Phd – Pho Hai Duong

I’ve always known Cabramatta and Bankstown for good pho, only recently had I realised Marrickville has pretty damn good pho too. It’s a bonus that it’s so much closer to home, 20 minute compared to 40 minute drive for Pho!

One day, I tweeted/facebooked – “Where can I find good pho in Marrickville?”

Pho Hai Duong came up in the responses.

I’ve always known Cabramatta and Bankstown to serve up some pretty good pho, so Pho in Marrickville is a new discovery to me.

So that very day, we drove to Pho Hai Duong, to find the restaurant had closed down… and moved 3 blocks down.. to number 308.

I’m guessing it had a make over with the move; once a typical looking old vietnamese restaurant, now all modernised, with striking red walls. It’s probably the first time I’ve been in such a ‘red’ restaurant!

Photographers, you’d figure by now red is probably one of the pain-in-the-ass environments to take photos in… because no doubt your photos will get a red tone, thank god for lightroom!

Gotta love the play in words!

You would’ve figured by now that they’ve abbreviated Pho Hai Duong to ‘phd’, rather catchy name in-my-opinion

Essential condiments; dunk’em into your bowl of soup noodles!

Bun Rieu Cua

Bun Rieu Cua is basically – crab noodle in tomato soup (with crab and pork mince).

If you follow me on twitter, you would’ve noticed a period where I was overly addicted to Bun Rieu that I tried making my own (thanks to the boyfriend’s mum’s recipe)

So I was interested to try out Phd’s version, and see how I can improve my own. Firstly, not being vietnamese myself I wouldn’t exactly know what an authentic bowl of Bun Rieu would be like, but its the first I’ve had with more ingredients/toppings – the fried tofu, pig’s blood jelly just to name a few..(gonna chuck some of those in my next Bun Rieu attempt!) and I love how they used slightly thicker noodles, easier to eat .

First up, I especially like how they’ve managed to conserve the juiciness of the chunks of tomato. Another plus is that the mince meat in the soup was quite fine, no big chunks spotted. Lastly, the soup was clear (as it should be) and had the sourness of the tomatoes – which gave it the punch! From what the boyfriend’s mum had told me, these are the essentials of a good Bun Rieu.

Thumbs up for this one!

Pho – Vermicelli soup with med-rare beef

So, how does this bowl of Pho match up?

Usually the Pho I have usually taste ordinary, or heavily MSG-ed… and rare occasions extremely ‘herb-y’..

I found that this bowl of pho was opposite to all the above.

Definitely does not taste like a standard bowl of Pho, the soup is definitely NOT heavily MSG-ed and not overly flavoured with herbs.. (though some people prefer the herbs??) But anyway it was sufficient and a delight to slurp down. For $10, it’s fairly decent.. especially for a good bowl of pho!

If I was to compare with the popular Bankstown Pho at Pho An (have yet to post a review ), I would choose Phd’s Pho any day.. simply because Pho An is often quite salty (or MSG??), and expensive! $12 for a bowl of pho! …

 

Che Ba Mau

The Three coloured drink or otherwise known as ‘Rainbow drink’, is my ideal Vietnamese dessert/drink…containing a selection of jellies and cooked sweetened beans, all mixed into a cup of shaved ice and coconut milk. This is probably the first Che Ba Mau that I’ve had where they sprinkle peanut pieces at the top, extra crunch! Though I have to say the coconut milk was richer than usual, or I was actually quite full from the Bun Rieu!

Overall, Phd has definitely become my new location for Pho!

Next trip; going to try some of their other dishes!

What do existing Phd customers recommend??