The Bureaucrat and I came across this little Vietnamese eatery place by coincidence on the way foraging for eats further down Little Lonsdale St. HB Village appeared to be newly opened touting Vietnamese street food so in the spirit of adventure we thought we give it a go.
HB Village was popular enough with the lunch crowd with patrons coming and going. But one thing I did note whilst eating my lunch was how the cold winds outside whistled through the place (the place had two entrances at each corner). I shivered through my meal.
HB Village is a hybrid between a sit down Vietnamese restaurant and a food court. You place your order and pay at the counter and you settle yourself at a table and your order number is called out.
I went for a pork special vermicelli. It came with grilled pork, spring rolls, shredded salad and the requisite nuoc pham. It was a very generous serve for $12.
The pork was flavoured nicely with lemongrass however I was a bit disappointed with the spring rolls. They were fridge cold. I understand the spring rolls were made ahead and refrigerated however I believe mine were not heated up prior to serving. I washed it down with a cup of soy milk. It was an average grade soy. Not the creamy luscious soy I was expecting, it was a bit watered down.
The Bureaucrat warmed herself up with a bowl of pho with pork and prawn.
The verdict from Bureaucrat was that the soup was heartening but not the distinctly boiled-for-hours with heaps of herbs and bones pho broth one would find in the Vietnamese food epicentres of Richmond or Springvale.
Verdict: We liked it.
Overall
For a quick grab and go lunch, HB Village would suffice. It's not the Vietnamese food to the quality of Richmond and Springvale but a reasonable lunch option in the CBD.
2 comments:
Loving the look of the pork vermicelli - looks like a great cheap lunch option, huge serving size too!
Yes it was rather a generous portion! Kept me going to dinner
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