【Foodholic Niko @ Kaohsiung】

It's time to look for food again near Qishan Old Street!
Even though I've lived here since I was little, I only started seriously searching for new restaurants after I began playing Fooday.

Today, I suddenly really wanted to eat rice noodles, so I found this place called "Hometown Garden Vietnamese Snacks," which is located right next to the famous "Qishan Red槽 Meat." The store looks very simple and homely, not the type of place with special decor, but overall it looks very tidy, not just in the dining area but even the food preparation area is clean.

They offer a lot of items on their menu. Besides soup rice noodles and stir-fried rice noodles, they also serve fried rice, fried pasta, fried instant noodles, pork chop rice, baguettes, and more.

Stir-fried chicken rice noodles - $80
Honestly, I was a bit disappointed when I opened it. It looked very much like regular dry mixed noodles, just with rice noodles instead. However, after trying it, the taste wasn’t bad at all, but it seemed to lack the aroma of stir-frying. True to its appearance, it did have a bit of a mixed noodle flavor. Adding some chili and lime juice definitely improved it, so I recommend adding those.

Chicken rice noodle soup - $80
It has a relatively mild flavor. Since the rice noodles and soup are packed separately for takeout, the advantage is that the rice noodles won’t get mushy; the downside is that they seem to lack flavor infusion. However, the broth itself is quite tasty and not oily!

Fried spring rolls - $70
The portion is okay, but the flavor is a bit disappointing; it feels like something is missing. Since I have had better-tasting fried spring rolls, this isn't something I would want to order again.

Overall, I wouldn't say the food is bad, but it feels like the taste has been adjusted for Taiwanese preferences, making it somewhat more Taiwanese in flavor.