Ha VL - Review - Jade District - Portland, OR - The Infatuation
"Portland has no shortage of spots to grab a steamy bowl of phở. But nothing beats Hà VL. This simply decorated Vietnamese restaurant on 82nd has a daily rotation of two or three soups with illustrative photos on the wall, which doesn’t always include the beefy classic (that’s served on Sunday). The options could be bún chả ốc with snail meatballs, tofu, and tomatoes on a Thursday, or a coconut chicken curry soup on a Wednesday. To prevent broth-based heartache, go early if you’re set on a particular soup since they’ll sell out by lunch. There are two other iterations of Hà VL around town—Rose VL Deli on Powell and the newer, more centrally located Annam VL. We like this location because it’s in the Jade District so you can stock up on Asian groceries at nearby markets. photo credit: Emily Joan Greene Food Rundown Vietnamese Turmeric Noodle Soup A.k.a. mì quảng. It’s a Sunday special that manages to be light despite all of the pork (ribs, ground, sliced, and in meatloaf form). The soup also includes shrimp, peanuts, and a fried sesame rice cracker for texture, all tied together with sunny turmeric rice noodles for color. Pnompenh Noodle Soup This borderline baroque soup is never boring. You’ll find slices of Chinese BBQ-style pork, liver for that mineral tang, plus a few shrimp and fish balls, and handfuls of garlic chives, chrysanthemum leaves, quail eggs, and fried pork cracklings. Highly customizable, you can get it made with rice or egg noodles or a mixture of the two. Each is so good, you should try both together. Chicken Curry Noodle Soup We like to switch things up mid-week when it’s all about this light poultry-laden soup teeming with shredded chicken, potatoes, and vermicelli noodles in a coconut milk-based yellow curry broth spiked with lemongrass. Pencil in Wednesdays on your calendar to remember when to get this creamy chicken soup." - Krista Garcia
