Quan Co Giao Thao

When we arrived at Garden Grove’s Quan Bun Co Giao Thao, we noticed that its signs all omitted the word “bun” in the restaurant’s name, even though the Vietnamese rice vermicelli noodles play a role in most of the dishes. Now the name has solidified as Quan Co Giao Thao.

The Bun Thit Nuong Cha Gio arrived as a classic grilled pork and spring roll bun vermicelli, already assembled and ready for mixing with included standard fish sauce; it wasn’t particularly unique, but was totally fine. We also tried the Bun Cha Ha Noi, which was less a salad than a DIY lettuce wrap with bun vermicelli, herbs, and a bowl of grilled bacon and pork meatballs. Once the wrap was assembled, dipping it in the “special Hanoi fish sauce” – which was not pungent, and benefitted from soaking with the fatty bacon and meatballs – guaranteed a sweet, lightly tangy balance with the pork inside.

An order of Nem Ran Cua Be, the equivalent of four small crab spring rolls built instead as two flattened and pre-sliced tubes, were ready for another DIY lettuce wrap process with a basic bowl of fish sauce dip. They weren’t strongly crab-flavored, but benefitted from the crispy texture of the rice paper.