Dipping Tiger Review - Chinatown - Houston - The Infatuation
"Dipping Tiger is a Chinatown phở specialist. From the folks behind Tiger Den, this almost entirely soup-focused Vietnamese restaurant in a strip center off the main Bellaire drag feels more like a small cafe holed up inside a 1920s subway station with an excessive art collection. It’s windowless, sparse, and perfect for sitting alone while engaging in a nondescript analog activity, like reading a newspaper or experiencing a bout of ennui between noodle pulls. And the phở is fantastic. The clarified consomme tastes rich without being fatty, and the meat is just thick enough to carry through its beefy flavor to the broth, like the shaved rare steak in the phở tái, but thin enough to not feel cumbersome alongside the noodles. photo credit: Quit Nguyen photo credit: Quit Nguyen photo credit: Quit Nguyen Food Rundown photo credit: Quit Nguyen Cà Phê Sữa Đá Dipping Tiger’s Vietnamese iced coffee is a great balance between extreme chicory flavor and condensed milk sweetness. It also arrives without the sometimes dysfunctional dripper. Meaning there's no wait time on chugging down this heavy dose of caffeine. photo credit: Quit Nguyen Chả Giò Thịt We appreciate the feather-thin wrapper on these eggrolls, as well as the generous portion of meat inside and the ever-so-sweet fish sauce for dipping. These are best ordered if you are dining with at least one other person. Otherwise, go straight for the soup. photo credit: Quit Nguyen Phở Tái Served with only thin slices of rare beef and herbs, you can finish this bowl of phở easily without worrying about leftovers. It’s lighter, but the broth still offers the flavorful, herb-packed depth of the more meat-heavy versions. photo credit: Quit Nguyen Phở Đặc Biệt The combination phở here comes with rare steak, well-done flank steak, tendon, tripe, and spongy, elastic beef meatballs. It’s the kind of stomach-lining soup you order when nothing else will fill or fix you. It’s fresh-tasting thanks to all the herbs, but still hefty." - Chelsea Thomas
