Joyful House opened last month inside the World Market building on South Grand, giving South City one more option for Vietnamese dining.
Owner Linh Ly says her menu isn’t specific to any one region of Vietnam. “It’s whatever my mom made us,” she says. “I just created my own version.” Ly spent her early years in Nha Trang in southern Vietnam before moving to Michigan in 1980 and ending up in St. Louis around 20 years ago.
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The restaurant’s kitchen is located in a corner of the supermarket. Diners eat in a separate space, however, that is walled off from the rest of the building and accessible from the parking lot. The dining room accommodates parties large and small around circular and square tables adorned with white tablecloths. The restaurant has a maximum capacity of around 100, so finding a table isn’t usually difficult.
If the decor is otherwise austere—fluorescent lighting, muted walls, beige carpets—the food pops with freshness and color. The menu’s range is limited in comparison with some of the top local Vietnamese restaurants, but it makes sense for a new restaurant to start small and do everything well before expanding.
Among the appetizers, you might be tempted by the deep-fried cha gio egg rolls, but the cold spring rolls served in rice wrappers are a better showcase of what Vietnamese cuisine can achieve with its emphasis on fresh produce and herbs. Joyful House offers the go-to goi cuon roll, filled with shrimp, pork, rice noodles and vegetables and served in pairs, but consider the bo bia rice wrapper roll (pictured above) for an option you won’t see in every Vietnamese restaurant. The rice wrapper provides a neutral backdrop against which the flavors of slightly sweet Chinese sausage, julienned jicama, mint and lettuce, egg, and dried shrimp jump out. The dipping sauce adds a sweet, spicy twist. Other appetizers include a classic pork and pate banh mi, fried wings, and fries.
There are several types of beef pho, each utilizing different cuts. The pho dac biet (pictured above) brings together several cuts—thin sliced round eye, fattier flank, and quartered beef balls, as well as some tripe—in a bowl of seasoned beef broth with green onions and rice noodles. “People like the variety of meat,” Ly says. “It gives more flavor, and you have the different textures.”
Ly doesn’t season her pho broth as heavily as some restaurants; the spice notes are there, but they’re intentionally lower in the mix, she says. “When I go to other restaurants, I never like the broth, so I focus more on using a lot of bones and meat to get the flavor, not so much on the seasoning. That’s why a lot of customers come back: They like my cooking because they can feel that it’s homemade.”
The pho comes with a side of Thai basil, cilantro, bean sprouts, chilli pepper, and lime, allowing for a degree of personalization. (You don’t need to dump in everything, but Ly suggests liberal application of the basil and cilantro.)
In addition to the pho, there are bun (rice vermicelli) dishes, including bun bo hue, a spicy beef and pork noodle soup from the former imperial capital of Hue in central Vietnam, and Joyful House’s take on bun rieu, a crab and tomato-based soup noodle served here with tofu and pork. If you prefer rice, the menu has you covered with grilled chicken, pork chop, or Vietnamese pork sausage options.
Ly designed the hot pot dishes to be available in single-serving portions. “Other places usually sell big portions, but the smaller portions mean customers don’t need to wait for four or five people to come in to eat,” Ly says. The specialty is the goat hot pot, which includes tofu, taro, and lotus root, but there are also meat and seafood varieties (including ca kho to, or catfish).
The menu is rounded out by drinks including freshly made smoothies – avocado, mango, strawberry, and jackfruit – as well as pressed coconut or sugarcane juice. There’s also Vietnamese iced coffee and a number of boba teas. The adventuresome might try durian (in smoothie or boba tea form), the tropical fruit that some say is “different, in a good way.” You be the judge.
