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Eating Out: Pho Ba Ria 2 @ Hanson Road, Adelaide

April 22, 2012 by · 5 Comments

Pho Ba Ria 2
08 8244 5522
54c Hanson Road
Woodville Gardens, SA 5012

Moving up from Melbourne means leaving behind a lot of good food. I am currently trying to compile a list of substituations and replacements for everything that I have loved in Melbourne and Pho is one of them.

That means trying every pho I can, as much as my wallet allows me to.

Having driven past Pho Ba Ria 2 every time I go home, I decided it was high time I gave this place a go. Oh how I wish I hadn’t.

How much do I dislike thee, let me count the ways:

    1. The soup had no depth of flavour or even taste, really.
    2. The rice noodles were limp, had no bite and were rather thick.
    3. The beef slices had been sliced too thick.
    4. The soup was lukewarm when it hit the table.
    5. We had to wait for another 5 minutes for the usual condiments of mint leaves, chilli, bean sprouts etc to be brought to the table after the noodles had arrived.
    6. The drinks arrived when I was nearly done with my noodles.
    7. The Avocado Smoothie I ordered did not taste like Avocado. In fact it tasted of ice and not very much else.
    8. I couldn’t finish my serve of Pho because I couldn’t stomach it further. This is unheard of.
    9. $9.00 for a bowl of small when in Melbourne, we are able to get quality Pho for $7.50 (for a small).

Look. I don’t normally write all out negative reviews about food places. In fact, most times you are able to find something good to say about a place. This place proved to be quite popular and as we sat there despairing over our bowls of Pho, I took note of the constant stream of customers, so surely there must be something good about this place? Perhaps their other dishes are good, but since I’m only interested in Pho, that is the only thing I will be trying at Pho Ba Ria. Given that their sign says that they specialize in Pho, I truly expect quality Pho. Unfortunately it was not to be so.

I do not understand the high ratings on Urbanspoon nor the high praise other food bloggers have given to the quality of the Pho at Pho Ba Ria 2. However, it is to be noted that the original owners of Pho Ba Ria 2 are no longer at Pho Ba Ria 2 and are in fact at Thanh Thanh. Perhaps Pho Ba Ria 2 was having a bad day? Regardless, I think I will bring my hunt for good pho elsewhere. I’ve never had such an unfulfilling bowl of Pho before and don’t want to risk repeating the experience!

So for now, I guess it’s back to Thanh Thanh with me.


View Larger Map Pho Ba Ria 2 on Urbanspoon

Filed Under: Adelaide, Vietnamese, Woodville Gardens Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
Restaurant review: Thanh Thanh, Adelaide

Restaurant review: Thanh Thanh, Adelaide

October 26, 2011 by · 7 Comments

Thanh Thanh
08 8212 8788
18 Field Street
Adelaide, SA 5000

So what do you do when you are hungry and have no bookings at Wasai?

You go across the street and go to Thanh Thanh.

Thanh Thanh is a cheery Vietnamese place that serves Vietnamese food with a side of other asian cuisines. I wasn’t really interested in trying out anything else other than Vietnamese food, it didn’t make sense to!

But Thanh Thanh is up against some steep competition as I start craving some pho rather fiercely. Not just any pho, but the pho from Pho Huong. So how did it compare?

Before we hop right into the pho, let me show you the reason to go back to Thanh Thanh. Even if their phos were crap, I’d trot straight back for this. It doesn’t look like much, does it? But it’s the yummiest thing in the world and it is the Custard Apple Smoothie.

This was heaven in a cup. Absolute heaven. It wasn’t painfully sweet, it wasn’t sour, it was just nice. Absolutely delightful.

But I guess, we have to go back to the Pho. After all, this was the reason why we were here right?

I’ll be honest, it can’t hold its own weight against Pho Huong’s pho. It is very nice, in its own right. But it lacks the kind of beefy goodness kick you get from Pho from Pho Huong.

The noodles were alright. They weren’t impressive, they weren’t offensive either. They were rather unmemorable, and that pretty much sums it up. There was a distinct lack of beefy goodness in the broth but as a whole, it was alright. Alright enough to kill off the craving for a little while, but not enough to curb the hunger for awesome pho just quite yet.

Not my dish! But thought it’d be nice to show you a photo of it anyways. Will I go back to Thanh Thanh? Yes, I’ve already told you why! Custard Apple Smoothie rocks my world!

But seriously, in terms of main courses, I will still go back for the pho. It’s not Pho Huong, but it will do till I go back to Springvale for the real deal.

Thanh Thanh on Urbanspoon

Filed Under: Adelaide, Gouger St, Vietnamese Tagged With: , , , , ,
Review: Pho Hung Vuong

Review: Pho Hung Vuong

February 22, 2011 by · 11 Comments

Pho Hung Vuong
(03) 9558 5147
Shop 2 / 15 Balmoral Avenue
Springvale, 3171

Pho Hung Vuong is a small little place in the midst of Springvale Junction. It may be small, but you can hardly call it quiet. It is constantly hustling and bustling, partly thanks to its fame and popularity, partly thanks to the constant traffic through the local market that sits just a few minutes down the road.

Pho Hung is opened for lunch and dinner, but if you want a bowl of pho for dinner, you will have to pray really hard that they’ve had a slow day. Many a times, I’ve walked in only to be told that “we’ve run out of noodles”. Nothing blows quite so hard when you are craving a bowl of piping hot soup and slippery rice noodles as hearing that they are sold out for the day.

Before Pho Hung Vuong, my only experience of Pho was Mekong in the city. And now that I have had Pho Hung’s pho, I find myself frowning at other phos. I’ve tried a few other places but nobody has come close just yet.

Rice noodles at Pho Hung are slippery ribbons that slide down your throat with hardly any effort. The soup is full bodied and packs a punch of flavour with every mouthful. Perhaps the most important thing to note is that there are no off-putting oil slicks floating at the top of the rich soup. The beef is tender and sliced with such finesse. My only gripe is the beef sausage – not quite my favourite sausage and it can contain hard bits in it that throws me off. And if you like spring onion, you will be guaranteed of a very generous helping of spring onion scattered over the soup and noodles.

The usual condiments of chilli, a mountain of beansprouts, lemon and Vietnamese mint usually makes it to the table first. Before the conversation can start on a new topic, the bowls of noodles will already have arrived. Service at Pho Hung is amazingly fast – who says fast food can’t be good food? The only times I’ve ever had issues with the service was during the peak lunch hour period where a waiter or waitress might be flying by too fast to catch your slight wiggle of a finger. But with free flow of piping hot tea and such awesomely good food, I think I’m quite happy to overlook the occasional slip up in service.

Pho Hung does have other dishes of course. Their spring rolls for instance, are beautifully done and wonderfully crispy. Still, they aren’t the main show and it is hard to find other patrons eating anything other than pho at Pho Hung. A word of warning, pho at Pho Hung comes in 3 sizes: small, medium and large. The small is large and the large is out of this world. The large portion could probably feed 3 of me at any one time, so do keep that in mind when you are ordering at Pho Hung.

Pho Hung Vuong on Urbanspoon

Filed Under: Melbourne, Springvale, Vietnamese Tagged With: , , , , , , ,