Wednesday, January 14, 2009

[San Gabriel] [Vietnamese] Com Tam Thuan Kieu

Com Tam Thuan Kieu
順橋碎米飯
123 E Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 280-5660

Co-worker Vee always buys this Vietnamese rice dish to work for dinner.  It has charbroiled pork, steamed egg and egg roll.  Not only it looks good, it smells wonderful, too.  After seeing it for a few times, I gotta have one myself. 

Pork Chop Broken Rice @ Com Tam Thuan Kieu by you.
Pork Chop Broken Rice ($5.99)

Since I didn't know what is on the menu, I just told him to get whatever he's getting.  He got pork chop, egg and sausage rice for me on that day.  The Vietnamese rice is called broken rice.  The grain is a lot smaller than regular rice.  I'm not sure the rice just grows small like that, or they actually "break" the rice that way.  I didn't like the pork chop because it was hard and dry.  But the pork sausage and steamed egg were really good.  I like to pour fish sauce over everything.  Portion was big.  I shared half of it with another coworker and was still really full.


Com Tam Thuan Kieu by you.

I like the food a lot and thought Dr. P would enjoy it as well.  Got the address from co-worker and took Dr. P and his brother here one day after their surfing session.  The restaurant is located right next to Hawaii Supermarket on Valley.  It's big and spacious inside.  They offered all the regular Vietnamese dishes, but they are famous for the broken rice dish.

Iced Coffee with Condensed Milk @ Com Tam Thuan Kieu by you.
Iced Coffee with Condensed Milk ($1.75)

Dr. P and his brother got coke.  But I felt like having some strong Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk.  This coffee was super strong, but it's so good.

Broken Rice with Shredded Pork, Steamed Egg, Charbroiled Pork, Shrimp Egg Roll @ Com Tam Thuan Kieu by you.
豬肉絲蒸蛋燒豬肉蝦春捲碎米飯 Broken Rice with Shredded Pork, Steamed Egg, Charbroiled Pork, Shrimp Egg Roll ($5.99)

Dr. P's brother can eat.  He got the broken rice with shredded pork skin, steamed egg, charbroiled pork and shrimp egg roll.  He finished the entire plate.  I was worried the food might not be enough for him.  Seriously, did I mention he can eat?  But he said he liked the food and was full.

Thuan Kieu Broken Rice with 10 Kind of Foods @ Com Tam Thuan Kieu by you.
順橋碎米飯 (10味) Thuan Kieu Broken Rice with 10 Kind of Foods ($9.99)

I saw the broken rice with 10 items on the menu.  Had no idea what the 10 items are, but really want to try it.  This dish was twice the size of the regular rice!  It's definitely enough for 2+ people.  You have the choice of the charbroiled meat.  We picked beef.  So the 10 items are:  charbroiled beef, pork sausage, shrimp roll, Chinese sausage, shrimp egg roll, pork egg roll, shredded pork skin, steamed egg, BBQ shrimp, and another different kind of shrimp roll.

Thuan Kieu Broken Rice with 10 Kind of Foods @ Com Tam Thuan Kieu by you.

Not only it was a feast to the eye, everything on this plate was delicious.  Of course I couldn't finish the food all by myself.  Dr. P helped as much as he could.  We still had one big box of leftover to take http://www.eileenlikestoeat.com for another meal.  It's a great dish to get if you want to try a variety of food with your rice.

Soup @ Com Tam Thuan Kieu by you.
Soup

The rice also come with a free bowl of soup.  The soup looked like water with a piece of pork rib in it.  But the broth was so tasty.

Beef Pho @ Com Tam Thuan Kieu by you.
Beef Pho ($4.50)

Dr. P felt like having soup and ordered a bowl of pho.  Well, it wasn't good.  The free soup tasted much better than the pho soup.  I guess you don't go to a steakhouse to order seafood.  So when you go to Com Tam Thuan kieu, get the broken rice rather than anything else on the menu.

Bill @ Com Tam Thuan Kieu by you.

Delicious lunch!  Very reasonable price, too.  We definitely will come back again.  It's also a great place to get takeout.  If you come here in the afternoon, do not park on the street.  You will get a ticket.  Try to park at the Hawaii Supermarket parking lot.

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5 comments:

  1. Hi Eileen - Looks delish! From what I read, Com Tam was the pieces of rice that were damaged when "threshed", these couldn't be sold, so were used for consumption by the poor. It became a really popular street stall dish. So now I've been told that "good" rice is actually broken, and it costs even more than regular rice now!

    Hey Kirk. Thank you so much for the info!

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  2. I think they have another location right next to 印第安啤酒屋 as well.
    Charbroiled pork chop (豬扒)tends to be hard and dry. Instead of getting the charbroiled pork chop (豬扒), get the regular charbroiled pork which come in small pieces, taste better and easier to eat too!
    My Vietnamese friends like their 金邊麵/粉 also.

    Really? I remember there's a Vietnamese restaurant in the same plaza.
    But didn't know that was the broken rice restaurant.
    I'll look up 金邊麵/粉. Thanks for the info.

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  3. Hi Eileen,

    Another great review. Thanks for the insight into this restaurant. I've went once and thought it was decent (it was a long time ago). I'll have to go back and try some other dishes the next time I visit my friends in the area. :)

    You can take your friends there and try the 10 items rice!
    Huge portion!!

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  4. I love broth and tend to eat around the pasta so that soup would be right up my alley.

    I love broth a bit more than noodles too!

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  5. YUM - i love this place!! Cheap and delicious

    You should give it a try!

    ReplyDelete