A staple to West Kelowna, Bamboo Chopsticks opened their third location yesterday in downtown Kelowna, increasing the tasty Vietnamese food options in the core. I mean you can never have enough of that refreshing and savoury, fresh yet comforting Vietnamese cuisine. The local proprietors have set up shop next door to the library on Ellis Street in one those new storefronts in the Parkade building.
Perfect for lunch breaks, and certainly eyeing an increasing downtown population, it’s great to see them mixing up our dinner scene a bit more. Imho Bamboo Chopsticks West Kelowna is right up there with Hoang Gia as best Viet in the city (at least the pork vermicelli bowl which I can’t stop ordering).
About that bowl, I’m a huge fan of bún chả (Vietnamese vermicelli bowl with grilled pork), and Bamboo Chopsticks serve a pretty spectacular take on the dish called the 3 Color Combo ($11.95). The bowl features bbq marinated pork, pork sausage and for crunchy contrast, some super meaty deep fried spring rolls, along with those noodz, fresh herbs of the basil-minty variety, and other crunchy and pickled veg like sprouts, daikon or carrot tossed in that addictive sweet chili fish sauce (nuoc cham, aka awesome sauce). Heaven. What tends to set a great vermicelli bowl apart from the average, are the spring rolls (Cha Gio), and Bamboo Chopsticks’ rolls are made fresh, in-house with vermicelli, spring onion, carrot, mushroom, mixed with minced pork and wrapped in rice paper, perfectly deep fried to a flavourful, delicate crunch.
There are a number of other vermicelli bowl options on their menu including the equally tasty Deluxe Bowl ($13.95) served with sugarcane prawn, beef, chicken and pork, 10 different Pho soups (with a spicy lemongrass broth option), speciality soups including their popular “Hue” Style Spicy Soup (predominant flavours of lemongrass, chillies and aromatics, served with vermicelli noodles, brisket, beef balls, fish patty and pork), and various stir-fry dishes.
Bamboo Chopsticks has received great marks across the review sites (Trip Advisor – 4.5/5 169 reviews, Yelp – 5/5, Google – 4.3/5 91 reviews) with most reviewers remarking on the great service, and in particular on how fast the food is delivered to the table, which is great news for anyone downtown looking for a quick, walkable lunch break.
