So today, my family and I made the decision to pay Pho a visit in the Corn Exchange in Manchester. We had been eyeing it up for a while now after we spotted it whilst eating at its neighbor Mowgli. We were astounded by just how busy it was, every chair and table filled with people eating amazing looking food. My mother and I exchanged looks and agreed that Pho would be our next port of call when they next drop me off in Manchester. So lo and behold we ended up seated at a rustic wooden table in rather comfortable high-backed chairs. Unfortunately the table was so rustic in design that the wooden beams that made up its surface didn’t connect to the metal frame, meaning I had a lovely view of the crumbs and dropped food from previous diners in the gap. But no mind, I could push the hygiene worries to one side in order to eye up the menu.
Pho is a Vietnamese restaurant, a cuisine I was yet to sample, but I figured it couldn’t be too different to Thai or Chinese. The starters were a medley of spring rolls and meats with sauce dips. Both my brother and I pounced at the opportunity to have Calamari, whilst mum and dad opted to go halves on meatballs and a spring roll.
When the starters arrived I was stunned by just how beautiful the plates looked. Served on pure white plates with crisp green leaves and soft coloured sauces, I instantly wanted to tuck in and taste the wonderful flavours that the mere presentation promised.
One of the let downs of Calamari, or as this was called, Mực chiên giòn, is that if cooked even the slightest bit too long the squid becomes rubbery and tough, instantly losing appeal. But after the first cautious piece I was in love. Beautifully tender and not in the slightest bit greasy, the baby squid certainly didn’t last long for me. They came with a small white bowl with red chilli slices and garlic powder, into which I was to squeeze a slice of fresh lime to create a refreshing dip with a heat kick. The lime was clearly refrigerated which made it a little difficult to squeeze but was in no way not fresh. Judging by the happy silence opposite me, Matt was enjoying his portion just as much, although he was not too keen on the lime dip.
(Mực chiên giòn- Vietnamese Calamari)
Mum and Dad shared a Nem hải sản and Nem nướng between them.
The Nem hải sản, a spring roll made up of king prawns, crab and pork, looked a lot less like your filo pastry wrapped rolls and more like two small slabs of rectangular pie on a bed of lettuce leaves with an intriguing orangy sauce that was apparently ước chấm dipping sauce. I still don’t know what ước chấm dipping sauce is other than really, really tasty! The waitress told us it was best eaten with the roll wrapped in a lettuce leaf and dipped in said sauce. I was permitted a bite and instantly wished I had ordered it as well as my squid. The king prawns added a heavenly saltiness to the slightly sweet pork, whilst the crab gave a meaty kick to the back of my tongue. The dipping sauce just lifted the whole lot with a sweet aromatic spice that took it to a whole new level. Needless to say the plate was polished clean.
Whilst dad ordered the roll, mum ordered the Nem nướng, pork and lemongrass meatballs with a peanut dipping sauce. Again these were recommended eaten wrapped in their accompanying greenery and dipped in the sauce, but the lettuce was abandoned just for the pure delight of the meatballs. Succulent and juicy, they were the perfect hit of savory with the fragrant taste of lemongrass dancing in the background. I didn’t try the peanut sauce, (I’ve never been able to appreciate my family’s favourite nut), but it must have been good because mum was still eating it long after the meatballs ceased to exist. In face Matt took the pot away from her and scolded her on her table manners. It served her right for wiping the bowl clean with a finger really.
(Nem hải sản- King prawn, pork and crab spring roll)
(Nem nướng- Pork and Lemongrass Meatballs)
So the starters were a roaring success and we eagerly anticipated the main dishes. Once again I had chosen the same meal as Matt. I had chosen it to avoid a lot of the mains due to them featuring peanuts and Matt had been avoiding noodles. So we both decided on the Cơm tấm rang, a spicy broken rice dish with chicken and dried prawns. And boy was it spicy! The heat was one that crept up on you until your nose was running, eyes were watering and no amount of water could calm the prickling spice in your mouth. In fact, it was so spicy that Matt had to exchange his for a curry! The waitress was very understanding and quickly whizzed his plate away and brought back a creamy curry as fast as she could with no fuss or extra charge. I soldiered on bravely with my rice because, despite the heat, it truly was delicious. The dried prawns were no bigger than a five pence piece, actually no, they were smaller than that…think of a tiny tablet like a hayfever tablet. But they had the flavour of sixty prawns. They were teeny nuggets of seafood-y joy. The chicken wasn’t too dry or too sparse and the rice was tasty and in no universe could it ever be called bland. I couldn’t finish it however, the sheer spiciness actually managed to make me feel a little queasy. So if you're sensitive to spice I really wouldn''t recommend this dish.
Matt’s replacement curry was as mild as promised and a beautiful creamy yellow. I was only permitted a tiny mushroom to sample but that was enough to tell me he had bagged a winner. It was sweet and aromatic satay curry sauce with a perfect dome of rice to accompany the chicken and veg. It certainly didn’t last long and I didn’t get to taste any more than one mushroom.
(Cơm tấm rang- Spicy wok-fried rice with chicken and dried prawn)
(Matt’s Chicken Curry (name unknown)- creamy satay curry with chicken and vegetables and rice)
Mum and dad both settled on noodle broths, dad on Bún riêu a sweet and sour and mum on Phở đặc biệt; what I can only describe as a green one. Mum was rather disappointed with hers, the broth rather bland after our taste explosion starters. Naturally I had to try it but couldn’t immediately decide if I liked it or not. The king prawns floating around were tasty but I was doubtful about the texture of the bobbing eggy bread things that I assume were the Vietnamese answer to croutons. I admit the long, flat, translucent noodles were rather enjoyable but that was about it. The floating herbs and greenery were a little off putting and there was an undeniably greasy feel to the broth itself.
It was a similar situation with Dad’s Bún riêu. His noodles we perfectly cooked but his crouton-things were just as spongy and strange as mums. I wasn’t keen on the tofu either, which was just a container for more, greasy, flavoured water. They were, in all brutal honesty, a big let-down. But for all we know they could be the most amazing broths we could have ever tasted, it was just clear that maybe this aspect of the cuisine wasn’t for us at all.
(Bún riêu- sweet and sour broth with tofu)
(Phở đặc biệt- Broth with King Prawns and tofu)
Only Matt had dessert, a chocolate truffle slab with green tea ice cream that I didn’t get a chance to picture let alone taste. I did get a chopstick end dipped in the ice cream so I can say that was delicately flavoured and quite refreshing and my only comment on the chocolate would be that it looked a rather tiny portion. But the plate was licked clean so I hazard the guess that it was good?
The bill came to around £20 a head including drinks but we couldn’t help but leave feeling a little disappointed. The starters had given so much promise that too spicy rice and slightly greasy water in a bowl were rather lack lustre in their appeal. But I very much doubt that it was Pho’s fault. I think there is the underlying idea that maybe Vietnamese cuisine isn’t really for myself or my family, at least the main courses weren’t. I probably wouldn’t return or if I did, I’d be ordering starters rather than the main and inventing my own Vietnamese tapas. But if you like Vietnamese food and bowls of flavoured water with noodles then you’d probably have a very different review to me.