The name Pho Hong is close and dear to us. Not this Pho Hong though. I am talking about the Pho Hong on Burnaby. When our boys were just tiny tots and we had only $20 to eat out a week for the whole family, the Pho Hong in Burnaby was where we go to. That was the family treat after church service.
Yeah, we love going there, despite us getting the same thing week after week. It was of great value and the portions was enormous. Two bowls of soup noodles is more than enough to feed the family of four.
Suanne and I were at Fraser around 49th not too long ago for some errand. After the errand, we decided to grab a bite. There are a lot of restaurants along this stretch of Fraser. It was hard to decide which to go to. We walked up and down the street, thinking at the same time how many restaurants here that we can return and blog about.
That day, it was cold, blustery and had wet snow falling (yeah, it was THAT long ago when we visited this restaurant!). So our best option that day was for a hot bowl of noodle soup. There is nothing like pho to warm the body.
We had never been into this Pho Hong before although we had heard of them quite a bit of times.
This restaurant looked … familiar. Inside, it is almost exactly like the Pho Hong in Burnaby. The fake flowers on the ceiling and all. It actually looked terrible just like the other Pho Hong. But this sort of things never bother Suanne and I. I’ll go eat wherever the food is good.
The restaurant has about 16-18 tables. Mostly tables that seats just two. I guess a lot of their customers just drop by here for a quick noodle soup and go. Not a place to hang out and all.
Service were prompt that day. It was mid afternoon already so there were not a lot of customers.
The menu is nothing fancy. It is straight forward with the common pho dishes.
We were curious if this Pho Hong is related to the Pho Hong in Burnaby. I took a look at this menu above and compared it. Both menu is almost identical. Even the logo Pho Hong is exactly the same. So yeah, I guess they are the same.
For old time sake, I ordered the same thing I always order at Pho Hong. It is the “#1 Special with Combo”.
This is $8.50 with $1.00 extra for the spring roll combo. This is a everything in … tripe, tendon, flank, beef balls.
I don’t see many places that serves their pho with the beef so raw of late. So this one stands out. I have heard that some Vietnamese restaurants even serves the beef slices on the side but personally I have never come across one before. Does anyone know of any place doing it like that?
I love having it raw like that. I’ll eat this first. I’ll just use the chopsticks and dunk a piece briefly into the steaming hot soup, just cooking it enough. Love it soft that way.
She doesn’t make a lot of them at home. This is because every time she makes it, there is enough soup for 20 bowls. So those times Suanne made this, we had Pho for one whole week.
We were wondering if anyone of you out there makes pho at home without using these sort of seasonings … you know like they do it traditionally by boiling beef bones and what nots.
Out of habit, I like to spice up my soup with Sriracha sauce. Yeah, make it all red and hot. I know it is weird to some of you but that is how I take my pho. I don’t do this with any other noodles soups, just pho.
I did some digging about the Sriracha sauce which I thought would be interesting to let you know.
Sriracha is not pronounced as Sree-Ra-Cha. Instead it is called Sir-Rotch-Ah. You see a lot of this familiar bottles in Vietnamese restaurants. I had always thought this is Vietnamese but it is not.
Sriracha is actually a Thai sauce and the name came from the town of Sri Racha in Thailand near Bangkok. This is a purée of fresh red jalapeños, garlic powder, sugar, salt and distilled vinegar.
And even if you think that the familiar squirt bottle with the Rooster brand is all Asian, it is not at all. This is American. Check out this article from the New York Times.
Suanne ordered the Slices Beef and Pork with Giang Xi Vermicelli in Spicy Hot Soup. This is a small bowl and is $7.00 with $1.00 extra for the spring roll combo.
This looks like the normal pho with the spiciness coming from the chili oil drizzled over the soup. This bowl also has pork balls and Vietnamese ham.
We were wondering why the menu called this the Giang Xi Vermicelli. It is like lai fern.
The deep fried spring rolls were quite OK. Wished that it was thicker and had more fillings.
This quick meal was only $21.00 include tips. Cash only, by the way.
BUSINESS HOUR
7 days a week
10:30AM to 10:00PM
I have done the pho soup from scratch..involves beef bones, grilled onion/cinnamon stick/ Vietnamese cardamom/ star anise and cloves. A lot of work, yes made 20 bowls of soup (I can take on 10 myself!). Usually make it in the winter, leave the whole pot outside overnite, remove the congealed fat, and ta-da, dinner! Have learned to be lazier now…I use the pho cubes but still like putting in beef bones.
With regards to the raw beef on separate plates, a lot of restaurants will do it if you ask them to put “steak/beef on the side” when you order.
I know for sure that Pho Nan, Pho 99 and Westlake will put the beef a separate plate if you ask them to 🙂
By far my favorite pho place. Mostly because of the broth, but also because of the ratio of noodles to meat. It really works.
They also have rather good iced coffee with condensed milk.
Like Jenny said, most Vietnamese restaurants will serve the beef on the side if you ask them to. I don’t really see the point otherwise. If they just add it to the bowl with everything else, the “rare” beef is usually well-done by the time it gets to your table.
I think this comic by a Seattle-based author and web entrepreneur accurately encapsulates how much I love Sriracha. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/sriracha
Just love this place. To put the dots together I asked the owners how the Fraser Pho Hong was related to the one in Burnaby. It turns out that the respective owners are brothers, hence the similarities.
Nice to see you were in my old hood 🙂 The restaurant must have been around for over a decade now. From what I remember, it use to be a European/Italian restaurant thus the decor. I remember when the noodle soups were like just over $4.00!
Hi Teresa: When was that when Pho was just $4.00? Must be at least 15 years ago? Ben
Well I lived in the area for 20 years before I moved out last year…so maybe? 🙂 I remember it was super cheap. And it still gets quite busy during lunch.
Pho Hong is the best. Has the best pho soup.
This pho place is right by my house so I pass by it all the time. I used to dine in here more often until I saw a rat running around in the restaurant. I told the owner and she pretended to look, then turned back to me and told me that I was seeing things. I was 100% positive it was there, because I saw it again later!
Don’t worry. A lot of Asian restos keep …… pets 😉