Sherman's Food Adventures: Pho Hoa Hong

Pho Hoa Hong

Last time I visited Pho Tam out in Whalley, I noticed that there was another Pho restaurant a couple of stores down. I found it a bit strange since Pho Tam is probably one of the most solid Pho restaurants I've been to. Wouldn't it be hard to compete? It's like trying to open up a clothing store right next to Walmart. How can you compete with bigger, cheaper and better (well, that might be contentious; but you get the point)? For me, I just had to try it out. This time around, I just made sure I didn't circle too many times around the block. Apparently, the cops mistaken me for something else since I drive a black SUV.

Joining me for lunch today is Sexi Mexi. Yes, she is Mexican and she loves Pho! I wonder what would happen if we combined the 2 cuisines? How about refried bean pho??? Uh, maybe not. Well, I did order the Shrimp Salad Roll and it does resemble a burrito. Alright, I'm grasping at straws here. Although it was fresh and crisp, the salad roll would have benefited from more shrimp as you could see in the picture. As per usual, I got the Pho Tai, Nam, Gan, Sach, which is essentially the everything but the kitchen sink pho. Topped by a reasonable amount of tripe, flank, tendon and rare steak, the noodles were still a bit chewy (which is a good thing). However, I thought the broth was a tad on the weaker side. I did detect beef flavour with some spice; yet overall, it did not stand out. It wasn't bad; but Pho Tam is better.

One of the rare times, I got to see someone eating Chicken Pho. Sexi Mexi went for the chicken meatball pho and it did seem quite a bit lighter than my meat ladened bowl. I don't know about you; but I associate Pho with beef and this chicken thing seems a bit wrong to me. Noodles looked good though. And this brings up a good point. Everything was decent, if not pretty good. Yet, is that good enough when 2 stores down is Pho Tam, where you can get bigger and better value. Well, they both co-exist in the same strip mall, so I guess it's all good.

The Good:
- Inexpensive (like most Pho places)
- Decent bowl of pho

The Bad:
- Soup was a bit weak
- Lemon wedge instead of lime (I know, I'm being picky)

Pho Hoa Hong on Urbanspoon

1 comments:

Jane604 said...

So I actually went to try this place today (even managed to get a parking spot out front!) I thought it was so-so as well. Nothing bad. But the one thing that stuck out was that the chopsticks were the disposable ones and that all the condiment containers were unusually clean. Even the napkin holder was devoid of finger prints/smudges. Seemed a bit odd for a pho place (too judgmental?). Anyway, the owners were super friendly and the food was decent. Can't get over how "clean" it was though... (not a complaint)

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