Mr. Red Cafe - Vancouver

First time there and had the lunch special, beef , veggies, herbs and noodles. Really good. Crab spring roll was amazing. Can't wait to try other dishes

The only choice I make : very different and very friendly.

What I really liked about Mr. Red was that the food was unusual. The two sticky rice dishes were not quite like anything I’ve had before. The crispy spring rolls were tasty, though a bit bigger and more crude than some other versions I've had. I thought the turmeric fish was pretty lovely, sizzling away in a pan brought to the table and covered in dill. We ordered slightly too much food but it was less than $50 for the three of us for lunch. A solid four stars.

My classic Pho Bo $11), or what I call the 'everything ' beef pho came to rescue the hangry me. It was one of those from hell to heaven experiences that don 't happen every day. The beef broth was simply divine super clear and clean tasting, a perfect balance of sweet, savoury, and umami, and again, the Northern Vietnamese notions of green onions and cilantro. The beef and the beef balls tasted very fresh. I almost didn 't want to add the basil leaves for keeping the cleanness of the flavour. It 's interesting that they didn 't give us those tiny saucers for dipping the beef in chilli paste or hoisin sauce, which by the way, was not on the table.  For me, the whole bowl of beef rice noodle soup tasted perfect on its own.

I dropped in for lunch and had a wonderful dinning experience. I had a difficult time choosing, as everything on the menu sounded wonderful. I ended up having a traditional Banh Mi, pork and pate sandwich, which was delicious. But my favourite item was the sticky rice dumpling with pork. The dumpling was so flavourful and, coupled with the pickled garlic, really delicious. The pandan tea too was a nice change from the usual. It was a lovely meal and I look forward to returning to try other items on the varied menu.