What the Pho?
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
If you don’t know what Pho is by now, I’m sorry, but you have probably lived in a cultural bubble. For those well acquainted with the subtly spiced, simmered beef broth with noodles and DIY mint and bean sprouts, will be well aware it’s messy business. It can also be quite hit-and-miss. Sometimes the serving size is too small with an unfair noodle-veggie ratio. Or the broth just doesn’t have enough oomph. Or it’s ludicrously expensive. That’s the dead giveaway for a shonky Pho. Over $10 and I’d walk in the other direction. Because I know where you can get a killer for $9.
It’s called Pho Huynh and it’s in the central northern suburb of Girrawheen. Though the greater surrounds would make me feel uneasy at night, this place shines like a beacon in the newly named Saigon Business Centre. It’s quite the opposite of every other noodle house I’ve been to: fresh decor (no plastic table coverings here), air con and a plasma TV that blares Vietnamese karaoke all day long (well maybe this is the same). The staff are attentive and family-like. It’s not uncommon to see the proprietor babysitting her (Eurasian) children, and the matriarch wisely staring from the corner. I’m sure she’s analysing my Pho eating style and chopstick etiquette. Whether I’m a sauce adder or dunker, and whether I add all the bean sprouts with judicial use of mint and hoisin. It’s highly personal stuff. Lunch time, it’s packed. The car park swells with oddly out of place Mercedes and BMWs. Sunday lunch is pretty much like being back in Vietnam, 100 people per metre squared. The litmus test for a good Asian restaurant is how many countrymen dine there. This place passes with flying colours.
The food is better than I had in Vietnam, Pho sure.
Pho Huynh. Vietnamese Rice & Noodle Bar. Shop 1/32 Balgonie Ave Girrawheen WA Open 6 Days 9am-8pm (Closed Wednesdays)
