Chef Papa Vietnamese Kitchen
The Long Island City area around Queensboro Plaza is definitely missing some Vietnamese restaurants. We’ve been to Cyclo, and it was very mediocre. Since Knock Knock closed down, this family-owned restaurant from Flushing took over the location. We were able to stop by around 5 PM on a Sunday early evening without reservations. There was no one eating, and we asked to sit at the same bar that was located at Knock Knock.
Ambiance & Service
I don’t quite remember, but it feels like some of the furniture here is pretty similar to what Knock Knock had. The bar seats had velvet, and the high ceilings of the restaurant made the whole vibe feel very open. There was music playing, but it’s easy to have a casual conversation. Knock Knock had an open ceiling patio/garden, and that typically is a very popular seating spot.
The service was very quick as expected. We were in and out within an hour. It was clear they had some new wait staff, so they were trying to clean some of the machines and train up.
Food
The Vietnamese Iced Coffee ($6 - left) was pretty good. The coffee was thicker than expected, but it tasted decent.
The Lychee Soda ($6 - right) was also decent as well. It didn’t come from a can as they were making it in front of us. It had some seltzer in it along with a lychee. It also was not that sweet.
The Crispy Summer Rolls ($9) came with 1 roll with fresh shrimp and a fried shrimp & pork spring roll inside. It was served with peanut sauce. This was interesting because I thought this whole roll was going to be fried, but it really was just something in the middle. The middle was the usual spring roll ingredients, and they added a fried roll in the middle for the crunch. For $1 less, you could get it without. This was surprisingly pretty good.
The Signature pho ($18) came with beef pho broth, rare eye round beef, brisket, tendon, and beef ball. The pho broth here was light and decently flavorful. The meat was also decent too. I wished they gave a bit more tendons. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite meet my bar for pho, when compared to Los Angeles. The broth is missing some umami in it. And what was weird was they did not have any little dishes to pour your sriracha and oyster sauce mixture in.
I ordered an additional pork chop ($6) because I was curious it’d be like. This was a bit overcooked, but at least the meat fell off the bone easily. It had a slight sweet glaze to it.
The Grilled Lemongrass Chicken ($15) came with marinated lemongrass chicken over rice with pickled vegetables, fried egg, and supposedly fish sauce. The lemongrass chicken had the same seasoning as the pork chop. Everything here tasted like the normal Vietnamese rice plate, except they surprisingly didn’t serve fish sauce to dip the chicken in. I did not taste fish sauce anywhere in the dish, so maybe it was forgotten.
Final Verdict
Chef Papa Vietnamese Kitchen is a decent Vietnamese restaurant in the neighborhood to get your pho fix in. I think this could be one of those neighborhood joints that we could consider revisiting, but unfortunately the food was just OK.
Yelp Jabs
Best new viet restaurant! There is such a lack of real vietnamese food in LIC, and this is what we are missing! … Price was super fair
There is really just 1 Vietnamese restaurant in LIC, and this does satisfy the alternative to Cyclo. I agree with this Elitist though that the price was reasonable for Long Island City / Manhattan prices.
I thought the pork knuckle was pretty fatty (not sure if that’s supposed to be that way)
This Elitist clearly has not seen how bone broth is made. For many things if you cook it long enough, things will become soft and break down. It’s how tendons become like jelly after you braise it in stock for a while.
Revisions
- Sep 1, 2024 - Initial revision.