ottawa foodies

Seriously, try the Bò Kho. Best dish on the menu and best place in town to get this dish!

You can see the progressive improvement in smartphone camera technology by my postings in this section. ;-)

This was rich in flavour with lots of tender beef and carrots. My new favourite Vietnamese dish.

It's still amazing, btw. :-)

I keep zooming in more and more with my Bò Kho pics. This one should look almost as good as it tastes!

While the price has jumped up by almost $2, this is still probably one of the tastiest and largest meals of beef for the price. Still amazing!

Finally tried the bò kho, did not disappoint! $10, huge portion, leaner beef than I'm used to and a lighter broth... Also, no daikon, just carrot and onions. Still, very flavorful and plentiful. Not shy on the beef! Super friendly owners, bustling atmosphere, and clean! Lots of families in here! Definitely recommend!

My latest photo of the Bò Kho from today! This was the HC8, featuring both egg and rice noodles.

It was spectacular as always! I noticed that probably 25% of the lunchtime customers were ordering this stew. Word sure gets around! :-)

Hello, my name is warby and I have an addiction. Foursquare tells me I've been to Ox Head five times in the past two months, and I can tell you I've had the Bò Kho on every single visit.

Comparing this photo with the previous one I posted, you can see that the presentation varies. Today at lunch the restaurant was less busy than usual (one table empty!) so maybe the kitchen was taking more time to make things look good.

Sooo tasty! :-)

Another photo of this fine dish! (Eventually, the various colour temperatures of my iPhone pics will average out to give you an idea of what it really looks like.)

Full of delicious flavour as always!

had this exciting dish twice at new mee fung's, very good! however, we find ourselves navigating toward the big suburb complexes only because of more entertainment & shopping in the neighboring vicinity and finding more to do and see moreso than centertown or downtown after work or late night.

you can't go wrong with either place, just hit it up wherever convenient to your lifestyle. couldn't find one on somerset that offered it at 3am though LOL!!

and yes it is so easy to make it at home with your eyes closed and let it all enrich for 10 hours in the crock pot and it will brand you as the new Iron Chef. drizzle some hot pepper oil in the soup for that classic touch with the extra orange oil rimmed edge in the bowl... ;)

Food quality continues to be stellar here. Tasty and rich broth, generous hunks of tender-fatty beef, perfect rice noodles. Service was congenial too.

I was the only customer in here at 12:15pm on a Sunday, and I lamented to the server that the throngs of people walking by his restaurant to go to Swiss Chalet are all idiots. He tactfully replied that a quarter chicken dinner with fries for $8.95 is very cheap. True enough, but look at the goodness that can be had for just a couple bucks more!

[Note: I dressed up the bowl with the supplied bean sprouts and basil.]

The bò kho is loaded with noodles and tender chunks of beef, all bathing in an aromatic beefy broth. I opted for the hủ tiếu mì bò kho variation of this dish, with both rice noodles and egg noodles.

There are two sizes: Regular ($9.95) and Large ($11.95). I went with the Regular because I had gỏi đu đủ to start, and it was more than big enough!

I love having this quality and value of Vietnamese food so close to where I live! :-)

Visited for lunch on Saturday to try their weekend Bò Kho. Very nicely done! It goes for $9.50 and consists of a rich, beefy broth, generous chunks of beef, big hunks of carrot, and bean sprouts. Plus a choice of rice noodle, egg noodle, both noodles, or baguette. I went with the rice noodle.

The broth was less spicy than I've had elsewhere but nonetheless very tasty. The owner said he prefers to let people add chili oil (available at the table) to their liking. This makes good sense.

The beef had some "character" to it (fat and tendon bits) which I thought was great, but might turn some people off.

It's great to see more restaurants offering this exceptional dish, and the version at KNH is an excellent contender!

Uh oh. Is it possible that this soup is BETTER than the namesake Hi tieu?

The answer is unequivocally, emphatically yes. This soup is incredible.

I would encourage the chefs of the city to go and try the brisket in this dish, because it is so delicious it could end the tired pork belly trend in one fell swoop.

When I saw Bo Kho written on the special board I had no choice but to order it! It looked a little small at first, but turned out to be more than satisfying due to it's richness. The meat is (authentically) quite fatty and the broth is super tasty. Get this while you can!

Last time I was at Pho Maxim I ordered their Bò Kho. After all, how many places actually offer it?

It was pretty good, although since it was my first Bò Kho ever I'm not sure if it was "the real deal."

The beef was cooked in a thick satay-style sauce as the base. Actually, the base sounded remarkably like that in the satay soup at Huong's, as described by FF here: Satay Soup

(I'd link directly to the comment, but the URL is parsed out in such a way that I can't seem to do it right. Oh well.)

Great depth of flavour, although not as much heat as I expected.

The bo kho is off the menu now! I spoke with the owner, apparently too many people complained about the fattiness of the beef... so disappointing! I'll have to keep working on my bo kho recipe at home, very close to Huong's!

Curry beef stew with thin rice noodles. Lovely stew in a spicy curry soup.