Hi Guys!
Today is Friday which means that tonight, before going to East London to shake your bootiliscious butt or just move your arm back and forth, nodding, as some guys do, you'll have to eat.
And some of you might want to eat healthily before giving it all on the dancefloor. Got the Solution :)
I am a huge fan of Vietnamese and Cambodian meals, and last time, I was searching for a place were I could eat this kind of food. Thing is, you can easily find in many restaurants of Chinatown some dishes that are supposed to be typically from South East Asia. But no, they really don't taste the same. And I can tell, I tried once... It wasn't awful; it was just another Chinese dish, prepared like all the other you can find in these restaurants.
After a quick search on Internet, I finally found "Pho". The name was quite appealing as "Pho" is actually the name of the meal you will find the most easily in Vietnamese restaurants - and it's one of my favourite dishes. Besides, their website let me think that they were really into Pho and knew their business.
What is Pho
Pho [fuh] is Vietnam's national dish. It's their national obsession - often referred to as the "soul of the nation". It's quite simply a delicious and nutritious noodle soup dish eaten every day by the Vietnamese for breakfast, lunch or dinner - or sometimes for all. It's the ultimate street food.
Pho is really good for you. Just as in Vietnam our stocks are made from scratch and take many hours to prepare - it's this authentic preparation that's key to the stock retaining all its goodness and developing its subtle and distinctive taste. So it's extremely healthy, brimming with fresh ingredients and very low in fat. The perfect comfort food, hangover cure or cold remedy.
Pho began life in Hanoi - and while Vietnamese by birth was influenced by Chinese neighbours and the French colonists (pho sounds like feu, the French word for fire, as in pot-au-feu). As it travelled south pho developed subtle traits distinctive to the region - very much akin to Vietnamese cuisine as a whole. In the north pho is a more basic beef broth (pho bac) and there is little use of additional seasonings whereas in the south there's a more pronounced use of herbs, greens and chillies.
So, arriving in the restaurant: good impression: the design was quite cosy (soft warm lights, quite a lot of people chatting, good smells), service was efficient as we were immediately taken in charge by the waiter…
And when it comes to the most important, the food, I was positively surprised by the starters:
We had some spring rolls with chicken and you could definitely tell that the ingredients were fresh. They were absolutely delicious! You can see below how gorgeous they looked:
Then, we HAD to order a Pho for the main course! And you can judge by yourself how yummy looked mine.
But I have a few comments to make however:
- First, when you eat a soup like this one, it always comes with plenty of soya bean, mint and a lot of other tasty vegetables. The thing is that, unlike in France, my soup didn't come with as much soya as I was expected (maybe it is because people here don't put a lot of soya in their soup...)
- Secondly, the Pho is normally subtly tasty - it takes a very long process to achieve this dish- but here, the taste was a bit too subtle. The positive point is that it was not too salty, which is good.
- Finally, I think that the noodles were a bit too 'al dente'
However, I do think the place and food are worth the try! Above all in winter!
That's all little chickens! Spread your wings and fly!
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