Em Vietnamese Restaurant - Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, NY

There's never a time when I'm not in the mood for a soup noodle - ok, maybe when it's like 90 degrees outside but as long as they have the air conditioner blasting, I can eat a bowl of pho any day.

Pho wasn't really the specialty at Em, my eyes were fixed on the Hu Tieu. Coming from a Vietnamese descent, I'm always up for trying delicious Vietnamese food and hu tieu is one that really connects me back to my roots. The simple yet flavorful umami broth with toppings of ground pork, quail egg, shrimps and tons of herbs can leave a person salivating.

Jimmy and I were meeting up with a friend, so I thought Em was a perfect spot for some chill time and delicious food. Decor was simple and clean, service was quite good.

Vietnamese Iced Coffee

Pho Bo Em

Hu Tieu Em

The Hu Tieu Em really hit the spot. Lucky for me, the weather that day was dreary and rainy so it was the perfect comfort food. Viet life isn't just about pho (or maybe it is...), there's so many different noodle soups that Vietnam has to offer and the hu tieu at Em is perfect to start your adventure.

Verdict:
Food ~ 4 out of 5
Price ~ 4 out of 5
Service ~ 5 out of 5

Em Vietnamese Restaurant
1702 86th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11214

86 Hot Pot BBQ - Brooklyn, NY

It was a night to catch up with my girlfriends and what's better than to hotpot that night away. It was a chilly day in New York, so hotpot was definitely the better option. 86 Hotpot opened not to long ago and is still fairly new to the neighborhood of Bensonhurst.

It was quite empty on a Thursday night, but nonetheless, the service was pretty great. 86 Hotpot BBQ has both your regular hotpot and bbq, we only did hotpot which was $21.99 a person - not bad since it includes seafood (like mussels, clams and crab) which a lot of places don't. The interior was very modern and clean, sauce station was a bit small. The placement of the raw food that came out was on point, they didn't mix the more bloody items with the rest of the food (always a pet-peeve of mine).

At 86 Hotpot, you're given a menu with a list of food and you just mark off what you want. Very efficient and the food came out at a timely manner, which is always a good thing. One thing that might be interesting to know, if you're a party of 4 or less, you'll most likely get a big pot of broth to share whereas if you have a larger party, each person will get their individual pot.

I'd definitely recommend 86 Hotpot, it's very similar to 99 Favors. I need to come back to try the BBQ.

The spread...

Verdict:
Food ~ 4 out of 5
Price ~ 4 out of 5
Service ~ 5 out of 5

86 Hot Pot BBQ
2239 86th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11214