Gary I.
Yelp
Tay Ho in San Gabriel has done genius packaging to age old Vietnamese cuisine. Box printed in vibrant blue, orange, white. Inside plastic tray is divided to perfectly fit in all the comestibles looking like a circuit board. The box is placed in an orange mesh bag inscribed with the Tay Ho logo and presented with a bit of flair.
My wish was to have the flavours to be commensurate to what was in the bespoke box. However, I found it to be a mixed bag.
*1) Banh Uot: Springy, satiny soft, translucent, steamed rice crêpes with a mild snap. Well executed to the point the "skins" don't stick together into a gooey mess even hours after purchase. These square Crêpes are used as wrappers for various ingredients in the box.
*2) Nuoc Cham: Excellent sweetened Nuoc Mam/fish sauce with possibly a touch of vinegar to add Gastrique. Great condiment to enliven & awaken hidden flavours for dishes in the box.
3) Sliced, dried garlic has a nutty taste & texture to be placed at a whim.
*3) Nem Nuong is exemplary: meaty, rough ground pork sausage, fatty in a good way infused with strong garlic, Nuoc Mam. So sad that it was sooo small.
I put bits of sausage in a sheet of Banh Uot with a bit of the veggie mix of blanched bean sprouts, julienned cucumber, cilantro, possibly chopped Vietnamese "Shiso" tasting like basil.
3) Cha Lua: Steamed pork terrine is cut up into thicker slices to be put wrapped up in the Banh Uot or by itself. Rather bland and lacking in Nuoc Mam Umami.
I got desperate so I cut up the Cha Lua and soaked them in the Nuoc Cham for them to absorb more tasty flavour.
4) Banh Cuon Thit Nuong: Banh Uot stuffed with a filling of ground pork, cloud ear fungus which was disappointingly bland, crumbly dry, tasteless even after applying Nuoc Cham.
5) Cha Gio: Ground Shrimp fried egg roll. Wheat covering so it fries with a softer, bready texture. Unlike rice covering which fries into a shattering crispness. The filling is supposedly shrimp but seems more like finely ground, not well seasoned pork.
Not just fried. It seems left out for a long time so whatever crispness it had was long gone.
6) Banh Tom: Shredded sweet potato & small shrimp fritters were pre-fried, cold, stale picking up ambient moisture. This may be the worst Banh Tom I've had in a while.
Overall 3 stars . I miss the old Tay Ho which was also on Valley Boulevard in what may have been Rosemead.
* denotes my favorites