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• i heart veggie pho!

Mmm, veggie pho! The food at CHAU VeggiExpress is delicious! I just found out about this new place a few days ago; a Vietnamese friend told me about it. He knows I'm a vegan, and the woman who runs this place is a friend of his family's. Anyway, I just found out about it four days ago, and have already eaten there three times, each time trying a different dish. I've tried all three noodle soups: the pho hanoi, pho hue, and pho nam. All were delicious. I've also sampled the com tofu (pan fried lemongrass & chili tofu with rice), and the curry chay (so creamy and yummy!). Everything is fresh, tasty, and a great value (a HUGE bowl of pho is $7.75). The place is really small; there's a communal table and some bar seats. There's no table service; orders are taken at the counter. Everyone who works there is really friendly, and the restaurant's namesake and cook, Chau, is a really warm, friendly woman (tonight, she delivered freshly cut oranges to each group in the restaurant). Everytime I've been there, she's asked me if I like what I'm eating, and how she can improve it (I can't think of how she'd improve her food; even the presentation is food stylist-worthy). It's also fast without being fast food. Maybe I'm biased, but Chau VeggiExpress is my favourite place in Vancouver right now; it's the food, the value, the service, the warmth...and I love being able to get vegan pho so close to home. Updated from previous review on Thursday May 19, 2011 Oh bummer, went back last week after not going for over a year. The quality of the pho has slid...lots. Instead of noodles swimming in broth, my noodles were in a bowl-shaped clump at the bottom of the soup bowl - not fresh. The broth was super salty. I was disappointed. My bf had the banh mi (vietnamese sub); he said it was delicious.