The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally.
It was a long wait in the hot sun outside Alex ‘N’ Rolls, Marrickville’s mysterious Vietnamese eatery with no known opening hours, instead having a Facebook fan group where hungry pilgrims share news of whether or not the lights are on, and what proteins remain in stock, on a daily or sometimes hourly basis.
The caramelised pork roll ($8.50) was really good, probably the best I’ve had. The bread was crusty but not cutting, the filling buttery but not oily. It was full of deliciou smeats, and probably the rihcest and most complex pate I’ve ever had in a roll.
The BBQ pork sticky rice (xôi $13.50) was actually even better. The rice itself was extremely and unexpetedly good, but in combination with the huge amount of BBQ pork (in our opinion the superior option with greater tenderness and more pleasant flavour than the carmelised pork), as well as the soft fried egg, pate and sauce was just unbeatable.
COMMENTS The food at Alex ‘N’ Rolls was really good, but waiting in line for 30 minutes just didn’t do it for me. Until they can sort this out, I just don’t think I can bring myself to go back. Surely they have a loyal enough following to fund an expansion and a regular roster.
Alex ‘N’ Rolls 321 Illawarra Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204
Hot off the heels of a recent very good meal at Ha Noi Quan in Marrickville was a visit to the Campsie branch of the same restaurant. We weren’t sure that it was in fact the same restaurant until we arrived, thinking that perhaps Ha Noi Quan might be a common name, similar to Hot Bread, but the mention of their Marrickville branch on their signage out front cleared that up for us quickly. While I wouldn’t normally bother to write a whole new post about a second location of the same restaurant, the experience at Ha Noi Quan Campsie, was significantly different enough that I think that they warrant their own entry.
I really enjoyed the pho at Ha Noi Quan in Marrickville, but the one in their Campsie restaurant actually had significant differences. The Special Beef Noodles Soup ($17 -Phở Dặc Biệt) in Campsie had a less salty and tasty soup than than the Marrickville store, with a lighter shade of colour as well. There was significantly less greenery on top, lacking the almost full coverage of shallot and coriander seen previously, with more onion in this one. While I really loved the general hotness of the Marrickville soup, this bowl of pho did not exhibit the same thermal properties, and did lose a significant amount of temperature after the addition of a smaller serving of bean sprouts. I don’t know if this was soup, or possibly even crockery related. Though the serving of bean sprouts and Thai basil was relatively small compared to their sister restaurant, I should count myself lucky, as the patrons on the table next to us did not get any with their pho as the restaurant had run out by the time they had ordered (to be fair, they walked in half an hour before closing.) Personally I would’ve chosen something else, as I think the bean sprouts are some of the best parts of a good bowl of pho. Other things to mention here are that I thought that the beef ball was actually better in Campsie than in Marrickville, which really begs the question of why, and is it just my imagination, because surely they would have the same supplier? I guess a day-to-day variation rather than an inter-branch variation could also be the cause here, but there was not even a week between eatings at the two restaurants.
Taking a look at the meat specifically, I think that this bowl of pho was actually extremely generous in the quality and quantity of rare beef, brisket, balls, tripe (omasum), and tendon, with more than enough of all to go around. It did feature the interesting addition of just a slab of fat from the brisket, but I can’t complain about it because my partner actually enjoyed this.
Capitalising on Ha Noi Quan Campsie’s vast Vietnamese menu we had the shaking beef with tomato rice ($17), which was really good. The black pepper flavoured beef cubes were super tender, and well cut in a way that limited the presence of any difficult to chew bits. This dish was also the best tomato rice I’ve had in my entire life, which I guess is a big statement to make but I don’t think I’ve enjoyed it this thoroughly anywhere else. (Readers should take note that this meal was consumed at 8:30PM, and prior to that my total oral intake for the day consisted of two soy flat whites (flats white?), 30g of whey protein isolate, 15g of psyllium husk, and a bunch of water.). I also never knew, but found out today, that there was egg in tomato rice, but I suspect that it was yolk used to both flavour and colour the rice. Super umami, and I couldn’t stop eating it.
The grilled pork and hanoi spring rolls with vermicelli ($17 – Bun thit nuong va cha nem) was pretty good. In particular the spring rolls were super cripsy with a very umami prawn and pork filling, whilst the grilled pork was fine but nothing to write home about. If I had my time again, I might’ve ordered the nem by themselves, as our late neighbours did.
OTHER THOUGHTS. Pho Ha Noi Campsie is different to the Marrickville store in many ways. It has a much larger physical footprint, is much more elaborately decorated, and has a broader menu. Even the menu items that are shared between the two outlets show significant variation. While Pho Ha Noi Quan Marrickville is a very pho and noodle soup focused, small “dive restaurant” (am I coining that term right now?), The Campsie store is a much more formal setting.
Whilst writing this review I took notice of a Pho Pasteur branded plate as seen in the photo of the pho. I wonder if that has something to do with it.
Ha Noi Quan Campsie 94 Beamish St, Campsie NSW 2194 (02) 9787 2707
ATOM Espresso is one of our local cafes that we pass by regularly on our grocery run but have never had food from until now. A combination of high promises (5.0 average rating on Google Maps with 332 reviews) and a lack of easily accessible alternatives in my immediate post-cholecystectomy state led us to having a sliced pork banh mi ($8), lauded online as one of the best, ever.
Though I have explored Hot Bread shops and Vietnamese restaurants far and wide, this was my first time having banh mi from what was primarily a coffee shop. Despite them NOT being a bakery, the bread was surprisingly warm, fresh and crusty, likely owing to some toaster oven magic out back. It had a great crumbly texture that was easy to eat and did not cut the mouth.
The fillings of the roll were however less than standard, with a lack of Vietnamese mayo, the use of margarine , an unfortunately small volume of pate (my UGI surgeon did recommend a low fat diet, but there’s no way the guy making the banh mi would’ve known this), and perhaps most confusingly the use of tomato. I actually had to Google whether or not tomato was a standard banh mi component as I was eating this, as it was so strange that I just wasn’t sure anymore. The fillings honestly wasn’t bad, with the use of extra salad and less fatty spread probably making it a bit fresher than your average roll, but just not what I wanted, nor what I expected.
The combination of ingredient deviations from what I’ve come to expect from a banh mi (and I suspect that once this is published one of my Vietnamese friends will read this and tell me that I’m completely wrong, and these are all perfectly acceptable substitutions and additions to make) mean that I probably wouldn’t come back.
Dulwich Hill Pork Roll is not far away, and is pretty goodl
ATOM Espresso Clemton Park Shopping Village, 60 Charlotte St, Clemton Park NSW 2206
The promise and threat of Got Pho’s wagyu beef pho had loomed in my mind for a long time, and though it was not bad, I don’t think it really lived up to the price point or my hungry expectations.
The Phở Dặc Biệt ($26.50 pictured including $8 for the addition of some rare wagyu beef) was a modestly sized bowl of rare beef, brisket, and balls, with no mention anywhere of the possibility of adding even more special ingredients like tendon and tripe. The meat quantity and quality were both good, though at $26.50 inclusive of extra beef it was hard to justify for the price. I enjoyed the rich flavour of the soup, though had particular issue with the temperature, as it was served relatively warm but not hot enough to adequately heat up the bean sprouts and herbs that were delivered to us separately after we had to ask for them. Problematically we also didn’t know that the the wagyu beef was an $8 addition rather than a $5 addition, as the marker that had changed it from an extra $5 to an extra $8 on our menu had been rubbed off.
We had to ask for this. I don’t know if this is a standard thing or if it was just an oversight in our case.
The pork chop broken rice ($18.50) we were even less enthused about. The pork chop itself was a bit on the thinner side, and therefore drier than recent comparisons like at Ngoodle in Ashfield. The egg, whilst done very well and runny, was plagued by the fact that it had multiple tiny eggshell fragments in it which really made the texture quite unpleasant.
The hot chicken wings (6 for $15) were quite yummy, if ambitiously priced. They were nice and crispy, quite juicy, and also quite spicy. The pickles served alongside them were also very good to temper some of the spice, but I can’t see myself routinely wanting to pay this much for six wings.
OVERALL COMMENT I had high expectations and was ultimately honestly quite disappointed. They seemed super accommodating to a diverse population of patrons, and indeed we did see one large gathering where white kids happily ate their KFC on the same table as their parents’ pho, but issues with shell in the egg, as well as the general price to quality ratio of the food don’t make me want to go back.
And how much can it cost to reprint your menu, or at least properly alter the prices on them when prices change? Surely it’s worth avoiding the confusion? (You will note that the upgrade to wagyu beef option has also suffered an attempt of having its price changed on the menu)
I’ve been searching for a good bun bo hue ever since my initial transformational experience at Nem Kitchen in Waterloo back in 2020, and judging from the all the internet hype surrounding Dong Ba’s reportedly authentic food I thought I had finally caught the dragon. It is a shame, therefore, that I didn’t really think the bun bo hue was all that great.
The bun bo hue ($14) was quite a disappointment. I thought that the soup was a bit watery, and nowhere near as rich as I had remembered or expected. There was plenty of meaty fillings and fresh herbs and bean sprouts to dunk in, but the thin, low-taste broth really kind of let it down. All of this was also worsened by the fact that we had a piece of plastic in our bowl, and judging from the complaints from this Chinese woman who insisted on speaking Mandarin to the proprietors of a Vietnamese restaurant we weren’t the only ones.
Luckily the banh uot cha lua ($13) was actually quite delicious. The rice noodles were very thin, soft, and delicate, and there was a huge mountain of herbs hidden underneath that gave it an amazing fresh and herbacious flavour. The cha lua was nothing particularly special, but portioned well so that each mouthful could be had with some rice noodle, some herbs, and some pork. The dipping sauce added a nice flavour but also importantly moistness to the meal, and though I don’t really remember what the red thing is (I did at the time), it was also a nice addition. Overall this was a good dish, much better than the bun bo hue whose name is hung on the wall.
The avocado shake (?$6) was actually also quite good. It was very thick with an avocado flavour as well as a white sugar flavour, and extremely cold so I suspect there is some ice blended in also.
Two cats from across the road.
THOUGHTS I went to Dong Ba for bun bo hue, but what I found was that their banh uot cha lua was much better. I had hoped that this well known Cabramatta restaurant would become my go to, but unfortunately I’d advise any bun bo hue pilgrims to keep looking.
Dong Ba (John St) 5/117 John St, Cabramatta NSW 2166 (02) 9723 0336
