Friday Favorites: Vien Huong

I was born in upstate New York. While my parents were finishing up school, I lived with my grandparents in Taipei. In our neighborhood, there was a gwe-a diam, or “rice stick shop” in Taiwanese. These were common back in the early 80s, though sadly, I couldn’t find a single one on our recent trips to Taiwan. Gwe-a, similar to ho fun, but often roughly cut from a sheet of rice noodle, was my favorite food as a kid. I’ve always loved noodles, and rice noodles especially.

I don’t know much about the Teochew diaspora, but a lot of Teochew / Chao Zhou / Chow Jew people ended up in Taiwan (as well as Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong…)

What I can tell you is the first time I tasted Chow Jew Ho Fun at Vien Huong in Oakland Chinatown, I thought… oh yeah, that’s my childhood.

We’re regulars at this point. The servers will ask, “Same thing?” rather than taking our order. Apparently they have other things on their menu, but the lettering reads CHOW JEW HO FUN on their window for a reason.

If you’ve never tasted this type of noodle soup before, it has a clear, flavorful broth made from chicken and pork, a bit of fragrant shallot oil, and a bunch of toppings… shrimp, fish balls, pork ball, pork bits, kidney, and sliced chicken or pork. (We like chicken days — you probably could request one or the other, but variety is the spice of life, so we’ll take the surprise.) If you prefer egg noodles, Chow Jew Mi comes in thin and thick versions. As for vegetables, there’s a nice crunch added by bean sprouts and green onions.

In 2017, I decided to take a photo of every bowl of ho fun I ate at Vien Huong that year. I’m sure I missed a few, but you get the idea…

If you read Vien Huong’s Yelp reviews, there are complaints as well as accolades. Look, they get busy. They get REALLY busy during lunch, and you’ll have to sit elbow-to-elbow with randos. So here’s my pro tip: go for breakfast. Noodles for breakfast is the way to go! You get a table, no wait. The broth is fresh, strongly-flavored, piping hot. It’s the perfect way to start a weekend. Maybe every weekend. Happy noodling!