Pho 99 Vietnamese Noodle House : Schoolhouse location

Pho 99 and Pho Hoa (I guess Pho Boi now…) are two of the largest Vietnamese franchises in Vancouver. Of course these restaurants may not serve the best Vietnamese food and cannot compare to some of the small family owned establishments, but they get the job done… sort of, for those who have a craving. Or in general, for the non picky.

The newest Pho 99 restaurant is in Coquitlam on Schoolhouse, very close to the SilverCity theatre. The back of the restaurant also has a door which leads to a bowling ally! Since this is the newest Pho 99, the restaurant is very clean and looks nice. I believe this is the largest restaurant in the franchise as well. There are plenty of seats along with booth seating arrangements and the restaurant overall was very comfortable to dine in.

Tung Hing Bakery 同慶餅家

After a long disgusting sweaty game of basketball, we were already running late for a double date and needed to get home fast. But, I was really hungry so took the opportunity to grab a quick snack. Tung Hing is a popular Vietnamese bakery that sells Asian baked goodies and banh mi.

This is also BFs favourite place for banh mi and he is not even a fan of bread, sandwiches or subs. Something about him having too much when he was a child… to the extent that he even gets full just looking at bread! Weird. Tung Hing's baked goodies range from a variety of buns to sesame balls, Chinese donuts and butter croissants.

As for the Vietnamese subs, it is BFs favourite place because he likes to see the preparation. Tung Hing offers the house special, meatball, vegetarian, honey garlic sausage, shredded garlic chicken and lemon grass chicken banh mi. The prices are pretty average and run from $3.50 to $3.95.

Kingsway Deli

Kingsway Deli is a Vietnamese shop that offers banh mi, dessert, hot deli and cold drinks such as shakes, milk tea and fresh fruit smoothies. As for the banh mi, I am loyal to Ba Le and have never been to Kingsway Deli before.

There is a large variety of subs which include cold cut meat, meat balls, shredded pork, pork belly, tofu, chicken, grilled pork, Vietnamese ham as well as shredded and deep fried, banana leaf ham and minced pork. In addition, Kingsway Deli offers spring rolls, salad rolls and beef balls. As for the hot deli, the selection included marinated eggs, bitter melon and preserved vegetables.

Japolo Sushi

My only memory of Japolo Sushi is coming here for lunch in high school. Growing up, I loved sushi and with the limited Japanese restaurants in the area, I told a couple of my friends we had to come here. Both of my friends were pho lovers and left the restaurant quite annoyed at me, claiming I took them to one of the worst restaurants. But, I did not let that get to me since I left happy with a simple california roll and probably tempura in my belly.

Fast forward to years later, I avoid Japolo Sushi because there are so many better options but, BF has always wanted to try the restaurant (he likes to go to restaurants that I avoid, something to do with proving me wrong). Plus, I have never tried the Vietnamese food here before and did not mind trying. The restaurant is located in the same plaza along with North Garden as well as Okoman Sushi, and the interior looks pretty simple. Booth seats against the wall and tables in the centre.

GRILLED PORK BANH MI, PHO TAI, ASSORTED SASHIMI, UNI NIGIRI AND BUN BO HUE.