Bien Hen Seafood & Lau

At one point, Bien Hen Seafood & Lau struck us and others as an appealing alternative to Oc & Lau, a popular Vietnamese seafood and hot pot chain which at that time was dealing with frustratingly long lines at both of its locations. After those bottlenecks went away, people began asking whether it was still worth visiting Bien Hen, and our answer is “yes!”

As another example of Orange County’s increasingly amazing Vietnamese seafood and exotic meats scene, Bien Hen offers its own sprawling menu of exotic and semi-exotic proteins, ranging from venison, wild boar, veal, goat, eel, and frog to fish, squid, quail, chicken, beef, and a wide variety of shellfish. In addition to sizzling plates, soups, salads, “gruel,” and lau – hot pots – are offered across many of the meats, as are a small number of deep-fried appetizers. Snails aren’t as much of a draw here as at Oc & Lau, but there are some on the menu.

In the course of just one meal, we flipped between plates of razor clams with green onions, eel in curry sauce, spicy seasoned grilled squid, grilled goat, and shaken beef.