Tag: chicken wings

We’ve eaten at Pho Vien, sister restaurant of Madam Ky (RIP), a couple of times in the last few weeks. Here are my thoughts.

The Pho Dat Biet – special beef pho($19.90) was pretty good, a large bowl with a flavourful soup and a generous helping of rare beef, beef brisket, and beef balls. Missing, unfortunately, was any hint of slightly less widely palatable yet still important inclusions such as tripe and tendon, which would’ve elevated this good bowl to the level of an excellent bowl. The first time I had this at Pho Vien I found that, unlike the time we ate at Madam Ky, the soup was adequately hot to handle the inclusion of mass bean sprouts. The second time we ate here my partner’s dad asked for cooked bean sprouts on the side, which to be honest was revolutionary. They came only slightly cooked, raw enough to remain crispy, but warm enough to not thermodilute the soup. What a next level move.

The Com Suon – tomato rice with grilled pork chop ($19.90) is really more my partner’s thing. It was not bad, just generally not what I’d pick overall. The quality of the tomato rice was good, however. Not too dry.

The Canh Ga Chien – deep fried wing ($7.50) came after a long wait and were very salty. Added to that – though the menu said wings, we got four drumsticks. Respecting that many would prefer drumsticks over mid wings due to their greater meatiness, I am not one of these people. I did not enjoy this.

The Bun Bo Hue ($19.50) that we had on our second visit was tasty and inoffensive, again lacking components like pork trotter and blood jelly that usually round out the dish. My partner, normally someone who doesn’t like bun bo hue, enjoyed this bowl, probably for the same reason that I found it lacking.

The Banh Xeo – pancake pork and prawn ($22.50) was crispy and tasty, well filled on the inside. I didn’t find any bugs in my vegetables, which doesn’t seem like a high bar, but seriously considering the last few banh xeos I have at different restaurants in Sydney, this counts as a plus.

Overall we had a couple of pretty good meals at Pho Vien, but I do wish they would add some of the more controversial ingredients to their soups (or at least the option to have them).

Pho Vien
283 Liverpool Rd, Ashfield NSW 2131
(02) 8057 8668

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)