Nuoc Mia Vien Dong is hands down - no doubt about it my absolute favorite place to satisfy my freshly pressed pure sugarcane juice cravings! This place is so legit, that I've been frequenting it for probably almost a decade (or more?!?).
Why is it so good? Nuoc Mia Vien Dong gives you a lot of bang for your buck. If you love sugarcane juice, this is the spot because by default, Nuoc Mia Vien Dong does not pack the cup with too much ice. They only add a reasonable amount that makes the drink still very enjoyable!
And best of all, you can add a couple more dollars to remove the ice. Just get all that pure sugarcane juice!
On my last visit to Nuoc Mia Vien Dong, I noticed that they have a new menu combining sugarcane juice with other fruit juice!
The most notable / popular one is probably the sugarcane + coconut juice which I like to call "cococane". If you're at all familiar with the intense food competition in the Little Saigon area, you probably might think that this is a straight up copycat of Thuan Thoi just a block down.
Thuan Thoi is another Vietnamese fresh pressed juices store on Brookhurst / Hazard that started it first: The "cococane" and more drink fusions such as sugarcane juice + pennywort juice.
Read the full Thuan Thoi review here.
But an important thing to realize is that just because someone did it first, doesn't mean that it's the best.
So I just had to compare the two!
Below are the pictures of this new menu, which is basically the same drink menu that Thuan Thoi offers:
Nuoc Mia Vien Dong's prices are actually cheaper than Thuan Thoi. Ooooh. But would it taste just as good?
Hmm.......
So aside from juices, Nuoc Mia Vien Dong sells a variety of snacks and dried fruit!
When I found out that Nuoc Mia Vien Dong now sells the same drinks as Thuan Thoi, not gonna lie, I was extremely excited!
Thuan Thoi, by default, gives waaaay too much ice. Like... did I juts order a cup of ice? Juice-flavored ice? Or mostly juice. Hmmm...debatable.
On the other hand, Nuoc Mia Vien Dong by default gives a reasonable not-too-much amount of ice so I can confidently say I feel satisfied every time I visit!
I was excited to try the new menu because I thought, maybe, these coconut + sugarcane drinks also won't have that much ice either. And I was right. Sorry Thuan Thoi, but Nuoc Mia Vien Dong sure beat you in this respect.
After tasting the drinks though, I began to feel divided between the two places. The coconuts that I added to my drinks tasted strange, as if old or rotten? I hated it.
The drink was absolutely great and tasted basically the same as Thuan Thoi, but that coconut meat. So so... bad! Kevin and I both agreed that Thuan Thoi is more consistent on delivering the fresh coconut meat!
So here is the conclusion:
- Nuoc Mia Vien Dong is overall cheaper in price, not too much ice at all, but coconut meat tasted old / rancid
- Thuan Thoi is overall more expensive, packs in way too much ice, but coconut has been consistently fresh tasting the 5 + times I've been.
Drink Breakdown:
- Sugarcane + Coconut Juice: $4 Medium / $5 Large
- Tastes great and so refreshing! You can taste both the sugarcane and coconut juice in the drink.
- Compared to Thuan Thoi's "CoCoCane" | $5 Medium / $6 Large
- basically the same tasting drink since same ingredients
- Sugarcane + Pennywort: $4 Medium / $5 Large
- I love pennywort, so I really enjoyed this drink
- Pennywort is strong and overpowering the sugarcane taste though
- Compared to Thuan Thoi's "Aruna" | $5 Medium / $6 Large
- Thuan Thoi version has weaker tasting pennywort but better balances out the combo of sugarcane + pennywort
- Coconut meat was added in both drinks for 50 cents
- tasted bad, old, sour?!
- Compared to Thuan Thoi: no problems there.
So what would I choose in the long run? Definitely Nuoc Mia Vien Dong. I can live without eating the coconut meat, but Nuoc Mia Vien Dong is cheaper and packs the cup full of juice.
Check out my previous review on Nuoc Mia Vien Dong, focusing on the sugarcane juice, here.
Check out the competition: Thuan Thoi Review here.
Nuoc Mia Vien Dong Social Media:
Address to Nuoc Mia Vien Dong
13894 Brookhurst St, Garden Grove, CA 92843
*located in the same plaza as Boiling Crab, Tebo Tebo, Hoa Binh Supermarket. It is next to Boiling Crab
Phone:
(714) 590-9035
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