Those who have been reading this blog for some time might realise that pho is one of my favorite foods of all time. My love for this simple Vietnamese noodle dish started from my year long stint in Northern Virginia, and later re-enforced from the 9 trips to Vietnam that I made in my previous job.
pho Dzung is located in Richmond, VIC
During my previous visit to Melbourne, I visited the very popular Mekong Vietnamese Restaurant right on Swanston Street. While it was pretty good, at least a couple readers commented that the best pho is found in Richmond, the Vietnamese community that is located just a few kilometers away from Melbourne CBD.
So on this second trip to Melbourne, I looked up online and found this Pho Dzung place at Richmond that is said to be one of the bests in this part of the world.
coagulated cow’s blood and Vietnamese spring roll
Mellissa and I took a train from Melbourne Central to North Richmond and walked a few hundred meter to the east on Victoria Street, passing quite a number of other Vietnamese and Asian restaurants, fresh seafood shops, and Asian grocers before reaching no. 208.
At 3pm, Pho Dzung was still packed with people to the point where we had to be seated upstairs. It was definitely the correct place to be.
special beef combination pho with plenty of basil leaves and bean sprouts
The menu is rather simple, rice noodle soup with the usual suspects: rare beef, tripe, brisket, tendon, cartilage, meat ball, chicken, and even beef pizzle (yes, beef penis!).
Mell ordered a bowl of beef pho ($7 for small) and I went for the beef combination, we also asked for a plate of deep fried Vietnamese spring roll to share.
Right after I made my order, I spotted coagulated ox blood ($1) on the menu, so of course, I asked for that. The waiter asked if I actually wanted a bowl of ox blood in liquid form, but that would have been a bit too intense for my liking.
we had a very satisfying lunch
The spring rolls were quite small in size but certainly not lacking in taste, crunchy on the outside and flavorful on the inside, a perfect way to open up the appetite. The coagulated blood though, was not as tasty as the pork or duck version I enjoy in Penang curry mee and kueh teow soup, but not bad nonetheless.
As for the beef noodle, the soup was simple excellent. The aromatic beef stock was sweet and to be frank, one of the bests I’ve had from anywhere. If you find yourself in Melbourne, you have to give this place a try, easily the best $20 lunch for two at this part of the world.
Address:
Pho Dzung Tan Dinh
208 Victoria St
Richmond 3121 VIC
GPS: -37.81042,144.998181
Tel: 03-9427 0292
I had noticed this little Vietnamese Beef Noodle call Pho Hoa place at the Curve before this particular trip, and told Mell that we had to try this place before she left for Melbourne. So on Valentine’s day itself, a day where most couples were standing in line for hours at posher restaurants, we chose to take the opportunity to this place.
No queue there, only a few families and another an old couple who are probably married too many years to be worried about celebrating the overrated Valentine’s (I like the fact that Mell shares the same view with me on this).
a small setup tucked at the corner away from the main street at the Curve
I have been in Ho Chi Minh city many times in my previous job, and the one thing I miss the most about Vietnam is the beef noodle, or Pho.
Ever since I stopped going there, I had been visiting Vietnamese restaurants like O’Viet at Sunway Pyramid for try out their pho but most of the time the standards have been not good enough to worth a blog post.
On top of all, I can never find any place that serves pho with beef tendon (my favorite ingredient) until this one. I was so happy!
check out that glorious beef tendon!!
Like most restaurants at the Curve, Pho Hoa has an indoor as well as alfresco dining area. Interior decoration is pretty simple and uninspiring, but we were here purely for the food anyway, so it was all good.
The menu at Pho Hoa consist of the usual Vietnamese spring rolls, rice bowls, vermicelli bowls, and of course, the pho. The good thing here is the availability to create your own pho according to your choice of ingredients: brisket, a few types of flanks, steak, tendon, and tripe.
I ordered mine with steak, tripe, and a lot of tendon while Mell went for the basic.
KY & Mell and a cup of Vietnamese coffee
The tendon was very soft and tender, just the way it should be. The soup too was rather tasty. Being a true pho lover, I even asked for more basil and mint leaves from the Vietnamese waiter (always a good sign). It was one of the more satisfying bowl of Vietnamese beef noodle I’ve had for a while.
I also had their very strong Vietnamese drip coffee (cafe da), something you should order unless you plan to sleep in the next 6 hours.
The bill came up to less than RM 40 with the two bowls of noodle at RM 15.99 and RM 11.99, definitely within a very good value for the food I had. I’m thinking of having this tomorrow for lunch this weekend!
Address:
Pho Hoa
G34, the Curve,
Mutiara Damansara
PJ, 40870 Selangor
GPS: 3.157699, 101.611540
Tel: 03-7725 9880
Whenever I go to any foreign places, it is always interesting to tune to their local tv channels to get a taste of the local media. I think there is no other places that airs more languages on national TV than in Malaysia. On last count, we have more than 10 languages: English, Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Japanese, Spanish, Korean, Arabic, Tamil, Hindi.. not to mention Manglish.
Situation in Vietnam is slightly different, instead of airing shows in their respective languages, they usually dub it in Vietnamese. However, if you listen closely, they only use ONE person to dub the entire movie. It doesn’t matter if the actor on screen is old, young, male, female, baby, dog, cat.. just one person speaking the dialogs monotonously, without emotion nor any hint of passion.
Check it out!
It’s been a while since the last time I had pho in KL, and it’s been even longer since I went to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. As we were looking for dinner before movie, I happened to chance upon O’ Viet and decided to remind myself why I had come to love this traditional Vietnamese dish.
look mighty appetizing, no?
Since it was basically a quick dinner, I only ordered a bowl of mixed pho, and the hot chick got herself the seafood noodle. Nothing else, no spring role or any of those fancy Vietnamese appetizers (it turned out to be a wise choice, main dish came in big portion.)
we’re loving it
The dishes came after a short wait, served by someone who spoke with a Vietnamese accent, it was a good sign. The pho smelled pretty good, and the soup noodle come complete with a side dish of basil leave, mint, lemon, bean sprouts, and chili sauce. I wish they would only have some hot jalopeno peppers.
I put the fresh leaves and bean sprouts to the soup and started attacking the dish right away. Out of my expectation, this bowl of pho was actually one of the bests I’ve tried in Malaysia. The soup tasted right, and the meat (brisket, flank, tripe, meat ball) cooked to a very soft and tender texture. The type of noodle too, was pretty close to what I had in HCMC, though I still long for the proper flat rice type. If only they serve beef tendon, it’ll be perfect.
The seafood noodle came in a slightly spicier broth, and had plenty of squid, cuttle fish, fish meat, and prawn. It was pretty good, too.
pho.. *drools*
The meal came to a bit over RM 35 for two, including 5% government tax and 10% service charge. The plain water wasn’t free either. This place certainly wasn’t cheap, but I do feel that the quality of food justified the price, and I will gladly go there again when my pho craving strikes.
Address:
G1.45 Sunway Pyramid (near ice skating rink)
46150 Bandar Sunway
Selangor
GPS: 3.073297, 101.607576
