Discovering a Neighbourhood Gem - Triple Coconut Tree

In a concerted effort to try restaurants closer to home, I checked out Triple Coconut Tree a few times a few months ago. They serve the usual pho and banh mi, as well as some snacks such as chicken wings and spring rolls. 

First up is the Banh Mi, a Vietnamese sandwich, filled with carrots, cilantro, and assorted meats, such as Vietnamese ham, pork and chicken. The one we have here is called the Dac Biet. The bread was not as fresh as I've had in other places, such as DD Mau. I think that there is too much carrot, and it's used as a filler. 

The meat to bread ratio is pretty fair, and the filling goes right up to the ends of the bun, which is very important to me. As you can see, there are a lot of carrots here, and I think I wouldn't have minded it so much had they been properly pickled.  
For comfort food, we got a few bowls of Pho to try. First up was the Pho Tai Bo Vien. I really liked the rawness of the beef here and there wer lots of it. The meatballs were average, with a nice bounce but it was very mild in flavour. The broth arrived piping hot and I liked that it wasn't overly oily. 

Now the bowl in the first looks a bit bland, because we got it without green onion and cilantro. This bowl is more indicative of their usual serving style, and it is the Pho Tai Sach. I have to admit that I was impressed that they did remember to not add the greens in the first bowl. I've made the request before and it has gone ignored. The bowl has the same sliced beef but instead of the meatballs, this bowl has tripe as well. This is a good serving of tripe because I've had pho in some places where you have a hard time trying to find some, Hai Phong comes to mind. 

Another noodle soup that we tried is the Bun Bo Hue, a spicy pork noodle soup, but the spicy seemed primarily to come of the blast of chili oil on the side. This was a bit disappointing and the broth on this wasn't even that hot in temperature. The presentation was messy but I did like the abundance of fillings inside the soup itself. So it's sort of a hit and miss all at once. We also tried their Chicken Wings, and these were surprisingly good, nice and crispy, and a deal at just $4.95 for a half dozen. 

Take Note:

• Inconsistent temperature of the broth, hot on one visit, lukewarm on another one
• Get the wings and ask for some lemon wedges to squeeze on top
• Banh Mi has more vegetable than meat, and not really worth a try. 

DD Mau Banh Mi - Viet Subs with a Twist

Another day and another VANEATSca package, this time it was for DD Mau, a banh mi place in Yaletown. For those of you unfamiliar with Banh Mi, they are Vietnamese subs made with freshly warmed baguette, a variety of meats and a load of pickled carrots and daikon, and a sprinkling of cilantro and jalapenos. I know it sounds simple, but it's really tasty and filled with a ton of flavour.

The VANEATSca package is just $9.50 and allows you to get a taste of what these sandwiches are all about. Details of the package:

• Two half subs, one of Grilled Lemongrass Chicken with grilled chicken thighs and another is the Crispy Roasted Pork with crispy roasted pork, sauteed scallions. Both of these are loaded with pickled veggies, cilantro and jalapenos, as well as smeared with a garlic aioli dressing
• Your choice of avocado or honeydew Smoothie, with almond milk and condensed milk too.

 

As soon as you walk it, you can't help but stare at the Crispy Roast Pork hanging in the glass case. See how lean the meat is, and I can only imagine how crunchy the skin is going to be!
Here are some of the sauces that they use for these various menu items. As a kid, I would put maggi on everything, from scrambled eggs to fried rice and even oatmeal, yes, oatmeal. It's like a cheat version of congee at that point, but don't knock it until you've tried it! Other commonly used sauces include Hoisin sauce as well as the Sriracha we all know, and the Vietnamese staple, fish sauce. 
We arrived just as they were prepping for lunch and this is how they do it. In addition to the banh mi, they also offer a Bun, a vermicelli based entree where you can customize to your liking by adding various proteins. 
So as I said before, the VANEATSca package comes with one full sub using two different proteins. We decided to supplement that with another full sub, called the classic. Here is a group shot of the three we got. 
This is a close up of the Lemongrass Chicken. The lemongrass flavour is very pronounced despite the presence of jalapenos. The chicken itself was very tender; the only thing I didn't like was that the skin was still on it. Easy enough to pick off, but that would be my only complaint. Had the skin been crispier, I might not have minded.
And here is the Roast Pork one, and in this case, I didn't mind the skin being on there at all! In fact, the skin was probably the best part. The meat was salty and had a good roasted flavour, but the highlight was definitely the skin, crispy bits of fattiness, but not so that it was oily. Even my mom, who isn't a meatlover raved about this and ended up polishing this off after I had a few bites.
Knowing one banh mi wouldn't be enough for all three of us, my stepdad picked The Classic for his first foray into the world of banh mi. He actually picked the Lemongrass Chicken first, but I made him try something else so we could have a bit more of a variety. The classic had the Vietnamese ham, as well as some other mild deli meats and a smear of pate. The flavours and texture was much milder compared to the two we already had, but it's definitely a good rendition of the traditional version.
And as with most days, my eyes are bigger than my stomach, so I said that we had to order something from the Bun (Vermicelli) menu as well. With a base of noodles, some picked veggies and a bit of green salad, you get to pick your choice of toppings, $7.80 for two item and $9.80 for three. As mentioned, my mom isn't a huge fan of meat, so we ended up getting the Lemongrass Chicken and Tofu as her toppings. She raved about the tofu, and really enjoyed how well marinated and seasoned it was.

 

And the final dish was our Honeydew smoothie, which was really rich and creamy. The honeydew flavours were very subtle, and it was very thick. We left it to the end and ended up eating with our forks. It was so thick that it was hard to drink with a straw.
See below for the video version of this offer.
VANEATSca and DD Mau gave me the Dining Pass, but all extras were paid for by me.

Take Note:

• Not a fan of cilantro or jalapeno, tell them when ordering and they'll customize it for you
• Daily special banh mi available, they had a tamarind duck on the day I went
• If you like strong coffee, get the Hot Coffee with condensed milk - potent