It’s no secret Vietnamese cooks are on a culinary planet of their own.

LA, one of the food Mecca’s of the US, has a high concentration of Vietnamese cooks in Little Saigon, a collection of restaurants and bakeries highlighting Vietnamese food in Westminster CA.

From June 15th – Sept 2nd, 7-11pm, there is a night market at the Asian Garden Mall.

The environment is absolutely immaculate and easily transports you to the night markets of Asia, with an Uncle loudly belting out karaoke and a myriad of food, clothing and toy options haphazardly scattered around.

In order of enjoyment, here are the foods I had.

• Pork vermicelli bowl – Spring rolls were great, wasn’t the biggest fan of the round noodles, pork was seasoned well, fish sauce was okay.
• Fried banana – Weirdly enough the banana was not flattened but the banana and batter were solid.
• BBQ pork skewer – Good flavor, but meat wasn’t super tender.
• Rice Roll – BBQ pork, mint and green onions inside a rice roll.
• Pandan tea (Xâm Dứa) – Pandan flavor was pretty mild.
• Pandan Roll Cake (Bánh ống lá dứa) – I enjoyed the coconut milk, peanuts and shredded coconut on top of the cake, but the cake itself isn’t my favorite texture. It’s spongy, yet still dry. This is how I remember the cake tasting in Vietnam so really it’s on me for ordering it.
• Vietnamese pizza – Wasn’t made fresh, they reheated one they had made a while ago and the dried shrimp and egg on top were just okay. I’ve had other toppings I’ve liked more.