Sadly our first attempt to come here failed as we prepped to come on a Monday before realizing it would be closed! Thus the trip here was postponed till after
's trip to London and on a fateful Tuesday. We walked down the familiar Tanjong Pagar Road, past the 8 (roughly - we counted) korean chicken and BBQ restaurants before standing at the corner at Maxwell wondering where the hell was this place. Turns out we weren't looking for the typical small pho shop after all.
Surprisingly (?) this place was mostly run by local teens / young adults, which was rather curious for a Vietnamese restaurant, of all places. The decor was simple, with some Vietnamese-looking pictures and what not, and the multi-colored chopsticks which was also a common sight in Thailand street stalls. Lighting was dim!
I went for my favourite beef brisket with beef balls, which was served with a side of raw basil, bean sprouts, coriander, chilli padi, and dipping sauce for the meat. Love my basil raw and my sprouts crunchy, but I absolutely detest coriander, so I was kinda glad they kept them all separate. Chilli padi was spicy but added a great kick. Soup was flavourful and yet not too salty / oily, which was great! Pho soft and slightly chewy, and serving of yummy beef and onions was rather generous as well. At first glance I was worried the portion was too small, but it's not - just nice.
{ Beef Brisket (Shin) & Beef Balls ($8) }
Wanted to try something different, but not deviate too far from the noodle soup variety - so I chose Hanoi Chicken. I'm guessing this is a specialty of the region, and if so I should have known before my trip there some years ago! Anyway, I highly recommend this! The broth is extremely flavourful and comforting, with generous amounts of shredded chicken. I'm usually sensitive to MSG but thankfully didn't feel dying after finishing up the entire bowl of noodles and soup.
{ Hanoi Chicken ($7.20) }
A mild disappointment was had when they said they were out of rice spring rolls, but that was fine -
wanted dessert anyway. I was pushing for the caramel pudding but
decided on the ice cream so we had two scoops. Pleasant surprise when these cute little bottles - rather ingenious I must say - came with the ice cream frozen inside to the brim.
{ Home-made Ice Cream - Coffee and Coconut ($5.50 for two) }
The first few scoops off the top gave me the false impression that the ice cream was actually a little bland ... which soon I realized was actually caused by the ice crystals on the top. As we worked our way through to the middle, I couldn't hold back the string of expletives describing how f*cking awesome it was. Coconut was rreaallyyy rich and sweet in coconut flavour, and the coffee was bitter which was GREAT. In fact it tasted very similar to my good ol' Kopi C Kosing - the bitter, strong and yet homely kopi taste - a true gem for coffee lovers!I couldn't help but mention to the waiter how awesome the ice cream was, but unfortunately they don't do take aways because of the bottles :(
A great spot for simple, inexpensive Vietnamese food (and homemade ice cream!) done well. Also a new and different cuisine option to consider from the numerous Korean food places there!
Pho Stop
HGW Link (100% recommended at time of posting) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/Pho_Stop/
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/PhoStop
Rating (out of 4) :
Believe it or not, many people you should not just take under consideration the space that is required for physical fitness machines and turn out with a thing they do not have place for.
ReplyDeleteAlso visit my blog; adjustable dumbbells sets