The Oldest Pho Spot in Toronto - Dining on a Dime

This week on Dining on a Dime, host Lucas Peterson heads to the Trinity-Bellwoods neighborhood of Toronto to stop into Golden Turtle, a Vietnamese restaurant (the twin of another run by the same family back in Vietnam) known for its steamy bowl of beef pho.
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[@alhang]

i don't get all these stupid comments about not adding hoisin/sriracha. if you go to vietnam people add all those plus fish sauce or rendered beef fat, chili oil. people sometimes even dump a bowl of rice in the leftover broth to eat it up. add what u want, that's what makes it great.

[@doodahgurlie]

It's all the Northerners, they get all offended when people eat pho the Southern Vietnamese way. Don't listen to them.

[@ric44n]

Absolutely agreed.

[@kolbypham7318]

The northerners are the communist scrubs who destroyed the country. Eat it like the south.

[@Chilb0ng]

I'm from the north but, I put siracha and hosin in my soup...

[@SupaRAMENsushi]

im a northerner and we eat pho the same way

[@eater]

Hey everyone! We made a bit of a flub with the address at the start of the video. The address of Golden Turtle is: 125 Ossington Ave, Toronto, ON M6J 2Z6 Thanks for watching!

[@thanhdinh3179]

Just some advice: taste the broth before putting in hoisin sauce, if the broth is not good enough for u add hoisin sauce but don't add a mouthful of it before eating

[@craigjr.8216]

Yea, he did that before adding the hoison and sriracha, the owner just wanted to show him how it would taste when the hoison was added

[@benfsinger]

Pretty bad error. Seems worth a fix and re-upload. You've already left it up for a year though...

[@TonyNguyenMTB]

Cmon guys, there's nothing wrong with adding hoisin and siracha to the broth, it's just up to personal preferences. People in Vietnam do it all the time, in the south at least.

[@alhang]

well said!

[@doodahgurlie]

Only Northerners like to come to pho videos and say that. To that, I say, we all don't just eat cheese pizza or vanilla ice cream. Some of us like everything on our pizzas - meat and veggies and cheese - and for ice cream, I like things with nuts and all kinds of stuff going on in my ice cream. That's how I eat most of my food - I like all the different combinations of flavors and textures. If pho wasn't made to be modified for individual tastes, then it would not come with a platter of herbs that you can pick and choose from.

[@ramencup_]

Pho is heaven.

[@bennguyen5085]

this is true I rarely enjoy pho without hoisin/sriracha

[@monat_son]

i do sriracha only, never had hoisin before tho

[@matthewhogan180]

I feel like the restaurant owners featured on this show are always deserving of it. Another good one.

[@maverickx1221]

Pho is the perfect comfort food...I absolutely love it. Tendon is the best...

[@sbalchan]

They keep this in the family. WOW.

[@thehanoian258]

Thank you so much Lucas (and Eater) for making. As a Vietnamese who love discovering the home food abroad, every dish in this video looks tasty. I am glad to tear when Lucas stated Vietnamese food as one of his fav. Cheerio for Hanoi

[@doodahgurlie]

Lucas, the food looks so vibrant, fresh, and absolutely delicious. Everything you ordered looked amazingly delectable! Want me a bowl of that bun right now. Mmmmm!!!!

[@lucaskwanpeterson2010]

thank you for watching!!

[@votdfak]

Lucas are you on WestWorld? Yes, you're. Amazing!

[@MrWIbackpacker]

Very fortunate to have a couple Vietnamese restaurants nearby. It's not just the food. At my personal favorite one, they shut down the kitchen for family dinner every afternoon, and they leave the doors open, so you can still walk in, and enjoy a beer or a soda and watch tv while they eat. Considering what American and Vietnamese relations in the past, one of the friendliest restaurants I've ever been to.

[@justaddmusclecom]

This was one of the best Eater Episodes ever. The food all looked amazing.

[@izzika100]

your video reviews of these restaurants are very comprehensive and engaging. thank you for sharing!

[@timeman6821]

The Eater channel is pretty solid. Nice to hear people that know what their talking about while eating normal but still not normal food. THANK YOU

[@Jerzius]

I Love how they kept it so Basic and light.

[@elliottwallace]

I love Lucas! I'll watch anything he's in - he's my favorite host on Eater

[@lucaskwanpeterson2010]

Love this pho!! Love how I didn't have to stand in the PHO-queue for this PHO-nomenal unPHOrgettable PHO. As always, send recipes and love letters c/o Vox Media, New York, NY. See you next week!! XOXOXO

[@KentuckyFriedNerd]

Love the video! Reminds me of my days hanging out in a Vietnamese pool hall and biker bar, eating Vietnamese pancakes, and fries dipped in fish sauce in Kentucky!

[@ernestjudetilaamparo1872]

that looks pho-king amazing.

[@Burstintears]

Im so happy to hear Lucas' perspective on vietnamese food

[@painttheworldgrey]

Everything looks so good 😍 great episode!

[@zaxamofo]

You explain the flavours really well, subscribed.

[@RustyB5000]

man that looks soo good. I used to hate Pho but I've really come to love it. I'd eat it 3x/week if I could.

[@cloudburstt]

Vietnamese food is honestly one of my fave foods.

[@katyaallnutt693]

You're making me want to go to Toronto. I want to get on a plane right now and get my Eastern Canadian friends together to go to this place and probably everywhere else you feature this season. I really love Vietnamese food. There is a lot in Vancouver but it's all starting to seem really fast foody and not high quality anymore but this looks delicious.

[@skatingcanuck9837]

Come! We love East Coasters! There are some very good Viet restos here. The Golden Turtle is good, but there are better ones here.

[@Getsumsimm]

Whenever I see Lucas I LIKE before watching the video.

[@PTNOPOT]

The interview is a nice touch.

[@joruckus]

Lucas! Good episode man. Keep them comin'!

[@allenhiu8205]

pho is great but i wish more of my american friends knew about the wonderous meal that is a bowl of bun (those cold vermicelli noodles he eats after the pho). It's really great in a diff way.

[@nedyrb133]

Sweet a video from Toronto

[@rebeccathompson4790]

This is my fav restaurant in the city! Saw George Stroumboulopoulos there once!

[@SuperJuiceman11]

great review and great points about Vietnamese cuisine so healthy filling but not too heavy fresh and light and combine so many different ingredients all into one tasty dish. here in Southern California we have Little Saigon with a just some of the best Vietnamese restaurants you can find there is one place only that has the tastiest fish sauce it's more murky and looks homemade with a light brown but it's absolutely to die for at first I thought it was a little funky in my first time there but each visit back to the restaurant I feel more and more in love with the fish sauce until now I'm addicted to it and it doesn't even taste fishy to me anymore just a sweet salty creamy sauce that makes me feel healthy and good

[@skatingcanuck9837]

When I look at lists of the healthiest cuisines in the world Vietnamese is on more than half those lists. I adore their use of clean broths and fresh herbs and veggies.

[@newinspiration2108]

so rare seeing a restaurant which serves spring rolls with "true" dipping sauce instead of that weirdo peanut butter hoisin dipping sauce. Good work, good choice Eater!

[@lilpinche918]

What's is the "true" dipping sauce? That looks like a mixture of hoisin and peanut butter to me.

[@newinspiration2108]

yes, "that looks a mixture..." because you are not VNese :)

[@lilpinche918]

Yeah, but I used to work in a Vietnamese restaurant and I made sauce for spring rolls everyday. You still didn't answer my question, what is "true" dipping sauce?

[@newinspiration2108]

depends on the house, but the main ingredients are thinned down hoisin mixed with other stock (beef broth, chicken stock...), top with sweet and sour relish (daikon and carrot), , fried shallot, crushed peanuts. The final product should look like what is in the video - a dark rich translucent texture, any other peanut butter mixed sauces have a cloudy and spotty texture to it, even the smallest amount of peanut butter can kill the texture and taste of the sauce. I hope my words make sense here.

[@lilpinche918]

Makes total sense. That sounds really good! I've only ever known it to have peanut butter, in both Thai and Viet style.

[@marjanefox6162]

I'm adding this location to my list, thanks!

[@charlesmcfigus7126]

Just saw Lucas in Westworld and I was amazed.

[@user-mg3xh5kc5n]

I love Pho! When I went to Vietnam, I ate it. It was yummy.

[@cpunching]

Lovely place, I might have to visit it sometime soon. I hope you make your way down Spadina in a future episode or go somewhere in Koreatown up on Bloor, the asian food in Toronto is pretty damn great.

[@MRP78]

That looked so good and fresh.

[@jf76]

My favourite pho in the city. I wish I could have shown you around Toronto! So many amazing places to eat.

[@MiyukiYuki]

where else would you recommend? :P

[@alexalder4443]

Pho Linh on College Street or Pho Pasteur at Spadina and Dundas

[@jf76]

Pho Phuong is also good - super fresh ingredients. I do love Pho Linh too!!

[@daysisalg6163]

I love this restaurant! I am not Vietnamese but their food is so yum!

[@jmontis2]

love these places, moved to the midwest and one local viet place is so lonely and not very busy, it's tragic because their food is pretty decent

[@SillyNelson]

Golden Turtle is my spot. I adore that place. Their spicy satay broth is the answer to all the secrets of the universe

[@Suite_annamite]

The *oldest Vietnamese restaurants in Canada* are *in Québec* , where the *oldest Vietnamese community* in the country live, and who've *been there since WWII.* The first restaurants such as "Quán Liên" and "Chez Nga", not to mention the later "Ông Cẚ Cần" ("Chez Ô") are deeply entrenched in the culinary establishment of Francophone Canada.

[@moochipoochi99]

There's a golden turtle pho restaurant in Mississauga too! It's the same sign and everything woahh

[@marisap09]

Lucas making poetry out of food videos, as always.

[@isamila]

Looks so good !

[@alvincay100]

At a truly great Pho spot they just hook you up intravenously to the soup stock and dump the noodles down your throat.

[@LeePeteZzzaA]

That broth is so nice and light,most must be good... The best pho I had was in Chicago.... Now that the shop closed down I don't know where else to go for a authentic bowl

[@MrTongallen]

Another satisfying video which made me hungry. For some reason I tend to watch your videos at midnight. When are you going to do Malaysian food ?

[@eater]

We're on the look out for Malaysian spots for future travel with Lucas. In the meantime you can check out this Malaysian Coffee shop we visited with one of our other hosts: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4XGop1nnqqYiJY

[@SirPhillyLeong]

This place looks awesome. My only concern is that it's a little too clean. Some times you just want a MSG shaker on the table, a thumb in the broth and the table to be tacky.

[@kornetbeef]

U already cover Thailand and Vietnam, please do Indonesian food next.

[@telepusik]

Agree, indonesian food is one of the best things i have ever eaten. Such a shame that nobody in the west can cook a proper bakso.

[@shahesfelazi8549]

+You lost the game bakso is mystery meat pls lah

[@MiyukiYuki]

Yeah i'd like them to find one in toronto so i can finally try it for myself :9

[@janetngantran]

Shah Esfelazi yah its my Indo fav too besides pempek

[@whisnualbertus9240]

Up yo go bruh, so he can read this comment

[@510MyTube]

Damn lucas just saw you on westworld.....congrats on being on a great show.

[@domoredumpling]

pretty sure it's minced shrimp on sugar cane and not chicken

[@What-fx5dm]

I don't know anything about Vietnamese food except pho, but that salad bowl looks amazing

[@guyinsf]

There's so much more than just pho. There's spring rolls, banh mi, tons of other noodle dishes (bun rieu, hu tieu, bun bo hue, banh canh, etc.), banh xeo and so much more.

[@WithLoveSevil]

pho is my most favourite meal

[@cafezo87934]

pho/Vietnamese food is the best. so underrated.

[@matnasa8292]

Lucas doesn't seem as upbeat as he was a month back. Cheer up Lucas.

[@timenswijtink]

If you ever come to VN, let me know and I'll show you around! Found it interesting they add Sriracha. It's not Vietnamese originally. They have a simpler homemade hot sauce usually here.

[@JibinPhiliposeDGameR]

finally a good length video.

[@Suzy3223]

Looks amazing! Those sugar cane chicken nuggets look really fun. Excellent job Lucas!

[@henryngooo]

Viet food is one of the best cuisines in the world!

[@Suzy3223]

Henry Ngo After tasting my first bowl of Pho, a few months ago, I've been hooked. Really delicious clean food... I so agree!

[@miumiu5206]

Lucas looking cool like a cucumber everytime he walks into a restaurant

[@silentrunner7283]

Someone told me there were only 14 known Vietnamese people in Toronto in 1975. When the Vietnamese orphans arrived in Toronto April 1975, the local government had called upon them to help with food diets, translation and help for the children.

[@MrAtaguas]

OMG I just saw the episode 2 of WESTWORLD and this dude is in it !!

[@pandalala888]

MrAtaguas really? I gotta re-watch it!!

[@DrewRycerz]

This looks beautiful. I'm in Toronto I gotta check this place out. Thanks for saying Pho the right way, dunno why but it's like nails on a chalkboard to me when it's not said right. It's like saying Toronto and accentuating the last T HARD lmao.

[@peterwho9380]

Funny how the first Pho restaurant in Ottawa that opened up which had great Pho was also named The Golden Turtle! I wonder if these owners or the previous was related to Sunny's family in anyway because I knew their son?

[@johndonnelly5971]

Damn that food looks good. I live in Scarborough, but I will visit the Golden Turtle very soon.

[@johndonnelly5971]

hmmm no kidding? ok

[@onestarworld7271]

Another restaurant to try out. Never had pho before even though pho restaurants are everywhere in TO.

[@DrewRycerz]

Siracha is always a go to for me.

[@itscloudyinside]

AWW the way Lucas looks up at 3:19. SOOO PRECIOUSSS

[@7.5Mviews]

Omg right?! 😍

[@95thRiflesOCI]

Actually the first Pho Ru Vang restaurant was on St clair near stockyards and owned by the same owners that owned Pho Ga & Banh Cuon which also owns a Banh mi shop in Chinatown. Pho Ru Vang currently is in their 3rd location after moving down from their original spot a bit north of ossignton. You can tell quality has decreased and they now jacked up their prices due to the area being revamped. Better places then this in terms of quality and taste.

[@zingiberae]

It looks like you mean Banh Cuon To Thanh? Banh Cuon Thanh Truc is my favourite though

[@95thRiflesOCI]

​@@zingiberae Banh Cuon To Thanh is the new name when the new owners changed. It was originally called Pho Ga Banh Cuon or vice versa. Banh Cuon Thanh Truc is ok, but similar to Huong que style but smaller portions.

[@majornewb]

San Jose, CA has excellent pho places too

[@MikeTrieu]

Damn straight! Preach!

[@terrenceparkin8917]

There is a Golden Turtle in Kitchener as well.

[@nathaneastmure]

love it!

[@jackwongen6671]

Looks Good, if time permits will try when in Toronto. Keep it "real" Lucas. I bid you Peace.

[@JVF91]

this place was good, but i always go to the one south of it. forgot the name, but the meat quality is super on point.

[@SeeMick1]

+Eater you got the address wrong. It's actually 125 Ossington Ave, Toronto, ON M6J 2Z6

[@forcewayne9884]

Amazing video!!!😍😍😍💯

[@toukairin354]

for me in soup/broth based food, i don't add any sauces at all... first. But the sauces and condiments are on the table FOR A REASON... that means "YES YOU CAN USE US". so after a few sip of the "original" usually I add something to it to change the flavor. well if you need more kick, more spiciness, more saltiness etc, just add those things. you've paid for the food anyway. and in Asia we are BLESSED with spices and whatnot. if I can enjoy various flavors in one dish, that's a bang for the buck! try youtube-ing Tokyo Extra channel's ramen series for example of how the host ALWAYS change the taste of the ramen after nearly finishing/half finishing the ramen.

[@simonm.1122]

Vietnamese is always my go to lunch choice. Perfectly balanced food, just as Lucas says.

[@kianhwa24]

the simplest things are always the best. bean sprouts, onions, fresh herbs, clear stock, what more can you get?

[@WanaBgamer]

Favorite hangover food

[@uetzel]

hoisin and siracha mixed are actually pretty fun to eat

[@wolfpack9iloilo]

I'm going there in the weekend.

[@Bdiddy714]

this is how you eat pho here in the states in any vietnamese community. the best way. good response video to that bon appetit one lol

[@buiquynhhoa6034]

So proud to be Vietnamese people 🙋

[@Sth_Magical]

Darnit! You arrive in Toronto as I depart soon :(

[@cg68]

This looks good - but my top Toronto Pho restaurant is Pho House, Gerrard and Broadview! It's a hidden gem - shhhh.

[@quietasamouse]

Interesting how he suggests putting hoisin and sriracha in the soup bc usually it's discouraged! I'm late for work now. lol

[@AssassinGamersGamingTM]

No in the street pho places in Vietnam they always have Sircha and Hoisin and Lemon, everyone uses it.

[@TheCLAWaholic]

looks good

[@stevocanuck]

he never even talked about the actual pho bowl itself. He only talked about the beef, the sauce, and the herbs.. lol

[@Veedoesthings]

dude you know if it's a good pho when the broth is so clear. And the eggroll- it's a legit Vietnamese eggroll with RICE PAPPER wrapper, it's a little harder and time consuming to make for restaurant, but this place has nailed! No wonder it has been around for so long. Real foodies know how to treasure good foods 😉

[@GrowGlow]

the vermicelli bowl tho..... 😍😍

[@christinewang7441]

Come to Vancouver!!!!!!! We want Lucas :)

[@topochijo]

Craving pho right now.

[@chovue2363]

phoooo!!! nothing like a good extra large bowl during the winter night outings! eat half way through, then add the hoisen, sriracha, fish sauce and hot chili oil and it becomes a Brand new bowl of pho!

[@dr86688]

this director has good pho tography skills

[@deltaorion4826]

Are you still in Toronto? I recommend trying the Dandan noodles at "Chinese traditional buns" Also don't forget to head north to Yonge and Finch, there is "Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu"

[@votdfak]

Lucas on WW. Amazing stuff bruh.

[@eh1181]

I've never really like fish, but I've always really liked fish sauce for some reason

[@volgg]

that place is definitely the best pho restaurant in toronto

[@sioframay]

I don't like pho but I love vermicelli bowls at pho places. I've also had other awesome soups at pho places.

[@hkhou]

There is another Pho place just south of this place (a few minutes walk) - 100% better pho noodle