Pholicious Meeting 76-Pho Tan

Oog it has been too long my PHOllowers, between updates, and pho that, I am sorry. Pho reals. but here we are! In the new year, and with a new pho review from April!

This time, we hit up the new place right by my neighborhood, Pho Tan. It replaces the old Pho Saigon restaurant on Kingsway, (which… was good? Bad? I dunno – never got to try it). Despite being sandwiched between a Greek restaurant and a Japanese sukiyaki place, parking was still plentiful in front and on the street.

The spacious interior looked like it was recently renovated, with lots of natural light coming in, new furniture, and clean! As an added surprise, one of our members reported that he had seen Peter Chao there before. Well.. I don’t know if that adds to the ambiance, but who cares, we’re here for the pho.

Pho Tan!

The portions were good, with definite steam coming off of the bowls as they got to our table. The soup was piping hot, which is always approved by our members. We dug right in and we weren’t disappointed. One member ordered the satay pho, and subsequently declared it the Best Satay Pho Ever. Which, says something.

Satay pho!

Service was okay, nothing special. Pretty much what we expected. It seemed like there was only two servers, but they seemed to be able to keep everyone happy.

Pho Tan Spring Rolls

Overall, everyone seemed to enjoy the food, with one member even admitting that he had convinced his coworkers to come here for lunch 3 times in the last week. That’s dedication!

This is... ah... It's... green

Here’s our review of the pho!

Sm: $5.99 Lg: $6.99
Beef: Good portions!
Noodles: firm, al dente
Broth: light, piping hot
Presentation: 3 out of 4*

*We forgot to write it down, so I made it up from memory

Overall: 8 out of 10

Pholicious Meeting 77-Green Lemongrass

For this week’s episode, we’re turning the clock back, way back, to March 20, 2011.
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Have you ever seen Lemongrass? What about Green Lemongrass? I had no idea it even came in that colour! You know.. because of the lemon..

Anyways, this place is on Kingsway near Windsor – and it’s actually where the old Lu Quan pho restaurant used to be. And that’s a good thing – because Lu Quan was Scary. You remember Lu Quan right? If not, google up “pholicious scary pho”… what? You’re too lazy to google it? Okay. Here’s the link, you sloth!

The good news is that Green Lemongrass is now looking much better, with 100% less scary-looking gangsters compared to Lu Quan. And, with green walls, fake “bamboo” counters, giant bulbous fish, and lots of plants, our members agreed that it qualifies as an official “quaint & traditional” Vietnamese restaurant. The entire place looked very clean, with the notable exception of the fish tank. Our club biologists did not approve.

With that said, they did have a very nice menu, with pictures! Great for the pho-newbies.

Fancy new menus!

Service was impressive at first (fast, memorized orders), but then the server had to come back to check on the order (errr…) and they got one order wrong! One member decreed that service rated a “meh”. Although they offered an option for cooked beansprouts.

Salad rolls

The pho itself was a bit disappointing with the portions – the small was really small, and there seemed to always be much more noodles than beef. The spring rolls were rather greasy though. Which was too bad, as they looked pretty tasty.

All you need for a meal!

Here’s the pho review!

Sm: $6.75  Lg: $7.75
Beef: stale meatballs, but the soft tendons were especially good!
Noodles: average, but some were clumpy
Broth: strong anise/clove flavor, and was a bit oily – but beefy.
Presentation:  3 out of 4

Overall: 7 out of 10

Pholicious Meeting 76-Cafe Xu Hue

Listen here whippersnappers! I’m going to tell you young ‘uns an old story, about back when we were young. on  February 20th of ’11 we decided to go to Cafe Xu Hue, on Kingsway near Nanaimo. I remember it like it was … well, I can’t even remember it now. Wait, was I even there? Hmmmm….. Wait, what was I going to do? Oh that’s right. It’s time to post a review.

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This tiny little restaurant on Kingsway is in a low-rise next to a Canadian Tire and across from a condo building under construction. It was pretty busy when we walked in, with lots of Vietnamese customers digging into their bowls of bon bo hues (a great sign!). Wait, you don’t know what Bon Bo Hue is (I had to look it up too). It’s beef rice vermicelli soup! Yes yes, I realize we’re a pho-review club, but… we like to extend the umbrella from time to time. And since it’s still has noodles, beef and soup – it practically qualifies as pho! And, I have a feeling it’s going to get even busier once the condos across the street are built, especially since this place only has 8 tables.

Bean Sprouts - the best part of any club...er.. pho I mean.

Sadly, despite its size, service was still rather poor, and it was quite cold near the door. However, once we got our steaming bowls of beef vermicelli, things started to warm up!

Bon bo hue: a cure for the cold

Overall, presentation of all the food was excellent. A real bonus was how they included banana leaves – which added some great texture – and, they garnished with banana flowers!

Here’s the review for the bon bo hue!

One size: $8
Beef: “Excellent” (Seriously. That’s all we wrote!)
Noodles: Not bad, not great. As expected!
Broth: Light and sophisticated, very flavourful.
Presentation: 4 out of 4

Note: this place is cash-only.

Overall: 8 out of 10. A couple of pholicious members gave slightly lower scores – but everyone else loved the bon bo hue!

Pholicious Meeting 75-Lim Kee

Start your time-travelling PHOne booth, because we’re going all the way back to Jan 23, 2011…
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Ahh the new year. You know what’s great about new years? It means 12 more months of Pho! Here at Pholicious, we have a standing resolution to eat more Pho. So we start it off with a trip to Lim Kee.

The service at Lim Kee was a bit unusual – the server was really quiet unless you spoke Chinese. At which point (our notes are unclear here), the server gets loud… I guess? Perhaps it was to make up for the fact that they seemed confused.

The atmosphere is East Van chic, with old booths on one side.

Lim Kee Banh Mi

The subs was light on the filling, and while the spring rolls had a lot of filling, it had pretty tough skin and didn’t seem very flavourful. Quantity doesn’t make up for quality people! Well, sometimes it does, but not here!

Spring Rolls!

Sadly, they only gave us cooked bean sprouts. That’s right, no hoisin sauce, no hot peppers, nor lemons/limes. Oh the humanity! Luckily basil was included in the pho itself.

There's some booty on those beef slices

Here’s the review for the pho!

Small: $6.75, Large: $7.95 – ample portions with lots of noodles
Beef: thicker slices, although a bit fatty, with soft & tasty tendons
Noodles: al dente =)
Broth: Sort of tasteless, moderate MSG, and oily. Although one person liked it.
Presentation: 3 out of 4

Overall: 6 out of 10

RePHOlution!

This is to announce that I have deposed of our Phearless Pho leader and have now taken over the pho posting duties. My first order of business is …taking over posting duties until she pheels less busy… waitaminit, this doesn’t sound like a promotion… darnit, my plot has been phoiled!

If you’re wondering, my phosition in the club is ensuring that someone order the cooked bean sprouts.

Anyways, for the next while, I’ll be posting all the new pho-reviews, and twice a week I’ll post an older review until we’re all caught up. Nothing fancy, just phrank reporting of the review. Heh, couldn’t resist.