It’s no secret that I love noodles, so how could I resist a place called VH Noodle House? A house made of noodles?! Yes, please!
VH Noodle House is located in Richmond (on the border with El Cerrito) in the 99 Ranch shopping center, a.k.a. Pacific East Mall. For those who don’t know, 99 Ranch is a chain of Chinese supermarkets, and 99 Ranch stores are often located in shopping centers specifically focused on the Asian demographic. At Pacific East Mall, you’ll find great restaurants (including previously posted Daimo), ranging from Korean bbq to Vietnamese pho to Hong Kong style dim sum, as well as a Ten Ren tea shop, a karaoke bar, and a Japanese bookstore.
I confess that I went to VH Noodle House a couple of years ago and was very disappointed. I think I ordered something weird — like, I wanted the Chinese beef noodles, but ended up with a big bowl of beef tendons, with noodles on the side. Now, I don’t mind a tiny bit of tendon mixed in with regular cuts, but not an entire bowl of it. Even thinking about it now makes my stomach turn. Also, I found that the pho place next door was really good, so whenever it came down to trying VH Noodle House again or going to Pho Saigon, Pho Saigon always won out.
That is, until about a month ago, when I decided to give VH Noodle House another try. After doing some research on Yelp, I headed there with JL with renewed confidence. Yelpers were overwhelmingly in favor of the Chew Jow noodles, which can be best described as combination noodle soup. It’s a clear broth soup (you can also get it on the side) and comes with a lot of stuff: pork, chicken, shrimp, fish balls, fish cake, meat balls, and pork kidney. I had mine sans kidney, with wide rice noodles.
Chew Jow noodles (aka cornucopia of meat and meat products)
JL ordered the shittake mushroom and broccoli noodle soup, and I ordered beef chow fun, to go. We both thought it was odd that they gave us the choice between Chinese broccoli or regular broccoli. I mean, regular broccoli is fine, but really? Chinese broccoli is so much tastier! What sane person would actually prefer regular broccoli over Chinese broccoli? OK, end of rant. Anyway, JL really liked her noodles, and the beef chow fun was delicious (not pictured) and enough for 2 meals. A great value!
Shittake mushroom and Chinese broccoli noodle soup
poor scientist. will blog 4 food. 