House Special
1269 Hamilton | 778-379-2939 | HouseSpecial.ca
Open daily for lunch, 11:30am-3pm; dinner 5pm until late.
Vietnamese cuisine is on a roll in Vancouver, it seems. With the opening of Mr. Red Café and its now-legendary Hanoi-based dishes, it seemed like Vancouver was finally ready to appreciate more than the ubiquitous banh mi of Au Petit and Ba Le fame or else the standard pho. The only thing missing was maybe some cocktails, which was taken care of when Anh & Chi opened up on Main Street in the old Pho Hoang location (by the son and daughter of the original owner). Now, another brother-and-sister team has expanded the Vietnamese dining profile with the opening of House Special in Yaletown. It’s turned what has historically been a rather dead block of Hamilton.
Owners Patrick and Victoria Do come from a long line of family restaurateurs, both here and in Texas. You might have heard of Green Lemongrass on Kingsway, founded by their mother, Yen. It’s still in operation, with a second location in Richmond. Patrick and Victoria have got game galore, and aren’t afraid to borrow successful recipes from family members, like the chicken wings from Uncle Hing in Houston ($12). These are plated over a thin layer of crispy rice bits and are slightly magical. Deeply crispy exteriors hide plump, succulent free-range meat flavoured with nuoc cham. Another winner was the frybread off the lunch menu. For $7, you get a soft, hollow, sesame-laced bread stuffed with hearties like five-spice duck confit with Asian slaw or sautéed mushrooms with house aioli.
Less successful was the son-in-law egg ($6). While the soft-boiled and deep-fried egg was perfectly runny and delicious, the tamarind jam it sits on is grindingly sweet and overpowers any other flavours on the plate. The jam appears again on the pork ribs ($12), which are nicely crisped, but rather bare in meat and also overwhelmed by the sweetness of the tamarind.
The restaurant’s name is a reference to the house special pho that every Vietnamese restaurant features. Here, the large bowl ($14) holds a beef-based broth that is filled with tendon, tripe and other off-cuts of beef, as well as bean sprouts, basil, onions and lime. It’s a bit light on the herbs, but is aromatic and tasty nonetheless.
The house salad ($14) is more inventive and delivers some punch. Green papaya and dehydrated mango play nicely with avocado, fresh herbs, goji berries, peanuts and heart of palm for some well-balanced flavours and textures. Shaken beef ($17) was a favourite dish on several visits.
In line with the more modern and upscale presentation, the wine list (by the bottle) is small but smartly chosen and full of value, like New Zealand’s The Ned ($40). A handful of decent cocktails are also worth trying, including the Kaffir Lime Collins ($9) and the Plum Smuggler ($10), but it’s the beer list that shines brightest, with selections from Four Winds, Yellow Dog, Bridge and Steel Toad.
House Special still has some kinks to work out. Music is alternately quite nice or overly blaring, service is still inconsistent, and that tamarind jam needs to check itself, but, on the whole, there is more to applaud than disapprove, and there’s potential for this spot to turn into a top restaurant in any category.
Food: ★★★
Service: ★★
Ambiance: ★★★
Value: ★★★
Overall: ★★★
All ratings out of five stars.
★: Okay, nothing memorable.
★★: Good, shows promise.
★★★: Very good, occasionally excellent.
★★★★: Excellent, consistently above average.
★★★★★: Awe-inspiring, practically perfect in every way.
Anya Levykh is a freelance food, drink and travel writer who covers all things ingestible. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @foodgirlfriday.
