It’s fun to take kids to eat pho. Restaurants seem to be really accommodating, (well I haven’t been kicked out of one yet). There’s alway kids chairs and no one seems to get too upset when kids do kids things. Toby and I took our girls for a soup today. Unlike Toby and I, they didn’t seem that interested in the pho, more busy coping each other doing naughty things. They did put back a bit of rice vermicelli though.
I got an email from Claire. She asked a question that I’d like to generally pose to all. (Also, I’ve never used the pull quote style, it’s pretty nifty.)
My question for you is this - do you know anywhere in Melbourne that does awesome Hanoi-style pho?
I went to Hanoi last year and fell in love with it… I can’t quite put my finger on how it differs, but it’s bloody marvelous!
If anyone knows of a restaurant that does Northern style Pho Bac, please let us know.
So, I got the name wrong. It’s Noodle Kingdom. They’ve been around for three weeks now. I visited with high expectations, given this regal title. They ushered me to a small table next to the alley kitchen. I assume there’s tables upstairs, cos you could only fit a half dozen people here. I ordered a noodle soup and was given a tall glass of warm tea.
The soup took longer than I expected, which is not that long. Seeing my apprehension, a waiter came and explained that about every ten bowls of noodles, the noodle maker whips up a new batch. Did she say, “noodle maker”? Then there was a large bang as dough was stretched out and slammed down on the bench. I watched him do this about a dozen times. Each time the dough was stretched and pulverised, it separated into longer and thinner strands. Finally transforming into long shinny noodles.
A small cluster of these was then submerged into a boiling vat, stirred with chopsticks and lifted into my bowl. They tasted wonderfully fresh and chewy. Not over cooked. I’ve got to say I was impressed with all this, and will be going back on the strength of these freshly made noodles. More soon…
Phong Son - CNR Swanston & Lonsdale Streets
It was good to drink some Chinese tea late in the afternoon. It was after the lunch rush, so I had some space to let my mind wonder… and then my pho arrived 15 seconds later.
It was ok. I felt it was a little watered down. I had to pad it out with Hosin sauce. Not really up to Mekong standards. There was lots of other stuff on the menu though, so I don’t suppose they were pretending it was their specialty. The chairs were really ugly, but the people were friendly.
Afterwards, I went for a scout around town looking for future lunch locations. I’m going to try to get to a couple of chinese noodle places up on Russell Street. One of them has the brazen title, Noodle King. We’ll see about that hey!
Found another food blog with illustrations! (There’s probably millions of the bloody things). Lobster Squad Terrific drawings and words on food, from Spain.
Phở is definitely a magnificent hangover remedy. Sporting a ripper this morning - the noodle unit headed out for Vietnamese noodle soup. We ended up at Phở Dzung again. I’m sure they’re getting sick of me. I could see it in the waiters eyes as he dragged a 25kg sack of Monosodium Glutamate across the dining area floor. Any other establishment may have done this discretely, here it was done with pride. Sorted my hangover that’s for sure!
