Pho does affordable and, as far as we can tell, pretty authentic Vietnamese food. Their location on Thimbirigasyaya is also near a lot of other restaurants and shops in walking distance.
The Food
Pho has a simple one page menu. We’ll start with their namesake dish, Pho. We tried the beef variety (Rs. 650). They also have chicken. Honestly, our overall impression was that it tasted fresh and healthy but a bit bland. You could address this by putting chili and lime into it, but why. Besides that you get a good amount of meat and noodles, but the noodles and broth don’t really have much of a punch to them.
Going back a bit, the spring rolls (Rs. 350) were a nice starter. They were crispy and well stuffed with shiitake mushroom, black fungus, chicken, prawn and vegetables. The best thing was the dip, what we think is called nuoc cham. It’s a nice mix of fish sauce, lime, salt and sugar. it’s a sweet and sour kinda dip and we ended up using it for everything.
Our favorite main was the crab glass noodles (Rs. 800). This had a really generous amount of crab and veg throughout. Again we found it a wee bit bland for our taste, but dipping it in the nuoc cham sorted that out. We’d say this is pretty good value.
Location
Pho has a great location. It’s actually tucked behind Thimbirigasyaya Road, just up from Havelock Road, next to Calorie Counter. This neighborhood actually has a really high concentration of eateries – JU Udumbara, Shaze, Kami Maki, Hazari’s, etc.
The interior is simple but nice. The building is three stories but right now only the first floor is open. Everything is simply but nicely furnished. They also have a bit of an outdoor eating area.
The Service
Our service was prompt and nice and stuff came out fast. We think the owner(s) are actually Vietnamese but the staff that served us were Sri Lankan.
Conclusion
Pho serves up simple and healthy Vietnamese food. It’s not as flavorful as we’d like, but they’re very new and we think they’ll improve. As it the food is affordable and the location is simple, central and nice.
