On a busy rainy Saturday, we parked in the first spot we could find on Commercial Drive, prepared to walk a fair distance. As we approached Viet Family, which we had visited a couple of years previously, I was looking specifically at the west side of the road, where I recalled it being. Suddenly, my wife said, "There it is," while pointing to the east side of the road. Of course, this caused some questioning of my cognitive function which I realize is ever less impressive as the years go by.
It's worth noting that this is another This is Plant Curious stop for us.
This place was busy as warm soup is probably the first thing many thought of when they saw the rain this morning, but we got a table right away. I confessed to my server about my thinking the restaurant was on the other side of the road but she assured me that they had moved to these new digs for the extra space! Existential crisis averted! Let's eat!
We started with the Fried Dumplings. If I didn't know better, I would think we were eating pork dumplings. They were quite tasty and I'm glad they were deep-fried. We loved the sauce and spent a lot of time trying to figure out what it was (not that tricky...garlic soy sauce etc.).
We also had the Beef Pho which was perfect for this rainy day. They use an 8-hour broth which is quite impressive. The good stuff in the soup made it a hit. Lots of faux beef, both slices and meatballs were also quite excellent. We loved the noodles and toppings and even good old tofu.
The hit of our lunch was the Bahn Hoi Heo Quay or pork-belly platter. Just look at the vast quantity of herbage! We made lettuce wraps with noodles, vegan fish sauce cucumber, thai basil and a Vietnamese herb that translates to Vietnamese cilantro but really isn't anything like cilantro. 
The pork belly itself was insane. Our server described the general process (it is their only in-house made "meat") for the 3 separate parts of the pork belly: the skin, the fat, and the flesh (it sounds disgusting as I type, and I'm glad it's not real flesh). All I remember is that Vietnamese bread is involved in making the skin. Anyway, it was an impressive faux meat.
We decided to go a little dessert crazy and actually ordered 2. It's been a long time since I had Afflogato and coconut ice cream is completely suitable for this. Loved it!
Second dessert up was a Pandan Sticky Rice and ice cream. It has a much more interesting Vietnamese name but the description is the same either way. Wonderful!
So the new location is bigger but just as busy! I can't imagine that all these people are vegan. They must just realize that plant-based food can be delicious and maybe they don't mind that nothing had to die in the process!
Food 5 out of 5
Vegan Options 5 out of 5
Service 5 out of 5
Comfort 4 1/2 out of 5
Value 5 out of 5
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