Seven Courses of Beef

My all-time favorite Vietnamese food would have to be the specialty served at Anh Hong Restaurant: 7 courses of beef. As soon as you walk in the door the delicious smell of the food overwhelms you. I would not wear my best clothes, because they end up smelling like the restaurant. Also remember to wash your hands before going, because you'll be using them a lot.

What is 7 courses of beef? Well, not only is it literally its namesake, it also entails a special interactive way of eating. Each course is accompanied by rice paper and a bevy of vegetation like green leaf lettuce, cucumbers, bean sprouts, and marinated carrots and daikon. The idea is to wrap the various courses of beef in the rice paper filled with your choice of vegetables. Two sauces for dipping come as well, and I like to mix the two for the flavor.

The courses are:

• Special Beef salad (strips of beef with a lot of carrots, celery, onions marinating in a vinegary dressing)
• Beef Fondue ( cooking strips of beef in a boiling broth)
• Beef meatballs
• Beef meatloaf
• Beef wrapped in Hawaiian Lot Leaves
• Grilled beef with lemongrass and onions
• Special beef rice soup (my favorite, a great tasting beef broth with rice, ground beef, and tiny pasta)
  

One orders by telling the waiter how many "orders" of the 7 courses of beef you want. One order is enough to feed two. Usually my family gets 3 "orders" for 5 people, but we also order an extra course: grilled shrimp and squid, which can be found in the menu under the heading "House Specialties." In this interactive meal, you grill it yourself, of course.

It's a fun group experience and worth the wait on busy nights. I always eat here at least once during my visits home, although it's not something I would eat daily because it's so rich.

Seven Courses of Beef
8748 Valley Blvd. #A
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626)572-9805