Pholicious meeting 67- Pho Thai Hoa in Richmond

We had pretty high expectations for this meeting since Pho Thai Hoa received a bronze medal for best Vietnamese restaurant in the 2009 Vancouver Magazine’s Restaurant Awards.  They even had the ad posted on the door   It has 2 different locations, once on Kingsway and the other in Richmond.  We visited the Kingsway one back in 2006 and rated the pho a 6/10.   It was good but it didn’t particularly stand out.

The restaurant is located on Capstan way, in the same plaza and Pho Queen.  I always have problems finding parking  in this lot during lunch hours…. sooo busy!  It’s on a corner and the restaurant is very long and narrow.  The decor is very interesting- it resembles a cruise ship! There are big murals, life preservers, and even the staff is dressed in sailor outfits.  Pho on a cruise?  That’s a first!  Another thing that stood out was the nice tea cups they have (see above picture).

The menu is extensive and includes subs and bubble tea.  I ordered the usual starter- spring rolls!  The skin was extremely tough and it did not taste fresh. Good thing it wasn’t an indicate of how the pho would be!

The price is average- $5.95 for a small and $6.50 for the large.  The portions are noticeably bigger than usual.  The noodles were the thinner type, and there was a generous portion.  The beef slices are very thin and tender.  The broth was very fragrant and flavorful- it had a nice beef flavor and was a bit on the sweet side.  MSG levels were rated to be medium.  Overall, this was a solid bowl of pho!  It might be time to give the Kingsway location another try!  It scored a 8/10.

Pholicious Meeting 66- Halloween at Pho Hoa

I apologize for the delay in updating!  It’s always a bit crazy around the holidays.  For our October meetings, we try to look for somewhere ’sketchy’ to go to   We usually end up somewhere on Kingsway.  This time, we picked Pho Hoa on Kingsway and Nanaimo.  This was actually the first pho restaurant I went to in Vancouver.  I remember going there after the fireworks nights- it made sitting in traffic worth it!  There are many locations of Pho Hoa in the lower mainland (and around the world!).  For a list of their locations go here: Pho hoa locations

The reason we considered this Pho Hoa sketchy is because in the same strip mall, there’s a ‘massage’ parlour and an adult store that has 25 cent peep shows So if the pho doesn’t satisfy you enough, you can go next door for a happy ending It’s also a 24hr place and thus attracts all sorts of people.  As you can see, they have security cameras inside!

I’ve always liked the menu at Pho Hoa.  The pho is organized into beginners, regulars, and adventurers.  The lower down the list, the more mystery meat in your bowl   They also have a kid’s meal that comes with a soft drink.  On the top of the menu it has the name and picture of the different types of meat found in pho.  I find this very helpful for beginners.

The pho was better than what I remembered it to be…. and it comes out super fast.  The broth was flavorful (lots of onions!) but a tad greasy.  Perfect for after a night of drinking   The beef comes out nice and rare and noodles are cooked well.  For a place where people refer to as the McDonalds of pho, I was pretty impressed! Or maybe just really hungry.  We gave it a 6.5/10.

Happy Holidays everyone! May 2010 bring us lots of good pho! <3

Pholicious Meeting 65- Pho Queen

For our September meeting, we wanted to ride the new Canada line so we chose a restaurant in Richmond.  Pho Queen was recommended by one of our members who frequents Richmond Pho restaurants.  The restaurant is opened from 11am to 12am everyday.  When we arrived at the restaurant, we noticed that the plaza was extremely busy!  The parking lot was full and there were lots of cars circling around and waiting for spots.  It seemed extremely hectic.  It’s a good thing the restaurant was not as busy as the parking lot because we had 12 people for this meeting.  The staff quickly put a few tables together for us and served us tea.

The interior was bright, clean, and the high ceilings made it feel very open.  It was very spacious and the tables were not crammed together.  I was told it used to be a Chinese restaurant and thus the decor reflected so.  Most tables were round ones with marble tops.  In the center of the room, it had a huge chandelier!  It certainly adds a bit of class With the chandelier we thought the prices would be higher – but they were reasonable.  $5.50 for a small bowl and $6.50 for a large.

They had subs for $3.50 but it was sold out for that day So I got spring rolls as appetizer instead.  They were delicious! It had lots of filling and tasted fresh.  Now for the main event- the pho!  The noodles were cooked just right- nice and firm.  The portion was a bit smaller as they were only 5 slices of beef in a small pho tai.  Broth had good flavor and was not too fatty or oily.  It didn’t taste like they use much MSG.  I would say low-medium amount.  We gave it a 7.5. I would return to this place if I was in the area.  The pho is good, restaurant is spacious and clean, and hours make it convenient.

4th Annual Pho-a-thon!!

We celebrated our 4th anniversary the end of August.  For our anniversary- we go to the restaurants that we rated the highest within the past year.  We have a lunch meeting, and then meet up again for dinner (one day we will do a midnight meeting to make it a true pho-a-thon!)  In addition to the visits, we also have our Pholympics- where we compete in various categories for pho-medals!

For the lunch meet- we ventured out to Surrey again to Pho Tam.  We went there for our November meeting and it was our highest rated restaurant in this past year… actually, highest of all time!  Thus was the reason why we were willing to make the trip to Surrey just for a bowl.  12 members came to compete for the Pholympics.

Here’s a picture of everyone getting ready to compete! The categories are: most bowls completed, fastest eater, spiciest eater, and most meetings attended.  Last year we made Pholicious medals for the winners.  This year we went for subtlety and gave little bubble wands with the Pholicious logo instead   And here are the winners!

most bowls complete- PhoSho!

fastest eater- minipho!

spiciest eater- evileyepho!

most meetings attended- Cutiepho!

For the dinner meet- we went to Spices on Cambie Street.  I cheated and ordered a non-pho dish! :O It was actually nice to be able to try something different for once!  Their other dishes were very flavorful.  I would say they were better than their pho!

The day was fun-filled and it was nice to be able to celebrate 4 years of having an excuse to meet up and try pho at different places   Thanks everyone for the wonderful memories!