Pho Saigon Review
I’d stopped here for a bowl of noodles a few times and I’d been impressed with how good they were. But I don’t like to eat big lunches, a bowl of Beef Pho ($34) is plenty, so I wandered back in the evening time to try a few of the other things on the menu.
It’s quite a new restaurant but already it does well for itself during the lunch time rush. In the evenings it closes at eight ‘clock but does have plans to stay open later in the near future.
I went along about seven and had the the place almost to myself. I was told that the reason the noodles are so good is because the soup is made the old fashioned way, by boiling the bones for 24 hours, rather than from prepared stock as is more common.
Another excellent noodle dish I’d tried was the prawn and crab roe with a tomato based soup ($34) but this time I wanted to try a few of the other things. Many of them were already familiar some other a littler more intriguing.
The sweet potato and chicken curry ($38), which can be served with either rice or baguette, was very tempting indeed. But another dish had caught my eye and I was keen to try them. These, according to the menu, were boneless chicken wings ($35). Since a chicken wing is mostly bone anyway I simply had to find out.
They were a delightful surprise. They don’t look much like wings, they are considerably bigger than I was expecting. This is because they have been stuffed with lemon leaves, minced vegetables and vermicelli.
I was offered two dipping sauces, one popular in the North of Vietnam, the other popular in the south. They were both good but I think if I could only choose one I would plump for the one from the north.
To accompany the wings I had some spring rolls, both the fried and the ‘summer’ style cold spring rolls which were stuffed with tiger prawn. Another familiar item was sugar cane prawn sticks ($40) and rounding things off I had some thin slices of barbecue pork cheek.
By the time I’d wolfed all that down I was too full for dessert but there is a wide range of coconut milk based drinks. I’d ordered one with jackfruit so I finished off with that.
Pho Saigon is a little noodle shop with a big heart, the food is good and it is great value for money. Who can ask for more?
Posted: June 11th, 2008 under Off the Map, Reviews, southeast asian.