midnight Sun
- Halong Bay Noodle House
Vietnamese Banh Mi Sandwich Spots
- Nhon Hoa / Nhon Hoa 2
- Van Loc
- Banh Mi Zon
- Banh Mi Cali
A Few Trendy Vietnamese Restaurants
- Chi & Em
- Mai Mai Viet Street Kitchen
- Đa Kao
- XO Bistro
- Co Chin Saigon
- Miss Saigon Vietnamese Noodle House
- An Chay
Chi & Em in Old Strathcona offers a mix of Vietnamese and Japanese cuisine—though I consider it mainly a Vietnamese restaurant as the owners are Vietnamese, and the name itself is Vietnamese (Chi & Em translates to big sister / little sister).
The “Bucket List” section of their menu is where they shine, with unique dishes you won’t find anywhere else in Edmonton, like a “Bo Lui Nuong Banh Hoi” Vietnamese Meat Platter with seven grilled meat options (housemade pork sausage, beef in betel leaf, grilled beef, grilled chicken, grilled prawn, grilled pork chop and grilled pork spring rolls) and vermicelli laid out on lettuce (kind of like a massive deconstructed Vietnamese vermicelli bowl. You know if there’s something deconstructed that it’s trendy lol), or their “Bo Ne” Vietnamese Steak & Egg on Hot Pan dish (including pork sausage, smoked sausage, pork meatballs, and sliced beef sirloin).
They also offer a unique “Bun Bo Hue Suon Bo”—a lemongrass beef sort rib noodle soup with giant, fall off the bone / tender short rib.
A lot of the Vietnamese dishes at Chi & Em feel like showstoppers—impressive presentation, colourful, and delicious! Just certainly pricier than what you’d expect at a traditional Vietnamese restaurant, but that is okay because it’s not meant to be that lol.
With trendier Vietnamese spots, you’re typically looking at higher price points, but also cooler vibes / experiences and potentially more unique dishes, which Chi & Em delivers on.
Mai Mai Viet Street Kitchen is located in the south west Edmonton neighbourhood of Magrath—and offers a range of Vietnamese appetizers, banh mi sandwiches, salad rolls, and some street food specialties. It’s not where you’d go to satisfy a Vietnamese soup craving (though they do different soup pop-ups on weekends).
Rather, order a sandwich, some beer or an interesting cocktail (Pho Old Fashioned anyone?!), and be seated under some pretty white lanterns (shipped from Vietnam!) under a wall filled with framed photos of Vietnamese albums from the 70s/80s.
There aren’t a whole lot of seats at Mai Mai, it’s actually meant to be more grab + go / take-out (I can see it being perfect for a picnic pick-up in the summertime!)
I absolutely love their Bò Tái Chanh – Vietnamese Beef Lime Salad. It’s basically a mountain of meat and veg with a spicy kick. Some places make the tai (the beef steak) in their beef salad a bit more rare which I also like but Mai Mai’s more well-done version is delicious too!
They also have an assortment of salad rolls (including a more unique grilled beef in betel leaf Gỏi Cuốn Bò Lá Lốt version that’s excellent), Bánh Khọt (mini shrimp and green onion crepes), and the owner is personally obsessed with Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches so part of wanting to open a Vietnamese restaurant was because he wanted to serve / eat banh mi sandwiches lol (I really enjoyed their Bánh Mì Ốp La – Easy Over Eggs, Back bacon & Patè!!)
And Mai Mai also offers an interesting Bánh Tiêu Bò Khô Beef Stew Brisket—basically like an open face sandwich (they describe it as a hollow donut) twist on a typical Vietnamese Bò Khô beef stew. You definitely get the flavours of the beef stew in this tasty twist—it’s just sort of messy to eat lol.
The owners are actually long-time customers of my parents restaurant so it was really nice to see their dreams being realized through this restaurant!
West Edmonton folks have a trendy new Vietnamese spot in Đa Kao, located in Terra Losa (near West Edmonton Mall). This is another street food-focused Vietnamese eatery, described as “contemporary” and run by two young and passionate Vietnamese Edmontonians who were both born and grew up in Đa Kao ward, a central region in District 1, Sài Gòn, Vietnam.
(They’re going for “Sai Gon Street Vibes” here).
At Đa Kao, you’ll find an assortment of typical, authentic Vietnamese appetizers (salad rolls, spring rolls, chicken wings), plus some banh mi sandwiches, vermicelli bowls, some pho and other soups, plus drinks and specials.
For specialty items here, you could try the Da Kao Dragon Fruit Salad Rolls, which comes pretty in pink—with your choice of protein filling, though I would say the dragon fruit flavour doesn’t really differentiate well from a typical salad roll lol. Or their refreshing Lemongrass Salad (your choice of protein—beef, chicken, shrimp, pork or tofu, comes with starfruit and a delicious sauce too). Though some other Vietnamese restaurants also serve it, Vietnamese Chicken Wings are also a great pick, and Mike rarely resists a Vietnamese Beef Stew (Bo Kho), though this one’s broth isn’t as thick as what we usually prefer.
You can also try their specialty Da Lat Avocado Smoothie with Ice Cream (Kem Bo), or Đa Kao house-made Flan & Ice Cream (Kem Tron)!
This is another spot that feels more grab and go / take-out, as they don’t have a ton of seats (around 20). I like the big photos depicting scenes from Vietnam that line the red and yellow walls. They also sell Đa Kao Vietnamese coffee filters here.
I don’t think we can talk about trendy Vietnamese restaurants in Edmonton without talking about what I would consider one of the first ‘trendier’ spots that opened up in the more recent influx of trendy Vietnamese locations:
XO Bistro + Bar, opened in 2020 as a “modern Vietnamese” restaurant serving authentic flavours with unique twists.
Their original location is right in the heart of downtown Edmonton and it wasn’t long after that (2021) when they opened a second spot in MacTaggart south west Edmonton.
Some unique items you’ll find at XO Bistro include big juicy, Spicy Salted Egg Yolk Prawns, or XO Fries with a spicy aioli, pickled carrots, jalapeno, cilantro, sub sauce, topped with a grilled meat (or tofu/egg) of your choice, a Pho Beef Dip (slow brised beef with caramalized onions, toasted baguette, cilantro, and a pho broth au jus for dipping), and a Vegan Pho! I brought my pescatarian friend for a recent re-visit (blog research!) and she loved the Vegan pho.
The interior of their south side location is really nice—with a beautiful (fake, still lovely lol) cherry blossom tree in the centre.
One of the newest restaurants to open in Edmonton’s Chinatown is Co Chin Saigon, which focuses on serving authentic, traditional Vietnamese dishes.
Despite the ‘traditional’ description, I still place Co Chin Saigon in the ‘trendier’ Vietnamese restaurant category, mainly because they offer up a bunch of unique dishes and rotating daily specials, aimed at sharing with Edmontonians the “taste of Saigon.”
Mondays you can order Bún Đậu Mắm Tôm, a fermented shrimp paste vermicelli combo, plus a Bánh Giò, savoury rice dumpling. On Tuesdays, get Bánh Cuốn Nhân Thịt or Bánh Ướt Tôm Chà, Vietnamese rice rolls, on Wednesday, find Bánh Xèo, Vietnamese sizzling pancake with pork belly, shrimp, sprouts, leafy greens and herbs. Thursdays are for Canh Bún, Vietnamese field crab vermicelli noodle with crab meatballs and congealed pork blood cubes, while Friday is for Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang noodle soup, Saturday is Bún Chả Hà Nội, a vermicelli noodle dish with grilled bacon and fatty pork, and Sunday you can order Combo Bèo Lọc Trần Đúc—a combo of traditional Vietnamese cakes including Bánh bèo, bánh lọc, bánh ít trần, and bánh đúc.
They also do the Bo Ne Vietnamese steak and egg in hot pan dish here on weekends, and hot pot, shared family style soup dinners too, and they have Bột Chiên Vietnamese fried rice cake with eggs.
You have a lot of excellent options for traditional Vietnamese specialties here and the daily specials really encourage you to visit throughout the week. If the specialties aren’t for you, they also serve up your typical Vietnamese dishes too, pho soup and pork chops on rice, etc.
Photo Credit: Miss Saigon Vietnamese Noodle House
Miss Saigon Vietnamese Noodle House is a late night Vietnamese eatery off Whyte Ave. that is open late (12 a.m. weekdays and 2:30 a.m. weekends). They also offer a ton of specialties unique to them.
Not only is Miss Saigon home to the Pho Challenge: a huge bowl of 1 lb of sliced rare beef, 1 lb of beef brisket, 2 lbs of noodles and veggies in 4L of broth, they also offer a Phorrito: a burrito that tastes like pho, and are the only ones in town (to my knowledge) that serve a Half and Half Bowl for when you want a bit of pho AND vermicelli or rice in one order.
They also do stir fried rice served in a pineapple! Lots of unique dishes here.
And last (for now) on my ‘Trendy Vietnamese’ list is An Chay, the city’s only Vegetarian + Vegan Vietnamese restaurant (which is what classifies it as trendy, for me lol).
At An Chay (which translates to ‘eat Vegetarian’) you’ll find Vegetarian + Vegan takes on many Vietnamese classics, from spring rolls to tofu rolls, vermicelli bowls and noodle soups (pho + spicier bun hue), plus tofu rices, Vegetarian betel leaf wraps and more.
As with really all Vietnamese restaurants in the city, this is a family-owned operation and the owners are super sweet. I also appreciate the commitment to Vegetarian + Vegan cuisine (not something that is high priority personally for me, but I know it’s something a lot of people are always looking for, and it’s great we have such an offering in Edmonton).
For a meat eater like me, I often find I feel like something is still missing after eating vegetarian or vegan food, but I never feel that after a meal at An Chay!
A Few Tried, True & Traditional Vietnamese Restaurants
- King Noodle House Pho Hoang
- Xu Hue
- Tau Bay
- Pho Hoan Pasteur
- Co Do Hue
- Thanh Thanh
- Pho Thanh
Of course in a Traditional Vietnamese Restaurant category, I’ll start with my parents’ restaurant! While I obviously I am biased, there are enough people, customers, reviews, and just general evidence over my parents’ 27+ years in business, to indicate that they serve delicious Vietnamese food in Edmonton lol.
Now when I think traditional restaurants, my parents really take the cake because they know what they do well, and that’s all they do. They also are steadfast in refusal to change. lol You will not find unique dishes here. You will not find different rotating specials. You might not even find great service depending on the day and my dad’s mood, to be honest, lol.
They have been doing this for a very long time and do want to retire (the building is for sale, if you know anyone who wants to open up in Chinatown! lol), so they’re not really interested in going above and beyond anymore LOL but—that doesn’t mean the food still isn’t excellent.
You just aren’t coming here for cool vibes or Vietnamese dish variety.
Come for our pho—a recipe that’s been passed down three generations, with a broth that cooks for 13+ hours each night. It’s the star!
We also have some vermicelli dishes too, and an excellent bun bo hue, but really, that’s about it. lol some people hate that—especially if you’ve been to really any other Vietnamese restaurant. We do not have the options that other places have but our customers don’t mind!
Anyway, my parents restaurant won’t be around for much longer (we’ll see lol) and I don’t think I’d reopen or start something with their recipes anytime soon (but eventually in the future?!) so be sure to visit them now while you still can!
Xu Hue
10548 97 St. | Website
I am a big fan of Xu Hue, located along the main 97 Street Chinatown strip. Like some of the trendier spots in town, Xu Hue serves some Vietnamese dishes unique to them, in a very simple, no-fuss setting.
Here you’ll find Bot Chien, a delicious Vietnamese rice and egg cake, Banh Xeo, Vietnamese crepe, a Bun Hen small clams noodle soup, and Bun Rieu, crab and pork soup, and an excellent Bo Luc Lac tender marinated shaken beef on its own or with rice, which are among some of the specialty items that my family likes to order when we eat here.
Some of the dishes you can increasingly find at other Vietnamese spots but Xu Hue was one of the locations that offered them first/originally when most other Vietnamese restaurants didn’t.
Another classic, popular, and traditional Vietnamese restaurant in Edmonton—also located in Chinatown—is Pho Tau Bay.
For many years, Tau Bay was arguably the biggest competitor for my parents’ Vietnamese restaurant because similar to us—they have a very straight forward menu focused primarily on their soups.
I only say ‘for many years’ and not currently a main competitor because there are *so many* Vietnamese restaurants in Edmonton now, every Vietnamese restaurant is pretty much a competitor lol.
Tau Bay is also famous for closing for long periods of time for vacation—so much so that back in the day someone created a ‘Is Tau Bay Open?’ website to help people know whether or not the restaurant was open for dining lol.
Photo Credit: Pho Hoan Pasteur.
Pho Hoan Pasteur is a popular Vietnamese restaurant with several locations across the Edmonton area, serving authentic Vietnamese cuisine since 2005. It has been voted Best Vietnamese Restaurant in both Calgary and Edmonton. Here you’ll find many classic Vietnamese dishes, your typical appetizers, rice and vermicelli dishes, plus soups, including Pho Hoan Pasteur’s much-raved about Peanut Beef Sate Soup.
They are also the only local Vietnamese restaurant I’ve been to that infuses rice in their tea!
Co Do Hue
Multiple locations – Northeast, Northwest, West and South Edmonton | Website
Photo Credit: Co Do Hue.
Co Do Hue is another very popular Vietnamese restaurant in the city, with several locations in various quadrants, making it easy to get your fix. They’ve been around for more than 10 years, and I would say like the other restaurants under the ‘Traditional’ Vietnamese restaurant category, are a family-owned, no-fuss eatery offering delicious classic dishes, with a focus on tastes from the Vietnamese capital city of Huế (northern Vietnam).
Menus vary slightly depending on which location you’re at, but Co Do Hue is well known for their spicy, crispy chicken wings in particular, plus their Bun Bo Hue spicy noodle soup (which hails from the Hue region). They also serve pork and shrimp tapioca dumplings (unique-ish to them). Their owner also went to high school with my brother!
Photo Credit: Thanh Thanh
Thanh Thanh is a longstanding, family-owned Vietnamese restaurant just outside of Chinatown that specializes in traditional Vietnamese cuisine. They have been around since 1986, making them one of the longest-running Vietnamese eateries in Edmonton.
Thanh Thanh is consistently busy for lunch (the downtown business crowd loves them!) and our family likes to go here for some family dinners as well.
Pho Thanh in south Edmonton is a casual Vietnamese restaurant specializing in traditional Vietnamese dishes. I really like their selection of salad rolls, particularly because they include a crunchy spring roll wrapper piece inside so there’s this extra bit of texture with each bite.
They are located in the same lot as V5 Nails, the Vietnamese nail studio where I get my nails done too, so I have been known to grab salad rolls or sinh to (Vietnamese milkshakes) before or after my nail appointments lol.
They haven’t been around as long as the other ‘tried and true’ restaurants but I wanted to include them for the ‘traditional’ aspect.
A Few Vietnamese Spots with Specialities
I also wanted to shout out to a few Vietnamese restaurants with certain specialties or unique qualifiers that may interest you:
- Pho or Kuy Teav Noodle Shack
- Midnight Sun
- Halong Bay Noodle House
Pho or Kuy Teav Noodle Shack
12924 97 St. | Instagram
Photo Credit: Pho or Kuy Teav Noodle Shack
Pho or Kuy Teav Noodle Shack is Edmonton’s first Vietnamese and Cambodian restaurant. Along with Vietnamese pho / noodle dishes, they also serve Cambodian soups, BBQ, some Cambodian / Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwich fusion items, and more.
Midnight Sun
11003 124 St. | Website
Please excuse my poor quality images of Midnight Sun’s Bot Chien from 2014 lol
I have some pretty fond memories meeting my dad for lunches at Midnight Sun. This is a Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant where we’d always share a hot and sour soup, some kind of fried rice or stir fry, and a Vietnamese favourite, Bột Chiên Vietnamese fried rice cake with egg.
We think Midnight Sun makes the best Bột Chiên in the city!
Photo Credit: Halong Bay Noodle House
Up in north Edmonton you’ll find Halong Bay Noodle House, which offers a big menu of Vietnamese classics, some specialties including Salt & Chilli Pepper Frog Legs, Blue Water Seafood (Shrimp, Scallop, Squid and Mussels on a hot plate), Deep Fried Pineapple and Ice Cream, and a range of Vegetarian options too.
Vietnamese Banh Mi Sandwich Spots
And finally to round out this guide, here’s a few spots to pick up some Vietnamese Banh Mi Sandwiches in the city:
- Nhon Hoa / Nhon Hoa 2
- Van Loc
- Banh Mi Cali
- Banh Mi Zon
Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches are some of the very best sandwiches out there and Nhon Hoa / Nhon Hoa 2 offer some of the very best (at some of the very best prices) of banh mi in Edmonton. These are family-owned sandwich shops that have split off with ownership over the years, but in theory use the same recipes so it’s all pretty consistent. There are two locations in Chinatown, a location along Whyte Ave., and one in north Edmonton. Nhon Hoa (at least one of the Chinatown locations, at one point, lol) bakes their own bread as well!
The ‘Combo’ sandwich is my go-to, which includes a mix of Vietnamese sausage, head. cheese, housemade pate, make it spicy with some jalapeños.
Nhon Hoa is considered one of the OG / original Vietnamese banh mi shops in Edmonton.
Just a street over in Chinatown you’ll find the other OG / original Vietnamese banh mi shop in the city—Van Loc—which also recently got some help with a little rebrand and becoming active online. Van Loc has been making their delicious banh mis since 1997. It was owned and operated by a brother and his two sisters for more than 25 years but as of writing this post they had recently sold the business to retire. The inside of the shop used to be very unassuming and there was a TV that always played Paris by Night or a similar Vietnamese musical performance and variety show, but since the newer, younger, hipper owners took over I’m not quite sure what the vibe is yet lol. Like Nhon Hoa, Van Loc’s sandwich prices are super affordable. You really can’t go wrong with a banh mi from Van Loc!
By Kingsway Mall, you can pick up some California-inspired Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches at Banh Mi Cali. The breads are baked fresh daily and the sandwiches come from a family recipe passed down over 20 years (from California!)
Banh Mi Zon has become a go-to for folks out east in Sherwood Park. This is a fast-casual eatery specializing in take-out. They also bake their own banh mi bread fresh daily, offer some good combos (sandwich with spring rolls + pop, or bubble tea, or salad rolls, or Wonton soup, etc.), along with some Vegetarian tofu, beef chicken, and pork banh mi sandwich options too.
So that’s my Guide to Vietnamese Restaurants in Edmonton—from the Trendy to the Traditional!
Once again I want to stress that this is NOT an exhaustive list for Vietnamese food in Edmonton.
I really didn’t want to exclude restaurants but there are literally *so many* Vietnamese restaurants in the city, it would be silly if I just listed them all out lol (you can just Google for that lol). I am not kidding when I say there is probably a family-owned, Vietnamese restaurant in your neighbourhood. They are everywhere in Edmonton, lol. And that’s great to see!
Everyone should experience Vietnamese cuisine, it’s absolutely delicious.
If you want to shout out to your favourite local Vietnamese restaurant for blog post visitors to see, be sure to leave a comment below!
Happy eating!!
Linda
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