Tag Archives: vietnamese

Chinese, Fusion, Japanese, Korean, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews, Thai, Vietnamese

SEA by Jungsik

January 4, 2026 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This place is a sister restaurant to the Michelin-starred Jungsik restaurant. We went big here, so I’m going to make it quick. Check this out:

First off, the oysters here are probably the best I’ve ever had. I think that has to do with the jalapeno and cilantro granita (ice), and their version of a mignonette.

I also really enjoyed their steak tartare.

The prawn rolls, sticky rice sausage, and fried eggs were great too, but my focus on a re-visit might be on the other stuff above.

The stars of the show were the short rib special and the crispy pork belly.

I would get these every time I visit. The pork belly was the best version of this dish I’ve ever had. The fat was completely rendered and soft, the meat extremely tender (no stringy bits), and the skin was nice and crisp without being too hard and hurting your teeth/mouth.

The crab fried rice was a bit fishy, but beautiful nonetheless. It went nicely with the curry, actually.

The soft serve dessert sundae was a great way to end the meal.

I will definitely be back here again. I highly recommend it.

SEA BY JUNGSIK
151 W 30th Street
New York, NY 10001

Brooklyn, Pho, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

High Lua

January 4, 2026 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I stopped in this small Vietnamese joint for a quick lunch. I had the turmeric noodles with pork and shrimp, and she had the special pho.

Both were decent, but not at the level of our favorites. It did hit the spot though.

HIGH LUA
182 S 2nd Street
Brooklyn New York, NY 11211

East Village, Pho, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

Moc Mac

December 15, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This new Vietnamese joint specializes in hot pot, but their regular menu items are pretty great too.

We tried the pork jowls, the baby clams, and the beef pho. All were awesome, and I think the pho here is my favorite of all time. Also huge props to the wagyu betel leaf wraps. I really loved those as well.

The hot pot we ordered was a mix of seafood and beef. I felt the broth was a bit too sweet, but over all it was very good.

MOC MAC
79 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003

Pho, Queens, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

Cyclo

August 23, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

If you’re in LIC and looking for Vietnamese food, one option you have is Cyclo.

I stopped in here with a few of my ebike friends for a bowl of pho and some other snacks.

The quail egg fried wontons were unique. I would skip on the sweet chili sauce.

The beef skewers were a bit better, in my oopinion.

The clay pot beef stew wasn’t hot enough to crisp up the rice on the bottom of the serving vessel (which wasn’t really hot), but it was tasty and came with a side of veg.

The pho was pretty good. This is on par with some of the basic Chinatown spots near me. This runs you $18, and it came with sliced eye round and brisket.

CYCLO
5-51 47th Ave #573
Long Island City, NY 11101

Banh Mi, East Village, Pho, Vietnamese

Banh Anh Em

May 16, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

It is seriously tough to get a table at this new Vietnamese place, but luckily my wife is a rock star and made it happen for us. All of the sandwiches here are great, and the traditional banh mi here is the best I’ve ever had. But the simple and small pate with pork floss is magical. The bread they make in house here is insane!

We tried a few soups and a porridge. My favorites were the pho dac biet and the rice porridge with offal meats. So much rich flavor there.

The rice roll tower and steamed rice cups were sort of redundant, but the tower is the way to go because it comes with a whole shitload of things to put on it before rolling up and chowing down.

The steak and egg breakfast style dish had a bit of sweetness that was really warming and comforting. And their house hot sauce should be jarred and sold at high volume. It is incredible!

The iced coffee and coffee flan were both great too, but I was so full from everything else that I couldn’t eat much of the flan.

This place definitely deserves all the hype it’s getting. All of the staple items here are amazing, and they also offer some dishes that are much harder to find at most of the other Vietnamese places around town.

BANH ANH EM
99 3rd Avenue
New York, NY, 10003

Lower East Side/Chinatown, Pho, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

Pho Ga Vang

September 1, 2024 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

My wife and I tried four items here. We would have tried more, but a few things were not yet available (they just opened).

The pork belly was thinly sliced and really delicious. The rice quality here is top notch as well.

I really enjoyed the egg rolls as well.

We tried two soups: the chicken pho and beef pho.

Both were good. My wife preferred the beef over the chicken, and I was the reverse.

My wife makes both better at home, but this place is good for the price, I think it’s better than a lot of the other spots in Chinatown in the same price range. We will definitely be back to try more items when they are fully rolling.

PHO GA VANG
30 Market St.
New York, NY 10002

Chinese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

Bo Ky

August 18, 2024 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Bo Ky is a mixed Vietnamese pho and Chinese restaurant in Chinatown that’s been around for a long ass time.

I went in last weekend with my wife, who hadn’t been there since college, and we tried some stuff.

I ordered the beef belly soup, which was really good with a hit of spice.

My wife ordered a Cambodian style hu teiu soup that had mixed seafood and pork in it. This was more like a consomme and had some sweetness to it.

We also shared a fried shrimp roll on the side. This reminded me of shrimp toast.

Nice spot! I would go back.

BO KY
80 Bayard St.
New York, NY 10013

East Village, Fusion, Japanese, Korean, Other, Restaurant Reviews, Thai, Vietnamese

Ama Raw Bar

December 11, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my awesome Ride & Review video for this joint HERE:

Ama Raw Bar has two locations. I met my wife here for happy hour at the alphabet city location to try some of their cocktails and discounted bites. Everything was good. We started with oysters ($1.25ea).

Then we moved on to this nice batter-fried shrimp.

This rice paper chicken quesadilla was unique, but I think it would be excellent if they fried the rice paper wrapper.

The cod cake was nice, a different sort of take on a crab cake using salt cod.

The Szechuan dry rub wings needed a hit of salt and some of that mala numbing spice to really make them perfect. Otherwise, good cook and crunch on them.

“Luscious Mussels” come with a broiled lobster tail and nori fries. These were probably our favorite dish of the night.

Definitely would go back to try the lobster ramen, and also perhaps to try their other west village location.

AMA RAW BAR
190 Avenue B
New York, NY 10009

Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

Cloud

September 24, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Cloud is a new Vietnamese place in the lower east side. After some drinks and snacks nearby, my wife and I decided to pop in to give a few items a try, particularly their coffee selections and their avocado shake.

We started with their non-traditional take on banh xeo, which was more like a pita bread cone with all the flavors of banh xeo inside. It wasn’t bad!

Then, we tried a soup called banh canh, which was almost like a cross between pho flavors and some Chinese noodle soups we used to get up in Hell’s Kitchen. I enjoyed it.

On the flip side, we didn’t like the egg coffee because it was laden with cooked egg particles. It wasn’t mixed in properly to make for smooth texture. I actually asked them for something to strain it with. After that, it was better.

Their peanut butter coffee was delicious, however.

The avocado shake needed some more sweetened condensed milk, but otherwise was nice.

I’m sure eventually I’ll try the banh mi and pho to fill out this review a bit more.

CLOUD
79 Clinton St
New York, NY 10002

Banh Mi, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Vietnamese

Banh Mi Co Ut

September 7, 2021 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This little Vietnamese sandwich joint in Chinatown serves up some of the best I’ve had. The bread really sets this place apart from the rest.

At this point, I’ve tried about six different kinds, and my favorite is the #4, the traditional sandwich but with SMOKED Viet ham rather than regular. I also like to order with hot peppers and extra cilantro. They don’t charge!