ottawa foodies

I did not have a very good experiences at #2 the last few times I visited, quality was down. Have not been back to #1 for a while, so can't comment.

Kanata Noodle house is certainly doing a booming business.

I imagine the Ox#2 suffered greatly when the Noodle House opened nearby with its separate & ample parking lot.

There's a notice on the door of the former Ox Head 2 (Carling near March) indicating a termination of lease for non-payment of rent, dated July 20, 2019.

Has anyone noticed how the original Centrum location is doing lately?

Ox Head restaurant 2 is a great addition to the area. Rare beef pho, bun bo hue and bo kho are all delicious. Pictured is the seafood sate soup with egg noodle as I had a seafood craving tonight. Very tasty although I forgot that I'm not a huge fan of the Vietnamese fish balls.

I've never been to the original, but there is now an Ox Head 2 at Carling & March in the plaza with Hockey Sushi.

Our first time going for lunch today, and very impressed. I had the traditional sweet & sour shrimp soup (SP4) which was very tasty, but paled in comparison with my colleagues choice of Beef, Pork & Shrimp Wrap & Roll (SP11), pictured here. It was enormous! So much so that I had to help ;)

Looking forward to trying the rest of the menu, including the famous Bò Kho.

This is still a regular favourite of ours when we are at Centrum. Pretty much everything is good to very good or excellent - portion sizes have remained as large as ever. Often we will split a rice paper wrap and roll dish with a variety of grilled meats. My one quip is that the grilled beef is not really that great, the quality of the meat is poor and I find it is regularly dry and tough. So, I just avoid it and everything else is fine. My personal favourite is the Bo kho. Reasonable pricing given the portions. You will not leave hungry. Accessible. Family friendly, very kind and accommodating service. Table service but you pay at the cash (as with most Viet restaurants). Recommended.

I had lunch at Ox Head Friday. It was my second visit.

As others have noted, the portions are substantial - which balances the prices being a bit higher. You can easily get two solid meals from what you are served.

Sis had the seafood noodle stir-fry (pictured below by Fresh Foodie). I ordered the shrimp pad thai (I wasn't sure what I was ordering actually).

I had some of the stir-fry noodle since I got to take all the leftovers. It was tasty.

My pad thai (half of which is still in the fridge at home) was okay but nothing beyond that. It would have been nice if the shrimps they used were the same plump tails-on ones that came in the noodle stir-fry but instead they were the pre-cooked small variety.

I had the honeydew bubble latte. Very yummy although on the very sweet side. Sis ordered the avocado shake and had the same comment for her drink.

All in all, a filling lunch.

As a coworker quipped yesterday, "You know the Bò Kho is good when four men go out for lunch and choose Ox Head over Moxie's." ;-)

Our order was HC6, HC7, HC7, HC8 -- just Bò Kho with various combinations of rice and egg noodle. Another ringing endorsement.

On the less ringing side of things, the Seafood Stir-Fry Crispy Noodle dish (pictured here) I tried a few weeks ago was quite disappointing. The noodles were tasteless and the stir fry wasn't much better. When I eat deep fried stuff, I require it to be delicious. I've had better renditions of this dish everywhere else I've tried it, so I guess the lesson is... stick with the soups!

Went to Ox Head last night, based on the recommendations of FF and PD, before hitting some stores & a movie. The place is nice and clean, owners are very friendly, this restaurant is definitely family friendly. So we steered clear of any pho bo ko or sate style dishes and went for the fresh chicken rolls, chicken curry on rice and mixed veg & tofu on crispy noodles. My eyes did one of these when the lady came out with the food:
Before - o o
After - 0 0
The portions are very large here... the rolls were jammed with tasty charred meat and noodles, the only downside is that they had no herb action going on inside (some mint & basil would have jacked up the flavour). Then the noodles & curry came out... holy crap. These plates are massive. We ended up taking a third of our plates home. The tofu & veg on crispy noodle was alright, lots of veggies, mushrooms and loads of tofu, a very filling dish. The curry was nice, had a bit of heat to it, and was loaded with fresh red & green peppers and bamboo shoots. One interesting thing here is that their fish sauce has some salty funk to it, which is good! I find some fish sauce in Ottawa viet restaurants to be a bit too sweet, but this one is excellent. The food was very good, and plentiful - I'll be back to try the bo kho!

banana tempura @ ox head. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm recommended. i only wish these l'il turdy nuggets CAME with caramel and chocolate. delish desert finish.

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... ;)

HC1. Mixed Seafood Satay with Rice Noodle Soup - good as always, this is probably your best soup choice here.

The Rare Beef and Beef Meatball pho was okay. Not the tastiest broth I've had but good enough! This was a Large, and while more like a Chinatown Medium, it contained a decent amount of meat and was nicely priced at $7.95.

Definitely going back to the Bò Kho next time!!

beef pho @ ox head. if you like it vanilla style, this is the safe bet. YAWN. be GGG and go for the bo kho!

As you can see, this spicy seafood soup is chock full of seafood! The shrimp were some of the nicest and freshest I've encountered in a Vietnamese soup. On the other hand, the broth was just okay, lacking the depth of flavour found at the really good places.

I'm told that this style of spring roll (yellow, kind of loose, and fairly greasy) is uniquely and authentically Vietnamese. I find the flavour just okay, but they are certainly appetizing.

One nice thing about Ox Head is that they offer a double portion (4 spring rolls) for somewhat less than double the price of a single portion (2 rolls).

They were a little on the greasy side but quite tasty. Not the best I've had but not the worst either.

My kids shared a Won Ton Soup ($6.95). The broth is mild but spectacular! (A bit like white cake -- boring, but amazing when done right.) It contained quite a few bean sprouts, chopped scallions, and 8 or so smallish won tons. They were mild and kid-friendly, without the unique flavour (fungus?) that one often finds in Vietnamese won ton soups.

This would make a great appetizer for two adults!

These were freshly made, but lacked some of the herbal interest found in other restaurants. Also, they were thick and loosely rolled, which made them relatively difficult to eat. Not bad though!

If you order the "normal" wraps with pork and shrimp, you get the peanut-hoisin sauce as a condiment. With the grilled meat rice wraps, you get the fish sauce instead (as indicated by FEEL MY SERPENTINE).

beef rice wraps @ ox head. light apps like any vietnamese joint out there. here it comes with the fish/rice vinegar + carrot dipping sauce as opposed to the peanut soy sauce found in others.

This is a nice tasty vermicelli bowl. The chicken is really excellent, the beef is the boring thin sliced tasteless kind, and the spring rolls are okay. The ratio of ingredients is perfect.

Pork chop, grilled chicken and a steamed egg and pork meat loaf served on rice. It was huge. It was good. I have had tastier meat. The meat is heavily marinated. A little more natural flavours would be better. I slightly prefer Kanata Noodle House in the same hood.