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. All meals are independently paid for - the author has no conflicts of interest to disclose.
We’ve been meaning to go to Jacob’s Vietnamese place in Ashfield for quite a few months now, but have failed each time due to their odd opening hours. Though they open 7 days a week, they both open a bit late for breakfast, and close a bit too early for dinner. It’s a good thing that when they do open in the morning, however, they offer a full on all-day Vietnamese menu.
We had the phở đặc biệt (the special beef rice noodle soup) for $19, which is quite a reasonable price for the size of the meal. There was a good helping of rare beef, tendon, beef balls, and tripe. The tripe and tendon in particular being not something that you see in a lot of pho restaurants these days – including sadly Pho Vien down the road.
The taste of the pho was quite good. It had quite a traditional and flavourful broth, and came with a lot of green onion as well as a very healthy portion of bean sprouts, which I love. Unfortunately I did find I did find (and my partner found this too) a bit of an unusual and unpleasant taste with the tendon. Even though I normally love tendon, and the texture of the tendon was perfect, the flavour of it was kind of weird. I don’t know why this has happened, if it’s a one-off thing or if it’s a recurrent thing to do with where they sourced it from. But I really didn’t love it.
The other thing that we had on our first visit was the cơm tấm đặc biệt,($19), the broken rice deluxe with the grilled pork chop, shredded pork skin, steamed pork cake and fried egg. This is really a dish that was more than the sum of its parts, many of which were fine in insolation but great in combination.
For starters, we did not love the pork skin, even though I’m sure it was perfectly adequate according to the standards by which pork skin prepared in this manner are usually judged. The egg was fried and fully cooked which is I guess fine, and perhaps it’s only our westernized taste buds that prefer a partially cooked egg. The pork loaf and the pork chop were delicious, with no negative points to say about them, and of course the fish sauce really helped to bring everything together, moisten the rice and make it all great.
First visit thoughts – Overall, the meal was only $38, and really got two adults very full at 10am in the morning, and for the rest of the day. I had wanted to get some more stuff, and was luckily talked out of it, so we ended up actually going again a few weeks later (prior to this review being published).
On our second visit we started off with some chicken wings ($15), which were quite unexciting, flavoured essentially with salt and not much else, lacking completely in complex spices and flavours apart from the side of dipping sauce and pickled vegetables. It didn’t feel like a restaurant dish, and I didn’t feel like they were any better than what I could do with my air fryer at home.
The bun bo hue ($19) was contrastingly pretty good – a large bowl, with a huge quantity of different meats inside and a nice tangy-spicy taste. It wasn’t the best I’ve had in Sydney, but definitely one of the better in recent times, and probably better than Pho Vien’s down the street.
This beef brisket with bread roll ($19?) was really thick and rich, probably too rich for me to eat having already had my half of the BBH. Neither of us were able to finish it, and we had to take it home, where it was diluted by takeaway frozen broth from Pho Vien and subsequently consumed. That said, the bread was very nice and does mean that their banh mi has potential to be quite good as well. An adventure for next time.
ADVENTURE, NEXT TIME
I returned by myself for some banh mi, thinking that I would get two and eat half of each.
The crispy skin pork roll ($10) was pretty good. I enjoyed the crispy crackling pork, and the flavour of the roll overall, though felt that it was overall a bit light in terms of filling quantity, particularly that of the meat. Something that I did enjoy was that the bread went briefly into a toaster oven before serving, making it nice and warm and crispy.
The feeling of lightness was particularly amplified when it came to the cold cut pork roll ($7), which was so minimal and unsubstantial that there’s no way I could recommend it given the other local options available.
Jacob’s Vietnamese Place 27 Hercules St, Ashfield NSW 2131
KINX was one of our favourite vaguely local cafes when we lived in the Canterbury-Bankstown area, and we were sad to hear of it changing hands at the start of this year.
I started seeing teasers of KINX ex-owners Duc and Tina’s new venture, Saigon Things, on social media a couple of weeks ago, but it was only when someone let slip an external shot with a photo of the phone number of the massage parlour next door that I was able to pinpoint the (conveniently very local) location and imbibe in a soft-opening feast.
First things first, that it was a soft opening can’t be stated enough. Apart from a couple of social media posts not mentioning the location, there was really not much to go on to know what to expect. There was no menu online, and not even a Google Maps entry for the business – how exciting.
The restaurant was a short walk from free parking in Strathfield Plaza, through a street lined with very active and bustling Korean and Vietnamese restaurants, that on any other day would’ve tempted us away from an as-yet unproven Saigon Things, but we had a destination and a plan and would not be swayed. We pushed through a door sign in Korean, a remnant from the restaurant’s previous tenants, into a restaurant with only one other group seated, but we given KINX’s track record, we knew that this was just due to it being undiscovered, rather than unpopular.
The first thing that we were told when we sat down was that no less than five of the menu options were unavailable that night. Such soft opening vibes! As we made our orders, we were told that one of the components of one of the dishes that was available was not available and would have to be substituted. Unpreparedness! Soft opening!
Our drink came rapidly, but food seemed to come table by table – the other table present had three or four things served by the time we had our first, but we’re going to take that as yet another soft opening thing. The yakult mocktail ($11), which I will attempt to describe without a copy of the drinks menu on hand (something I expect won’t be available online for some time), was good in some way but could’ve been better in others. First things first, it was very sweet, full of tropical flavours, strong on the pineapple and with hints of some mango as well. An element of interest were these salty (preserved?) white flowers, that were crunchy and provided a welcome and interesting contrast to the too-sweet drink. Given it was my wife’s order, I didn’t actually know it was meant to be yakult based, and could not pick this as a flavour or component that was meant to be presented – I think it would’ve been better described as a pineapple tropical mocktail.
After what felt like a considerable wait (though as evidenced by timestamps really only 14 minutes from drink to food service), we received our first food item, the Bamboo Platter/ Cham Cuon – Bánh Ướt Chả & Thịt Nướng/beef, pork, noodle sheet ($50.80). The idea was to roll our own rice paper rolls, with the variety of ingredients presented – grilled Angus intercostal, steamed pork sausage, rice noodle sheets, rice noodle rolls, fresh and pickled vegetables, herbs, and toppings. The rice noodle rolls that we were told they had run out of (at 6PM – the restaurant’s opening time) made a miraculous appearance. Did having to go get these from a nearby Asian grocer delay service? Or did they just manage to find them in the fridge? Either way the whole concept of having rice within rice reminded me of that Xzibit meme – yo dawg, I heard you like rice so we put rice in your rice.
Some other guy’s wife made him a very beautiful looking roll, but mine neglected to, and this is the best that we got. Our complete inability to roll any semblance of a rice paper roll aside, this was a really good tasting dish. I’m one to load my pho up with all of the Vietnamese basil available, and have never said no to pickle carrots, so the variety of fresh and pickled flavours was excellent for me, though I thought the half full little bowl of chilli and garlic was a bit of a let down (was more on offer if we had asked?). The beef , though having some sinewy bits, was grilled to a good level of smokiness, though I thought that the steam pork roll could’ve been greater in quantity to match that of the beef.
This Cơm Chiên / Saigon Fried Rice ($22) is the second best fried rice I’ve had in the five years I’ve been writing this blog (the first goes to a great fried rice at Peko Peko in South Melbourne that you are likely to hear about next month.
The rice presents with a low to medium degree of wok hei scent, which could’ve been stronger but is still near the top of its class. Each individual grain of rice was coated in oil and well separated, evidence of a good quality stir frying technique. The chilli crisp added nice crunch but not much spice to the dish, and inspired us to get some non-lao gan ma chilli crisp from an Asian grocer (bridging the gap hopefully between a $4 jar and a $20 made in Australia jar) on the way home. Perhaps the best part was the little pieces of deep fried pork lard, crispy and melty, something that’s previously made an appearance in Hokkien Kia’s exemplary char kway teow, but not something I had seen elsewhere apart from that. The lap cheong was a little different to what I’ve had before, larger in diameter and sweeter than the usual, but different in a pleasant way that distinguished itself from being a stock standard Chinese fried rice. The pickled mustard greens mentioned on the menu were not identifiable, but there was the surprise inclusion of corn kernels, which did not detract from the experience.
I was getting quite full by the time the Sườn Heo Nướng Mắm Ruốc/ Fermented Shrimp Pork Ribs ($48), but managed to happily enjoy them. The flavour was prawny and interesting, though what separated this dish from the others was that I didn’t feel like it was miles ahead of what my wife makes at home on a regular basis. I would have significant difficulty trying to replicate the rice paper platter or even the perfection of the fried rice in my home kitchen, but my wife has gotten very good at putting pork ribs in the oven over the past few years, and I can imagine a world in which we’d get probably 80% of the way there with the cooking of the pork, and 70% of the way there with the fermented prawn flavour.
What I don’t think we could accomplish at home, however, was actually the salad that was served with the ribs. The julienned pieces of carrot, apple and onion were so bright and crunchy, with extra crunch from the peanut and fried shallot toppers, that I feel like the salad was more special than the pork itself. The acidity of the apple and the dressing cut through the (slight) fattiness of the pork ribs very well, and made for an excellent pairing overall.
Other thoughts Wow! Soft opening! We saw the owner hand beers to and hug a couple of of different people they knew throughout the night, and though they still have some kinx to iron out, it really did feel like we were experiencing the start of something special, for friends and family and random guys off the street who googled the number of the massage parlour next door.
I saw one such random guy eat a very tasty looking pho so that will be on my mind next time.
Saigon Things REDUX, MAY 2026
I was surprised to see Saigon Things pop up on one of those time-limited discounted dining apps for struggling restaurants I’ve been trying recently, as our memory from our visit eight months ago during their soft opening was overwhelmingly positive. Even though the discount was only about 20%, it didn’t make sense to us that SGT would need such a promotion to drive in customers – but both as a sucker for a discount and a sucker for pho we figured we’d check it out.
The place has changed a little in the eight months since their soft opening. The menu’s been focused down significantly, and neither the fried rice nor the pork ribs are available any more. Instead, in addition to the DIY rice paper roll platters, they remain focused on pho and other noodle soups (BBH, banh canh cua), vermicelli salads, and broken rice.
Both pleasingly and unpleasantly we found ourselves waiting about 25 minutes for a table at 2PM on Sunday . Pleasingly – because I enjoy their food and want them to succeed as a restaurant – any fears of their lack of success by the simple presence on the discounted meals app evaporated when we were faced with a piece of paper with 5 names ahead of us – and unpleasantly because my wife was quite hungry.
We had a combination beef pho /Phở Thập Cẩm ($23.80) with angus topside, brisket, tendon, beef ball, and bible tripe – the Đặc Biệt title reserved for their special combination including beef marrow – a $38.80 bowl which we could not justify, even with a small discount.
This bowl of pho was positively huge, with a gigantic serving of soup providing a large thermal mass for the heating of all of the bean sprouts, which went in immediately at the start. The serving of rice noodles and beef and beef bits was actually a little bit more modest in relation to the size of the bowl, but still adequate for the enjoyment of our marriage.
The noodles in particular were bouncy, and not formidable in their quantity. I sometimes find myself working on eating the noodles of a bowl of pho as if it is my job rather than it is for enjoyment, and I actually enjoyed the noodle-light ratio of this bowl.
The soup was light and umami, avoiding being too oily or cloying. There was a stronger flavour of star anise than the pho most recent in my memory at Pho Song Huong – enjoyable and in no way a complaint, and it was similarly less sweet than their faraway competitor (also a good thing).
The ingredients were all of high quality – the rare beef, the particularly tasty, tender and juicy brisket, and the tripe, which is sadly rare to see, even in some Asian predominant suburbs of Sydney.
Parts of the tendon still had pieces close to the muscle, providing an enjoyable difference in texture, with no unusual aftertaste. It was overall an excellent bowl of pho, that I would enjoy having again in the future.
The pork tomahawk (350g) & fried egg broken rice Cơm Tấm Sườn Heo Tomahawk và Trứng ($26.80) was a slight upgrade over the standard grilled pork chop broken rice, and again, a huge serving. All of the components of this dish were good, ranging from the moist broken rice, the pickled julienned carrots, to the perfectly runny sunny side up fried egg, whose yolk, once broken, permeated the rice with golden richness.
SGT’s broken rice also featured the pieces of deep fried pork lard previously seen in their fried rice (RIP), which were again crispy, melty, and moreish, and not something I’ve had before with a broken rice.
The tomahawk pork chop, which we cut into little bite sized pieces with scissors (a hack that is new to us, something we learned by watching the woman on the table next to us. Every day at SGT is a school day), was perfectly juicy – both in the lean pieces and the pieces with some fat attached, with a slightly sweet taste of marinade and some charred flavour from the grill.
Finally came the cheesy salted plum sweet potato fries / Khoai Lang Lắc Phô Mai Xí Muội ($13.80). This main-sized entrée snack was ordered really as a hedge following a long wait outside for a table, and a hungry-on-her-way-to-hangry wife. The fact that our pho came about 2 minutes after we sat down and ordered was enough to satisfy us and tell me that we really didn’t need to order this entrée on top of our two mains, which actually both arrived before it.
As far as the actual food goes, I didn’t love it as much as some other online commentators. Many of the major textural components were good – the sweet potato was soft and moist, and the batter was light and crispy – but the flavouring was where it fell short for us. The sweet potato fries were dusted in two powders – a plum dust, and a snow cheese dust. Whilst we enjoyed the plum dust (which kind of reminded me of duck sauce), neither my wife nor I could particularly get around the snow cheese, which we referred to during our meal as cheeto dust. To be fair, we also don’t enjoy snow cheese when it comes atop Korean fried chicken, which is the only other place we’ve ever come across it. Is it Vietnamese?
Overall my second visit to Saigon Things, trying their staples pho and broken rice, was excellent. Whilst I would avoid the sweet potato fries (as cheese dust is not to our taste) in the future, I cannot hesitate to recommend a visit to this restaurant.
Saigon Things 28/45-47 The Boulevarde, Strathfield NSW 2135
Khoi Eatery has a strong social media game – so strong in fact, that I ate there after initially intending to have lunch at Khoi’s in Surry Hill – a completely different business.
Unfortunately the COMBINATION PHO PHỞ ĐẶC BIỆT (Regular – $14) was pretty standard. It was not bad, but there was nothing standout about it. The rare beef was not particularly rare, and the brisket, tripe, and tendon were all good but not amazing. The beef balls were probably the only part that was better than average, with a special texture to it. The soup was not a standout either.
Chopped fresh chilli was served inside this jar with no utensil, which given the current COVID-19 climate (this meal was eaten in late 2020) I was hesitant to touch. I would have felt much safer had this been served on a plate – who knows how many people have had their grubby hands in here?
The CHARGRILLED PORK SKEWERS (NEM NƯỚNG LỤI – $10) were not bad, but not what I expected. Not being Vietnamese I did not know that these would be minced meat, like kofta or seekh kebab. They had a sweet taste, similar to char siu.
The other half was busy studying for her ANZCA primary and unwilling to leave her cave. I brought home a serving of BBQ PORK CHOP BROKEN RICE (CƠM TẤM SƯỜN)($13) as takeaway. This was actually quite a good dish – the BBQ pork was tasty and nicely marinated, and there was a good quantity of it. The sunny side up egg was cooked to a perfect degree of runniness. It also happened to be extremely cheap. I suspect that had I eaten this at the restaurant my overall impression of Khoi Eatery would be better.
OVERALL My overall impression is that Khoi Eatery is fine, but not great. There’s nothing particularly wrong with their food, but also nothing particularly right. I ate at Khoi Eatery so that you don’t have to. See what else might be available up the road.
