Nam Hua Vietnamese Cuisine (Garland, TX)

I always pass by this restaurant during my trip to Garland but never had a chance to try it until today. It was around 5:30pm. As usual, my wife and I peeked inside the restaurant to see if there were people eating there. We do this every times we want to try a new place. It was empty. We wondered why. We thought about eating some place else but decided to go to the supermarket in SaiGon Mall and do some grocery shopping first and decide what to eat later. When we were done shopping at around 6:30pm, we gave it another peek and this time, there were a few tables with people inside. We decided to give it a try. After sitting down, the waiter gave us a menu and on the back with a list of "Mon Nhau" written in Vietnamese only. I was trying to translate the dishes to my wife (who is Chinese) but she couldn't decide what to order since she couldn't visualize how they look and more importantly how they taste. The waitress somehow noticed that and brought us 2 photo albums of the dishes. Within 5 minutes, we knew exactly what to order.

We ordered the following:
1) Oc Huong Nuong (Grilled escargots) - $16.95 - Great dish. I haven't had this good snail dish since the last time I went back to Viet Nam in 2003.
2) Chem Chep Nuong Bo (Grilled Mussels) $12.95 - Good but not great.
3) Bo Bop Thau (Underdone Beef Mixed with Shredde Banana Flowers) - $14.95 - Great beef salad.
4) Hu Tieu Nam Vang - $7.50 - for our kids. - OK but skip if you don't have young kids who cannot eat "Mon Nhau"
5) Cha Gio - 3 rolls for $2.50 - Best I have ever had in Dallas. My 5 year old loves this dish.

We did see few tables bringing their own beer to eat with Mon Nhau and a few tables eating hot pots.
They have Goat hot pot, Seafood hot pot, Thai style hot pot and others. No comment on those since I have not tried them

Price Range: $-$$

Website:
http://www.namhua.net/

Address:
3112 N Jupiter Rd # 305, Garland, TX 75044
(in the same Saigon Mall Shopping area)

Phone: (972) 414-8638

Notes:
- Mon Nhau (food meant to be eaten with alcohol which include
  and not limited to salad, seafood, wild boar, frog etc...) and Lau (Hot Pots)
- The menu does not have pictures of the food and some do not
  have English description. Ask the waiter/waitress for the picture
  album and the take out menu. On the take out menu, "Mon Nhau"
  is listed under "Mon Dac San/House Specialties" and
  Goi/House Specialty Salads.
- They do have a long list on Mon Chay (Vegetarian dishes).
  I have not tried them so do not know if they're good.
- All of the items (# 1 to 3) above do NOT come with rice so you
  may need to order fried rice or noodle if you're not used to eat without them.

VL Rating: Excellence


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