16563 Brookhurst St.
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
Category: vegan Vietnamese restaurant
Quick take: don’t miss this
Best item: salt and pepper shrimp
Au lac is a Vietnamese vegan restaurant that has two locations: downtown Los Angeles and Fountain Valley. The owner credits her plant-based diet as part of her recovery from a difficult health situation. Read more of her story here (https://www.aulac.com/about). We have been to both locations of Au Lac several times, and it is always a great experience. This particular time we stopped by the Fountain Valley location for some in car dining with our doggo.
Hipster 1 and I agree that as of February 2025, the salt and pepper shrimp at Au Lac ($15.00) is the best vegan shrimp dish we have found. We always get this dish when we go to Au Lac, even though it is on the expensive side. That being said, we also agree that is was better several years ago, the shrimp was more tender than it is now, and the coating was thinner. Even still, it is a great dish.
This is what I had for lunch, the broken rice combo ($18.00), which is cơm tấm in Vietnamese. In my personal opinion, this is the best cơm tấm dish, at the very minimum in Orange County, CA. Sorry I started eating before I took the picture, I was really hungry.
Hipster 1 had the Royal Noodles ($16.00), which is bún bò huế in Vietnamese. The general opinion is that it is a solid bún bò huế, but not the best. Since we were dining in car, I wasn’t able to get a nice picture of the bowl and such, so here is a very random picture of the fixings that come with the dish.
Ratings:
Hipster 1: 7.5/10 – overall good, shrimp is the best
Hipster 2: 8/10 – overall very solid, worth visiting if you are in town, also try the “octopus”
If you have been to Au Lac, let us know if you agree!
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