Vietnamese Restaurants

The search for Vietnamese food has not been easy here in Yokosuka. While finding Vietnam Alice (below) was fairly quick and easy, it took a while to find other quality Vietnamese restaurants closer to home.  Vietnam Alice was located up in Tokyo, so not really suited to an evening out. But persistence eventually paid off, and yes Virginia, there are some other excellent choices closer to home. Nha Vietnam gets honorable mention while My Le (pronounced mee lay) get the top honors by a long shot. (Update: I've made a separate post for My Le)  I'll look at My Le, Nha Vietnam, and Vietnam Alice with pictures of all of them after discussion of all three. Disclaimer: there are quite a few Vietnamese restaurants up in Tokyo and I'm sure a few of them are good. I've seen some reviews on the web and encourage some more searching if you're heading up to Tokyo. But My Le and Nha Viet Nam are good options but not as far as Tokyo.(August 2014 update: I found a Vietnamese Grocery Store near Kamata Station. Details at the bottom of the post).

If you are heading up to the New Sanno, there is a Vietnamese restaurant about 10 minutes walk from Hiroo Subway station. It's called Kitchen. It's probably best to search for it using their phone number 03-3409-5039.  If you plan on going on a weekend you'll probably need reservations. Also, the prices are a bit on the high side.  Once you search for their phone number click on the tabelog or gnavi sites to see some of the dishes and a map of the location.

Kitchen 2F - Near Hiroo station

 
Another small and authentic place for Vietnamese up in Tokyo is called Thien Phuoc. To get there go to Yotsuya Subway station and exit via Exit 1 or 2. Go about one block West, the restaurant will be on the North side of the road. Photos and menus are provided below.  It's worth a stop if your in Tokyo and desire to eat some good Vietnamese food. The Bento.com site gives it a star and it's a bit stingy with its stars.

Thien Phuoc

My Le

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Vietnam Alice

Vietnam Alice was a spin off from the "Queen Alice" restaurant chain which was started by the original (Japan) Iron Chef Yutaka Ishinabe - who appeared in the first year of the program. If you remember it like I do, it was a very popular and entertaining program with English dubbing and gained a cult like following. We visited the Queen Alice restaurant on the 7th floor of the Lumine 1 building at Shinjuku station. The restaurant is very busy and the tables packed in pretty good. Atmosphere is warm and noisy but not over the top. The waitresses run around in traditional Vietnamese Ao Dai dress but don't expect them to speak Vietnamese. 
Longing for some Vietnamese food we went with a great course menu that included all the great Vietnamese appetizers, a salad, some Pho, and dessert. The food was very good, well presented and at a fair price.

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Nha Viet Nam

Nha Vietnam is the closest (to Yokosuka) semi-authentic Vietnamese restaurant. It's located with easy walking distance of the Landmark tower in Yokohama.

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Nha Vietnam serves up generally tasty dishes but misses out on all of those Vietnamese condiments. For instance,  hoisin sauce for the soup was not available. There are several branches located in Tokyo, one in Kawasaki, and the one we visited in Yokohama.  So it's convenient if your shopping up in Yokohama. Another bonus is that it's open for lunch but My Le is not. There menu is available online here and you can use a page translator to read it.

My Le Photos

Awesome Banh Xeo

Pho will all the expected condiments

 Forgot what this was...but good nonetheless

Small cozy place, chairs not very comfortable

Vietnam Alice Photos

Vietnam Alice - Some of the appetizer sampler

 Summer Rolls

 Basil seed dessert

 some of Vietnam Alice menu pages

Nha Vietnam Photos

Nha Vietnam

Nha Vietnam

Thien Phuoc

Thien Phuoc

Thien Phuoc

Thien Phuoc

 

Thien Phuoc

Thien Phuoc

Thein Phuoc Menus

After 4 years, I accidently stumbled across a small but respectable Vietnamese grocery store. My first one actually that I've ever seen in Japan. I is located in the shopping arcade area out the west exit of JR Kamata station. They had a wide selection of noodles, tropical fruit juices, canned goods, spices, sauces, a small freezer for your frozen things (I don't know the name of any of them), and some fresh basil and lemongrass. The shopkeeper was Vietnamese and has been living in Japan for 21 years.

Some photos below will guide you.

 After exiting the west exit of JR Kamata, there are two street shopping arcades. Take the one on the left labeled Sun Road Kamata. Its the bottom of the two blue lines below. The shop is about one half way into the arcade on the left as you walk away from the station. The sign is all in Kanji.

some rice noodles and spices

The shop