Pho Triple 8

It was a cold and stormy night...  No, I'm not quoting the often used phrase by English-novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton.  But yes, it was indeed cold (snowing) and we were hungry.  Let me rephrase that, the kids were hungry and not afraid of letting us know about it.  We were on our way home from Cloverdale and driving through Surrey (specifically Guildford) and a hot bowl of Pho seemed like a good plan.  Rather than going to the usual places, we stopped by Pho Triple 8 to give it try.

Steaming hot, Viv's Pho Dac Biet was decent on the noodle content, but it was light on the meat.  In terms of execution, the noodles were appealingly chewy despite being clumpy to start.  The modest amount of sliced meats were not particularly tender nor moist.  As for the broth, it was fairly light and clean, but noticeably sweet with a star anise finish.  For my Bun Bo Hue, it almost seemed like they ran out of lai fun noodles as I needed to call for search and rescue because they were so hard to find.  The same could be said about the meats as well, but I did appreciate the pieces of pig feet.  I did enjoy the broth though as it was seafoody with a light spice while completely aromatic.

For the kiddies, they shared the Lemongrass Chicken with Rice where I added an extra fried egg for good measure.  Unfortunately, they completely obliterated the eggs where they were completely cooked including the yolks.  The 2 large pieces of lemongrass chicken were nicely marinated where the meat was succulent and flavourful from the brine.  The skin could've used more charring and rendering though. Although the food was pretty average overall, the fact we warmed up and the kids got their fill, it was a decent experience.  But for others, I can see the lack of substance as a major problem.

The Good:
- Food is okay in taste and appearance
- Friendly enough people

The Bad:
- Lacking in noodles and meat
- A minor detail, but the egg was cooked completely wrong