Co Chau Vietnamese Restaurant: Modern Vietnamese Dishes

It used to be that you couldn’t find a good Vietnamese place in New Westminster but this seems to have changed. Recently, I noticed a new Vietnamese restaurant take up in the former digs of Pho Chung Nam (not sure if it’s different owners but I know that a new Pho Nam opened up in a different part of New West earlier this year).

In any case, they’ve done some nice renovations to this location and it has a more modern look compared to the minimalist appearance of most Vietnamese restaurants. Heck, they even serve their water with a slice of lime and cucumber in it.

On my first visit, I tried their Canh Ga Chien ($13) or butter garlic chicken wings. These were nice… not super tender, but they had a delicate crispness to the exterior and I could really taste the garlic.

I also ordered the Bun Thit Nuong ($12) which is basically grilled meats and vermicelli noodles. You actually get a grilled prawn skewer, pork spring roll, and the grilled meat. The orange-hued spring roll was crispy and they had a chili fish sauce for dipping.

On my next visit, I ordered the Goi Cuon Dac Biet ($4) aka Special Salad Roll with Vietnamese sausage (which reminded me of lap cheong), lettuce, jicama, carrot, coconut, peanuts, basil, and shio leaf wrapped in rice paper. This isn’t the typical salad roll that I’m used to… I really enjoyed the crunchy bits in the middle (guessing that was the jicama) and the peanut sauce, which was thinner than I’m used to, added to the lightness of this item.

I also ordered the Com Nieu Co Chau ($22) aka the Co Chau Trio because this rice dish has 3 different types of meats: lemongrass chicken, pork chop, and beef short ribs accompanied with pickled carrots & daikon, tomato, and chili fish sauce. There’s some really nicely grilled meats in this plate and the only thing that would have made it better would have been for a fried egg on top of the rice. The jasmine rice (served on the side) was a bit meh and really needed to be served under the meats to soak up some of the juices from the grilled meats.

A couple of months later, I came back to try their Bun Bo Hue ($11.50) served with beef brisket, Vietnamese ham, pork hock, and thick vermicelli noodles. The type of accouterments included are a bit more fancy than you find at most other Vietnamese restaurants but I found the noodles were a firmer experience than I would have enjoyed. That being said, the broth was quite addictive with a full umami flavour that I wasn’t really expecting.

I brought my significant other here to try a few items that I’ve had previously including the Special Salad Roll, and Bun Thit Nuong. I previously had the butter garlic chicken wings but this time we ordered the Chili Fish Sauce Chicken Wings and they had a nice spicy kick to it.

Overall, this place serves up some tasty Vietnamese dishes that are a bit more modern than you’re probably used to but well worth a visit to try them out.

522 6th Ave
New Westminster, BC

co-chau-restaurant.business.site

Advertisement