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Hoa My - Austin, TX

Corey

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Jul 1, 2005
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Location
Austin
First Name
Corey
What:
Excellent little Vietnamese/Chinese restauarant that could be easily passed over because of it's location. The portions are very generous, especially considering the comparatively low prices.

I've eaten at this restaurant many many times. Their chinese food is among the best that I have had anywhere. Some of the dishes that I have sampled:

Sweet and Sour Pork: This is one of the dishes that I personally use to judge Chinese food by. It's a dish that is excellent when done right, but easy to screw up. An inconsistant batter can leave the chicken tasting soggy and dry, while getting the right flavor and texture out of the sauce can be something of a masterpiece. Hoa My succeeds at creating an excellent dish. The batter is perfect, giving an excellent crisp texture to the chicken, even when covered in the sauce. The sauce has an excellent thickness, neither watery/runny or excessivly thick. It has an excellent balance of sweetness and tartness, with flavorful veggies in the mix. It passes the strict Corey test.

Orange Chicken: This is a personal favorite. The sauce has a wonderfully sweet flavor with a nice hint of spicyness to it. The chicken pieces are a good size, not too small or overly large. The batter remains crisp even down to the last piece. Absolutely excellent. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Pineapple Chicken: Unlike most of my normal favorites, the chicken in this dish isn't deep fried in a batter, but cooked nicely and mixed in with a pineapple sauce that enhances the natural chicken flavor, rather than drown it out. With a good mix of pineapple chunks, the sauce had a great sweet taste to it that seems to compliment the chicken nicely. The sauce also mixes incredibly well with the rice. It's not as thick as the sweet and sour sauce, but works well with the dish.

Sesame Chicken: Another dish that tastes great, but is easy to mess up. As with the other batter fried chicken dishes, the meat is crips and surrounded by an excellent sauce. This one doesn't fall into the trap of being overly salty and overpowering. It is another compliment to the chicken.

Pho: A vietnamese dish that I had to try after seeing it served to a number of other customers. First things first, the bowl it's served in is HUGE. I got the steak pho, and they sure didn't skimp on the meat. The noodles were very tender and were plentiful. The taste was a little different, and not something I'm used to, but that's hardly saying it's bad. There's this brown, thick sauce that is at every table that I've seen people mix into their pho, so I tried that. It added a wonderful dimension to the pho that enhanced all the flavors.

All in all, Hoa My has been incredibly consistant and continuously delicious. Each of the chinese dishes is served with a choice of soup, a generous amount of rice, and an eggroll. Of the soup, the Hot and Sour is excellent while the Egg Drop is kind of bland. The eggroll a disappointment in that it probably comes from the freezer isle at Walmart. It's small and it sucks.

Be warned though, their soda comes in a can and is charged by the can. I tend to drink lots and lots of fluids, so I go for the water because it's free and there are free refills.

Prices are very reasonable. A chinese combo (soup, meat, rice, eggroll) will run about $7 to $9 for a good portion of food. I have yet to finish a meal there and am more than capable of packing down some food. Another nice thing, I stay full for a long time, unlike most chinese food that seems to leave me hungry an hour later.

Where:

Hoa My Restaurant
(512) 339-1688
13000 N I H 35
Austin, TX 78753
Mapquest Map

Directions:

Hoa My is relatively easy to get to. Located in North Austin, it is in the Walmart Shopping Plaza on the corner of I35 and Parmer Lane. From the north, exit at Parmer Lane, stay right in the service lane and the Walmart shopping plaza will be on your right past Carmax and Lowes. Hoa My is in the mini shopping area on the south end of Walmart, about two or three doors down from Coldstone Creamery.

From the south, exit at Parmer Lane and head left over the overpass. The Walmart shopping center will be on your right hand side.
 
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this sounds an awful lot like a advertisement. Is it just me or does it sound that way to others? But it is a well done ad if that is what it is.
 
Chris Mitchell said:
this sounds an awful lot like a advertisement. Is it just me or does it sound that way to others? But it is a well done ad if that is what it is.
I give you my word that I am in no way affiliated with this restaurant. Hopefully some on this site will vouch for me. I post at cycleforums.com and sport-touring.net also. I'm an avid food lover (as my growing spare tire will show :lol: ) and love sharing with others places that I think are great. :-D
 
I only wish more of the posters in these forums would use the proper format and give such great details!! Well done ;-) Thanks.
 
Tourmeister said:
proper format and give such great details!!

I agree, at first I thought Corey was a local food critic that I've heard here in Austin. I'm near that area and will take advantage of this info.

Thanks my man.
 
Nice report, Corey. Have you tried their bun (i.e., Vietnamese dish of vermicelli with meat, lettuce, and the ever-present orange-ish duck(?) sauce)? Also, do you know if they have Banh Cuon (sp?), which is sliced meat (kind of like Spam), with rice noodle 'sheets', cucumbers, and fried onions sprinkled on top (mmmm, I'm hungry already this a.m.):

banhcuon.jpg


My wife and I eat a fair amount of Asian food, most often these days at Pho Huang in Round Rock (Vietnamese), Din Ho off of 183 (awesome Cantonese food, pork/duck BBQ, and wonton soup), and Marco Polo down south near Oltorf (good dim sum). Thanks for the headsup on this restaurant, may have to check it out soon.... :chug:
 
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buck000 said:
Nice report, Corey. Have you tried their bun (i.e., Vietnamese dish of vermicelli with meat, lettuce, and the ever-present orange-ish duck(?) sauce)? Also, do you know if they have Banh Cuon (sp?), which is sliced meat (kind of like Spam), with rice noodle 'sheets', cucumbers, and fried onions sprinkled on top (mmmm, I'm hungry already this a.m.):

banhcuon.jpg


My wife and I eat a fair amount of Asian food, most often these days at Pho Huang in Round Rock (Vietnamese), Din Ho off of 183 (awesome Cantonese food, pork/duck BBQ, and wonton soup), and Marco Polo down south near Oltorf (good dim sum). Thanks for the headsup on this restaurant, may have to check it out soon.... :chug:

Unfortunately I've only tried what I've reported on. Typically when I go to Hoa My, it's because I have a craving for Orange Chicken and nothing else on the menu will satisfy that craving. Though from the picture you've posted, I'm tempted to be a little more adventurous.

I will say this. Though I love their chinese portion of the menu, it is only a small portion of what's listed. The vast majority of their offerings appears to be Vietnamese cuisine. Hope you enjoy their food as much as I do!
 
I've eaten at Hoa My several times and the food is excellent.

If you like Vietnamese food you need to check out Tan Tans. It's a little hole in the wall place in a small strip mall off Ohlen road just about a block north of 183. Huge portions and pretty cheap - $6 for a huge bowl of pho and the food is equal to Hoa My but the decor is not as nice.
 
We went to Tan Tan when it first opened, and it was often just my wife and I and the owner's kids eating at lunch. :-)

Over the years, we just wound up going elsewhere, mainly because we're simply suburban denizens with very little life outside of Round Rock.

Tan Tan has always been good.... :chug:
 
buck000 said:
...Also, do you know if they have Banh Cuon (sp?), which is sliced meat (kind of like Spam), with rice noodle 'sheets', cucumbers, and fried onions sprinkled on top (mmmm, I'm hungry already this a.m.):

banhcuon.jpg
You've just been reported, buddy! How dare you post such a blatantly seductive image. This is a family forum - keep it clean!

;-)

BTW, thanks for the tip Corey. 8-)
 
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My wife and I ate at Hua My today.

She had the chicken soup (Pho Tai), and said it was ok (she's very hard to please re: Asian food).

I had the vermicelli (bun) with pork, shrimp, and egg roll, and it was pretty tasty.

Prices seem a dollar high, but that's probably because they take credit cards.

Service was a bit slow (Vietnamese food is usually amazing for how fast it comes out after you order it).

No banh cuon, sadly. :shrug:

We'll likely go back.

Tan Tan (Austin), Pho 888 (Austin), and Pho Huang (Austin, Round Rock) are still our faves, though.
 
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