Phanh Ky

I really like the noodle soup at this place. My boyfriend gets the dry skinny egg noodle dish. If you like hu tieu, you can’t really go wrong with this place. They are consistent and yummy! I love having a bowl of soup with both normal and clear noodles on a cold or yucky day. The broth makes it delicious, and I like that I can get both noodles because if I’m having a hard time picking between hu tieu or phở, I kind of get my fix for both since the noodles are the same as phở noodles.

They have one of the best clear/​soft noodle with seafood in town. You will never get disappointed here. However, service sometimes is unwelcome and rude. Small tables with narrow atmosphere and stick together, so people just come here to eat quickly then leave. You will not have any relax moment here since they seem to rush customers who have finished the meal to leave.

There always a line outside the front door. The place is very small like the size of my house garage. I asked for a large dry hieu tieu. I’m a very picky how people define large bowl. The bowl is large, but the portion seem small to me. The beam sprout seem ok. I hope they didn’t just dump the leftover from someone table. The food wise I somewhat enjoyed it.

This place is CASH ONLY!!! It would’ve been nice if they post a sign at the cash register saying so. The service is okay like most Asian run restaurant on bellaire. The food is okay/​good (I rate it more of only good like Jack in the Box, not amazingly good but still good) so I would come back.

I’m all for dingy hold in the walls, but obviously dirty dingy hole-​in-​the-​walls with bad service do not merit patronage. I’ve come here on and off over the years for their mi or hu tieu kho. The last time I was there, the restaurant was virtually empty. I was seated at a table that was fairly greasy. Still, I stayed the course.
At one point, a buser comes around and puts the dirty dish cart literally right next to me pushed up against the left side of my table, with the trash facing in my direction. (The whole restaurant is empty and she decides to put it right next to me.) I wait to see if she’ll move it away but it just sits there, so I ask the hostess behind the front counter if they can move it, and she moves it across the aisle (still right next to me) maybe a foot away. I was in the middle of eating and the whole incident made my stomach revolt. The food is not good enough for me to overlook such uncleanliness. When I think of this restaurant now, I think to myself: if the front of the house — the front facing portion of the restaurant — is already dirty, how much dirtier would the kitchen be?

There is not a lot of places, I go to back to back, but this one was one of them. Lately, instead of brunch, we have made it a household tradition to go bellaire for sunday breakfast. And the choice has been Phanh Ky for their dried noodles with the broth on the side. I ordered the Hu Tieu mem (soft white noodles/​think phở style noodles) with the mixed Mi Soi Nho (skinny egg noodles/​think wonton soup style noodles). I get the Kho (dry) version. It comes with a savory brown sauce and the pork broth on the side. You can request it without the organ meat. Be sure to get an order of the Gio Chao Quay (the crispy toppings you put on top of congee), this place bakes them again before bringing them out so they are really crispy.
Remember, cash only, and you most likely be sharing a table with some strangers. But if you do get it with the broth, just thing of it as a combo of phở/​wonton soup.

Call me deprived, but I came to this establishment on my first day in Houston after having moved from the Northeast and my taste buds were in heaven. Having lived in the Northeast for 7 years, my taste buds have been deprived of the glory that is a good bowl of hu tieu kho.
The sauce was good, the noodles are heavenly, and the meats complemented everything well. And of course, I had to go old school and do it my dad’s way which meant I added some soy sauce (not too much though cause the sauce is already well seasoned), some red vinegar, and some hot sauce and went to towwnnn.

The food was good but they always close earlier than their signage indicates. If you want to come at 8:00pm or later don’t bother, they lock the door. If their hours have changed, they should change it online.

I was a little skeptical about coming here, but I agreed to come and Im really glad I did. I had never really had dry soup before, but it turns put that its pretty good and a little healthier than regular phở.
After a 3 minute wait, we were able to be seated right by the door, on a busy Sunday morning. We ordered the D1, rice noodle soft and egg noodle thin and the D3, rice noodle clear and egg noodle thin. We also added a small side order of the pork bone. I really enjoyed my soup and it became even better when adding the tender pork meat. I asked for the sate, since they apparently make it here, to see if it was spicy and it wasn’t sadly. Service here was good as well.

Very good authentic food. Love this place. Very tasty and, although a bit crowded, I can see why.
The food is delicious.

My family likes coming here, especially my brother. This restaurant is another speciality noodle shop that serves your choice of thin/​thick egg noodles or glass noodles in either a pork based broth soup or served dry with a cup of soup on the side — all comes with assorted meats on top (hieu tieu My Tho).
Personally, I like to order the chewy flat egg noodles with the broth already included, but my siblings tell me the dry noodles are also really good. You can also order a side of pork bones with meat on it and/​or the fried Chinese donuts to go along with your soup.
As with any speciality noodle shop, just stick with what the restaurant is known for and do not deviant from that and you should be good.
Restaurant is small and the tables are crowded together. Expect a wait on weekends. Not recommended for larger parties.
Cash Only!!!

Best dry noodle in Chinatown so far. I love their combination thin noodle and crystal thick noodle (D3 as other reviews mentioned). The sauce is what makes it the best, make sure to mix it evenly if you order dry noodle. The only downside is the restaurant is quite small, it gets very dirty if they are busy but I pretty much don’t mind!

This definitely isn’t my favorite hieu tieu my tho place. I got the large strand of egg noodles with the clear noodles mixed together. I felt the sauce made everything really soggy so it wasn’t to my liking. I truly feel like I had better elsewhere.
This place gets extremely crowded so be prepared to wait in long lines or get seated next to strangers. Service was very nice though and considerate.

I love love love dry hu tieu, and it’s a shame that there aren’t many hu tieu places that serve it dry. This is the best dry hu tieu place that I’ve tried. It’s good, not amazing, but will satisfy your cravings.
FOOD (⁴⁄₅):
My go-​to is the Ð3 (dry clear noodle, thin egg noodle, and a combination of chicken, ground pork, liver, & shrimp). Although the clear noodles are supposed to be elastic, I find that they’re oftentimes soft. Not a big complaint though, as these noodles are hard to find in the states. I choose thin as opposed to thick egg noodles because I find that the thin noodles soak up more sauce, making each bite more flavorful. Speaking of the sauce, if it was less oily it’d be perfect. But again, not a huge con. Be sure to mix the bowl up well before you eat so the sauce gets evenly distributed :) and add lettuce + bean spouts!
Side note: I’m sure everyone who eats dry hu tieu knows this, but just to avoid a minor national disaster, don’t be like my friend and pour the bowl of broth into your noodles; sip it as you eat the noodles separately!
Also if you want spice, they have saté (chili peppers in chili oil), which I think they make in-​house because they sell jars of it. It was not spicy at all. I don’t recommend unless you like the addition of color/​oil.
AMBIANCE/​SERVICE (³⁄₅):
Just your ordinary Vietnamese restaurant, nothing fancy. At peak hours you will probably be seated at the same table as other parties because the restaurant is small. Service sometimes rushes you to order, especially if they’re busy. Not the cleanest place but they do try to clean up. CASH ONLY.
VERDICT (3.5÷5):
Satisfies my cravings. Fills me up. Rounded up because I have not found a better dry hu tieu place.

Food is alittle over average, but the way they seat people in the small restaurant is ridiculous. (Multiple parties would be on one table without any empty seats in between)
Food: 3.7
Seating/​Comfort: 0 – 1 depending on how busy it is.
The whole time they kept bothering their customers to scoot over to make room. Compacting customers onto a table is not a way make us, the customers, happy. It’s an existing problem that many customers can agree upon. Please find a solution, I would like to be able to come back and look forward to my next meal here.

Honestly I think this place was a waste of money. A couple of things that set me off was that I kept calling and the phone line was busy so I had to drive there to order to go during lunch break. When I got there the old man at the front was reading a newspaper and I told him what happened and he said «yeah we’re busy so I don’t answer the phone» the whole time I was sitting there waiting for my food he was drinking boba and reading newspaper just letting the phone ring. Also with it being a specialty place with basically only serving ONE item they should get it together and have the hu tieu tasting delicious but it was mediocre. HK dim sum is crazy busy on the weekends and they serve many dishes and they can handle the busy-​ness. Anyways the owner lady who took my order was being rude. They got my order wrong, I ordered small noodle strands but they gave me large noodles. Their prices went up from $ 7.75 to $ 7.99, then they charge me .50 to go. I hate places that do that. I ordered the dry noodles so they gave me a sweet hoisin sauce on the side which tasted fine but the texture was like gelatin and pretty gross looking. They put corn starch in it ughh. My total came out to be $ 9 for a large with tax. I rather go to Duc Chuong for BBH. Won’t be back!

I like the Hu Tieu Mi Kho (dried egg noodles and vermicelli) here, the tasty tiny dried shrimps are added with their DELISH teriyaki/​hoisin sauce make a great combo!
I used to go here with my family every Tuesday since it’s my mom’s off day… but then we began to notice the bad then, now awful customer service… So now my mom just grab their food to-​go to avoid those rude Vietnamese workers there.

Definitely get the kho (dry) version! It comes with a dope sauce on top that you should mix into the rest of the noodles. Don’t be like my friend and add in the side soup/​broth. It’s supposed to sipped on between bites to cleanse the palate. Optional but recommended: add shredded lettuce, bean sprouts, lime, pepper, and sriracha!
It’s a pretty small, low-​key place so don’t expect an amazing atmosphere and great service. You might get seated with other parties if it’s crowded. Food’s worth it though!

After hearing so many good things about this place from friends, I decided to try it myself. It was wonderful! I ordered the dry noodles with half egg noodle and half rice noodle (not sure what it’s called, I just showed them the picture). It had sliced liver, fried pork skin, shrimp, ground pork, and it was topped with an amazing sauce. It came with a side of soup. The dish I ordered only comes in a large but I FINISHED THE WHOLE THING!
The service is awesome! We didn’t realize that they only accepted cash. We went to pay with our card and the owner told is that they only took cash. He was so n trusting and allowed us to leave and go to the ATM. So, bring cash!

Probably the best hu tieu I ever had. The service is meh. Place is somewhat small, but never experienced having to sit with others.
I always get it dry, half clear noodles, half egg noodles, combination, with extra pork rinds (makes the bowl a little closer to heaven). It comes with a sauce on top of your noodles, and the broth is separate in a little bowl with ONE rib (what a tease right?).
I really enjoy the hu tieu here, and can’t wait to go back!