Vien Dong Sugar Cane

This place is noms for com! Most flakey Pâté chaud ever! Better than Hong Van Bakery and Euro delights. Their pastry is fluffy, meat is seasoned well. The veggie one is pretty bomb too. Tip: veggies runs out early so call ahead! Total mom and pop shop. CASH only.

Can’t beat 50 cents pâté chaud that tastes so good

Their sugarcane sucks. I have been here twice. Last time the sugarcane juice was more brown than green and tasted like water with sugar. I’ve had sugarcane twice this week and 2 more times in LA this month so I know what sugarcane should taste like. I found out the sugarcane juice tastes better at Vietnamese food court and they make it fresh. The stores that specializes in sugarcane juice is mixing something in the back. The best one is at Century Plaza.

My husband is picky but gives their pâté chaud a 5-​star. It’s not oily like others places and for 50¢, it’s a great deal. Highly recommended.

We come here strictly for their yummy pâté chaud! ⁵⁄₅
Order in advance for large orders (for parties or yourself lol)
SO CHEAP at 50cents each. It’s worth the carbs :)
I’ve also had their rice paper salad and I really liked it here! ⁴⁄₅
Lots of parking. Cash only. No seating.

My mom and I came here to buy pâté so which was 50 cents. It smelled so good here to me. In fact, a few feet outside of this place smelled good. This place also sold juices, smoothies, and other drinks. I didn’t buy anything but just looked around. It was a really small place with a few refrigerators. The people working here were nice and friendly to us. There was a menu with a number of foods behind the counter. Overall, good place for some baked goods and drinks.

5 stars for the best pâté chaud I’ve ever had.
Always a big hit at family events, parties, potlucks and Sunday snacking on the couch where I don’t have to share.
At 50 cents a piece, I put your cupcakes to shame at a fraction of the cost!!!

The hype about these delicious pâté chaud are true!
For .50 a piece, this may be one of the greatest things I have discovered!
For those who don’t know what a pâté chaud is, it’s simply a flaky pastry filled with ground meat.
I literally bought 6 of these and they were gone in less than 5 mins.

This review is based on their sugarcane drinks only, and not any of their food as I have never had tried their food yet.
I use to come here mainly for sugar cane drinks since its close by my family home. On my last visit, I got the sugar cane drink, I noticed it was very sugar sweet, not much taste of any sugar cane. U can also tell it was so watered down. Sorry, but I just cant believe in business tat fake their products especially when it’s suppose to be their specialty. If the name is called Terrible Vien Dong Sugar Cane, then I wont have complaints as it is very true.

Vien Dong i’ve been to before but didn’t know what to buy,. cued by Cherylynn N’s, i knew.
.
store is poorly organized for selling. it’s easy to bump into other people. when in line since space is cramped. premade eats on counter facing the door. also in fridge at left. also at the counter where orders are taken.
menu on wall behind register. snap decisions had to be made since people waiting. skipped the drinks since i couldn’t decide.
eats: fried meat egg rolls (.50)
–fresh, meaty, .75 elsewhere
pork pâté chauds (.50)
had to point to .50 cents pork thing on wall, cashier knew.
–fresh, meaty, a steal!
lee’s sandwiches, other banh mi place sells it for 1.29
crumbs:
–would love to have ordered a drink but didn’t want to hold up line
–fried eats i tried a great value, fresh
–great customer service! young cashier not smiling but understanding, quick…
–parking maybe an issue. parking on street just a few extra steps.
–cash only.

Mr. NSS is a huge music and sports geek. He’s also a human calculator. Throw any number at him, ask him to multiply it, divide it, you name it, and you’ll get an answer faster than punching in the numbers yourself into a calculator.
His food knowledge?
It’s as bad as my geography. When I first met him, he didn’t know what a banh mi was, much less a quesadilla. WTF right? I give him sh*t for this all the time. But he puts me in my place by reminding me of how I once drove into a curb… with parking sensors.
Luckily, there were no parking casualties while looking for parking at Vien Dong.
It was a blistering 90 degrees the day we went to Vien Dong. It’s a dingy, hole-​in-​the-​wall that sells juices (known for their nuoc mai, sugar cane juice), smoothies, banh mi’s, waffles, pâté chauds and various Vietnamese prepared snacks. Cash only.
I bought a bunch of pâté chauds, a Vietnamese savory pork puff pastry and one durian puff pastry (50 cents each). To cool off, I also ordered a large strawberry sugarcane juice ($ 4).
Don’t expect a smiling face. Service was curt. I told the lady, we came from SF because I heard great things about their pâté chaud. She gave me an eye roll.
Being hot weather pansies, we run back into the car to put our face into the a/​c and for me to take by obligatory food pics.
Me: «Want some pâté chaud?»
Mr. NSS: «Isn’t pâté like liver? Yuck.»
Me: «Yea but this isn’t that kind of pâté… just try it, it’s really good.»
Mr. NSS: «No, thanks.»
I had to go pee pee so we stopped by a gas station.
*Goes back into car and looks over to Mr. NSS*
Me: «Ummm, did you eat a pâté chaud?»
Mr. NSS: «No, I don’t like liver.»
Me: «Because you have pastry crumbs ALL over your face and a piece hanging off of your nose.»
*Opens bag*
Me: «Dude, there’s NOTHING left!»
Mr. NSS: «Ohh, I was just doing a taste test for you… you can tell your Unilocal followers, Mr. NSS approved.» *thumbs up*
Grrr…
OTHER NOTES:
*Pâté chaud was warm and super flaky with a savory pork meatball filling (not msg-​y).
–Cheap compared to other places that sell it for 80 cents to $ 1 each.
*Skip the durian. It was grainy and not much durian stinkyness.
*Sugarcane juice was too sweet but after letting it dilute in ice, it was a lot better.
*One very dingy four-​top inside.

It’s called pâté chaud but that just means ground meat. My friend’s mom brought these over and they are excellent.
Cute little flaky square filled with ground meat. It’s slightly more dense than the airy flakiness you might expect, but that gives it a more comfort food feel.
I would definitely bring these as a gift for someone.

Located near the Senter Market on Senter Road, on the left end of the plaza.
AMBIANCE: Small little place, not much room to walk around inside. Smells a bit weird, but you won’t be sitting inside anyway because there aren’t really seats inside for customers to sit. It’s more of a to-​go place.
SERVICE: The Vietnamese lady at the cashier is nice. She explained the different pastries they had. And that if we wanted any of the drinks in their cooler as you walk in (such as the passion fruit drink), they will add ice to it. And of course it’s CASH ONLY here.
FOOD: So they are famous for their patê sô (pâté chaud) so I had to try it out! They have a selection of puff pastries to choose from: meat, vegetarian and sweets (coconut, durian & taro). I tried them all! They were all fairly good! The durian was my least favorite, it only had a hint of durian, wish it had more of a durian flavor. And my favorite of the sweets pastries was the coconut. The pastry itself was very crispy and not overly greasy, pretty perfect and delicious. I would take it home and reheat it in the toaster oven, to have it even more crispy.
DRINKS: I only tried 2. The passion fruit drink and the sugar cane drink (nuoc mia). I would definitely get the passion fruit drink again, love the inclusion of the seeds. The passion fruit drink has a nice mix of sour, sweet, and salty; absolutely refreshing. The sugar cane drink with kumquat on the other hand I would not recommend, it was water downed and not very fresh and flavorful. I have had better at Nuoc Mia Ning Kieu (in grand century mall). Next time, I would like to try the iced coffee.

I spotted this place selling sugar cane juice after eating lunch at Com Tam Thien Huong. While the nuoc mia was very refreshing, I noticed the brisk business turning over (hehe) was really for the assorted flaky pastries kept under heat lamps. I was able to snag a few very fresh taro turnovers, durian pastries, and pâté chaud. BF had never eaten durian-​anythings and really liked the durian pastries (!). Not my thing — I preferred the pâté chaud and the taro turnovers.
The pastry work was really fantastic, especially at these cheap prices. Someone knows how to work with laminated doughs, be it lard-​based or not. The pastry is super flaky yet tender.

I love the banh mi cha here. The lady makes it so well. It’s my now go to place for sandwiches !!!

Noelle’s Unilocal Notebook 2015
Vien Dong is a definite favorite in my Unilocal Notebook. This my go to spot for bánh patê sô. Came here today, on a rainy Sunday and picked up bánh patê sô for my family and family friends. I noticed the had a triangle shaped puff pastry next to the bánh patê sô, I inquired only to find out those were sweet puff pastry desserts that come in three flavors– coconut, durian and taro. The dessert puff pastries were fantastic.
Last year my uncle’s father in law father passed away. My normal go to spot for bánh patê sô couldn’t accommodate my need for 3 dozen bánh patê sô on short notice, which led me to drive further to Vien Dong which isn’t close to my home (but well worth the drive). We arrived early on a weekday morning and were able to pick up 3 dozen bánh patê sô with no problem, a bánh mi pork sandwich for my hubs breakfast and a iced coffee for me.
Sometimes there is a language barrier but the customer service is top notch. If Debbie the owner is around (she speaks fluent English) you can inquire about catering orders and such. Deliciously made bánh patê sô, great iced coffee, sandwiches and other snacks combined with good customer service make this one of my favorite mom and pop shops to patronize!!!
Noelle’s Notes
50 cents for small dessert puff pastries
Love this shop!!!
Cash only

Went here with my mom since she was craving nuoc mia (sugar cane drink). She loves it here, $ 3 for a regular and $ 3.50 for a large. My mom usually orders it with no ice so that it doesn’t dilute the drink. Like mother, like daughter :)
My sister also ordered the green coconut waffles. She didn’t really like it since it has coconut shreddings in it. But I absolutely love it. It gives it more flavor and texture. Normally I don’t like the original green waffle at Grand Century Mall, but this is amazing! It’s also much thicker than usual (Belgium style?) $ 1.25 each.
It took them quite a while to make as well as get our drink ready since they were attending other customers.
Got the nuoc mia and two green waffle!
Total: $ 6

Okay, this would have gotten a 4 stars, but after my trip back home to Vietnam and my recent purchase here, I knocked down a couple of stars. (I know, it’s sad, but sorry that’s the way it has to go!)
This used to be my go to place for sugarcane juice. There really was no other place in town that had fresh pressed sugarcane. The ones at Vien Dong were sweet and very refreshing. Today, I ordered the same thing I always get. On occasion I would get the sugarcane juice with orange juice or kumquat! That’s always good! But today, I just got the regular. The lady even gave me a $ 0.50 discount! In my head I was like «SWEET!» But boy was I wrong. The $ 3 drink tasted really really bad. It was watered down and mixed with sugar. Not what you would expect from a sugarcane juice. NO WAY JOSE! So disappointed in this. Also, the lady was irritated when I only ordered one drink. (I walked in with my nieces) Can’t help if I only wanted one! But you gotta go with what your customers want, right?
And I can’t help but compare this sugarcane drink with the ones I had in Vietnam. I’m so disappointed today. I might come back and hope that today was just a bad batch.

I was urged not to talk about the pâté chaud from Vien Dong. However, seeing that it’s not even really a secret on Unilocal,I’ll go ahead and write my review.
This shop nominally specializes in sugar cane juice. They also have a few other foods and drinks. However, I have not tried any of those items. The only reason that I went today is their awesome and really cheap pâté chaud. You can have not just one, but two of these goodies for a dollar.
The pâté chaud are square, in contrast to the circular kinds that most other places make. Each side is about two inches. The puff pastry is ridiculously good and is easy to bite through, and it gets even better if you pop it in the oven when you get home. Just make sure to order enough so that you don’t run out by the time you get there. The ground pork is easier to chew than other places, although I actually feel more of the diced onion and water chestnut in my mouth when I’m munching on one of these goodies. There’s definitely less pork here than in most other pâté chaud that I’ve had. My biggest issue, however, is that the pâté chaud really lacks in pepper and garlic. I can see the pepper, but I can’t taste it.
Still, cheap sometimes just wins. This is definitely one of those times. You will forget about the deficiencies by the time you’ve eaten several of these pastries in a row. Trust me.

Nothing beats the hot weather like a good cup of sugar cane juice… except maybe sugar cane juice with strawberries! I’ve always been a big fan of sugar cane juice because Momma U. always told me that it helps balance all the fried food that I like to eat.
While waiting for our 110 banh beo from Bahn Beo Tolan (
), Mr. Dubs and I found ourselves craving for this refreshing beverage. A quick round of Unilocal had us at the door stop of Vien Dong Sugar Cane. I’ve only had sugar cane juice with oranges before but I was excited to try it with strawberries. Good thing they didn’t have it with oranges because I definitely enjoy it more with strawberries. They have an option for a M or L and of course I went with the L. It only took me 15 minutes to slurp it all up and it took me everything to hold back from going for another one!
*Tip: cash only!