[Los Angeles, CA] - OC & Lau Restaurant
On the way back from San Diego, I stayed a night in Anaheim. My friends already knew that they wanted they wanted for dinner, so I went along for the ride. This was the best meal we had all weekend! I've eaten my fair share of Vietnamese food, but this was a first.
I'm not normally a snail loving person; I prefer bivalves. These escargot though, were delicious. That's right, these stupid snails were so good I told everyone we should get another order because I was feeling greedy and wanted more! My friend suggested I calm myself and wait since they ordered so many other things. It was a struggle, but I made it through. And then ordered another of the snails, and another of the squid salad. It was a big party of flavors and textures and I loved every moment of it. We ordered two types of clams and both were fantastic. One had a meatier flavor (the cherry stone), while the other had a bit more of a tang (the one with the fried pork belly). Both were delectable.
It was my friend's birthday and she loves crab so she really did the ordering. She chose the crab noodles and the sea bass hot pot. The crab had a good flavor, but it felt like too much work after how easy it was to eat the clams and snails. The noodles were a bit soft and lacked flavor. As for the hot pot though, the hot pot was good. The fish pieces were huge and really picked up the tom yum flavor of the soup (even though I'm sure it wasn't tom yum soup, it just had that sour taste that is tasty). It felt kind of cleansing almost, to drink the broth after all of the mollusky devastation we dealt. And then, to round off our feast, the grilled shrimp appetizer that we all had forgotten about.
I've heard there's always a line, and just to warn you, we were there on a Sunday night around 7:30pm and didn't get seated until 9:30pm. My friend did say though, that the last time they went for lunch and the wait was much better.
Coconut swirly escargot with basil leaves/Oc Len Xao Dua ($9.50). It's one of the dishes they are best known for.
Grilled cherry stone clams with buttered green onions/So Duong Nuong Mo Hanh ($9.50). I could eat this by myself. So many flavors that play well together!
Mango Squid Salad/Goi Xoai Muc Mot Nang ($8.50). This was so good we ordered another. It was very refreshing and light.
House special crab noodles/Cua Xao Mi Dac Biet ($29.99).
Seasoned grilled shrimp/ ($9.50). While good, I probably didn't need this by this time of night. Everything else was so good and filling. Pictured on the right, one of their amazing drinks. They have an entire page dedicated to drinks. Many of them are fruit drinks and I recommend all of them. I personally liked this passion fruit one the best though. But try as many as you can. I doubt it'll be a bad experience!
Address:
10130 Garden Grove Blvd
Ste 111-113
Garden Grove, CA 92844
Hours:
Sun-Thurs 11am - 11pm
Fri & Sat 11am - midnight
Tuesday - Closed
Website
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