Hon’s Wonton House is the rebirth of the Hon’s empire with their newest location on 2nd near Olympic Village. Hon’s has been around since 1972 and was a popular Chinese wonton house in the Lower Mainland. As our palates have evolved and the rise of other noodle shops has since given them stiff competition, they have seen better days.
With this new location, their look has been revamped to fit the neighbourhood. I was really curious how the food would compare this time.
Interior
All the seating are in tables of 4s and reminded us of seating in street markets back in Asia. You will see wooden panelling, black furniture, stone bricks and off white paint.
Their kitchen is in full view so you can see how they make your meal. No secrets and it’s all exposed, which is nice to see all the staff hard at work.
Menu
The menu is condensed and features customer favourites like potstickers, rice rolls, wonton soup, and beef brisket. The prices are affordable with fishes ranging from $5 to $11.
Pork Potstickers
For $5, you get 6 pieces of their classic pork potstickers paired with ginger and the potsticker vinegar. All the dumplings seemed like they were boiled or steamed. It would have been nice to have a pan fried version of theses to have more texture.
Wonton Noodle Soup
I got the wonton noodle soup with thin noodles and prawn wonton. There was a lot of noodles in each bowl, so you’ll definitely fill up on that. There were 6 pieces of wontons in this dish and tasted ok. They kept the standard the same and consistent for all these years and I saw that they were using their prepackaged Hon’s wontons, which isn’t surprising.
One thing I didn’t like was the slightly sweet broth for the dish.
Beef Brisket Wonton Noodle Soup
The most expensive item on the menu is this beef brisket wonton noodle soup. It has the same broth as the wonton noodle soup, so it does have a sweet after taste. You get 3 shrimp wontons, lots of noodles, garlic chips, a scoop of the beef brisket, and veggies.
It looks great but the taste was lacklustre. The beef brisket was tough and chewy.
Final Thoughts
The new space is nice, but the food has definitely been stuck in the olden days. The broth was the most problematic for me as I personally prefer it to be saltier than sweeter.
The price range is great for the area and they are able to pump out bowls of food quite quickly, so they have a good rhythm going if they get busy. I really wanted to like the food, but it didn’t hit the mark. Felt like corners were cut so they can’t really create a good bowl of wonton noodle soup. There’s definitely better options around town, but if you like the nostalgia of Hon’s, you can give it a try.
Address:
25 E 2nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC
Website:
http://www.honswontonhouse.com/
