The Lunch Lady is the famous Vietnamese street stall in Ho Chi Minh City in South Vietnam made favour world-wide by Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. They are opening their first North American location in Vancouver. I’ve personally never been to The Lunch Lady, but I do appreciate really good flavours in food especially noodles.
Michael Tran and his mother Victoria, the restauranteurs and owners behind Five Elements restaurant on Commercial Drive are the people behind The Lunch Lady in Vancouver. They bonded with Mrs. Nguyen Thanh’s dishes and her stories that they had to bring her recipes to Vancouver and continue her legacy.
We were given a sneak peek of The Lunch Lady for take out to see what they are all about.
Keeping You Safe
With the Covid-19 pandemic, they are ensuring everyone’s safety when dining in. When they open, they will have the following safety protocols.
Physical Distancing
The restaurant will be set up where social distancing is possible. There will be designated waiting areas from take out and delivery too.
Strict Safety & Hygiene
They follow WorkSafe BC’s hygiene protocols. Staff undergo wellness screenings and will ensure everything that is touched is either responsibly disposed of or thoroughly sanitized.
Limited Capacity
For dine-in guests, there is 6 people maximum per party and will be seated at tables 2 meters apart.
Menu
Spiked Soda Chanh
One of the cocktails on the menu is the spiked soda chanh, which has fresh calamansi, lime, simple syrup, vodka, and Contreau. It’s very refreshing and pairs well with their dishes. I love the addition of the fresh calamansi.
Lychee Passion
The second cocktail is their Lychee Passion, which has lychee and raspberry fruit, fresh lemon, gin, dry vermouth, and lychee liquor. Very delicious as well.
Banh Tom Chien
This is Miss Thanh’s crispy prawn fritter with sweet chili sauce. I really enjoyed this. For takeout, it stayed very very crisp.
Nem Nuong
These are housemade pork sausage salad rolls with a house sauce. I loved it and the addition of the pandan leaf gave it a lovely aroma.
Bun Thai
This beautiful bowl of noodles has prawns, squid, local clams, sliced beef, and vermicelli noodles with sweet and spicy tamarind broth. The dish is beautiful and the broth isn’t too spicy at all.
You can only find this on the specials on certain Mondays, but make sure to follow them on social media to see if they are featuring this.
Banh Canh Cua
This bowl of noodles has prawns, crab and shrimp cake, sliced pork, and tapioca noodles in a rich crab broth. I enjoyed the texture of the tapioca noodles with that delicious crab broth.The prawns were large and had a natural sweetness to them. You’l want to eat the crab and shrimp cake soon as it can get soggy in the soup.
You can only find this on the specials on Saturday only.
Final Thoughts
Overall, we had a really good impression of The Lunch Lady from the items we have tried so far. Everything was great and I’m sure it’ll taste even better at the restaurant when everything is fresh to order.
We are excited to see them open on July 1st to welcome customers from dine-in and take out. We will be back for more of the flavourful dishes.
Address:
1046 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC
Website:
https://thelunchlady.com/
