I Love Pho 264

I Love Pho 264

264 Victoria St, Richmond

(Ph) 9427 7749

P had been wanting to come try I Love Pho for a long time, after I got him a "I Love Pho" T-shirt from Vietnam he said he'd come here wearing the shirt =P On this day we weren't planning on having lunch at Richmond so he unfortunately didn't wear the shirt - ah well another time!

It's very Westernised compared to the many other Vietnamese restaurants on Victoria Street - I mean, it actually has an English name!

We came here for a late lunch so we got seated immediately, but I know if you come at peak lunch times it can be quite packed here. The waitress asked us immediately whether we knew what we wanted to order =/ They don't provide menus here unless you ask for it but it's just what's on the menu on the walls - they pretty much only sell Pho here with spring rolls and rice paper rolls, and just a few other Special dishes. One annoying thing about this restaurant is they don't have their prices on the menu and don't tell you there are different sizes for the Pho (small/medium/large) so if you don't tell them what size you want they just give you the default medium, which I don't think is very customer friendly.

We started off with some Pork Spring Rolls

P loves ordering spring rolls at Vietnamese restuarants even though we can make them just as deliciously at home! Their home made fish sauce is very good though - super crunchy and fresh wrapped in some lettuce.

P always goes for the Special Beef Pho

This was a medium size - pretty big! Lots of rare beef, beef balls, tripe, tendon, brisket etc. Also came with some raw onion which is not the norm for Pho? The broth was quite flavoursome but was a bit too salty for my liking. They gave us the Pho but the plate of bean sprouts and herbs didn't come until like 5mins later hmm =/

I went for one of their 2 special dishes. Bo Kho - Vietnamese beef stew served with your choice of rice noodles/egg noodles or a bread roll

This was more like a soup but was very flavoursome and the beef brisket was super soft and tender. The bread roll was very fresh, crunchy crust and super soft inside - delicious soaked in the soup =) But what the?! They gave me a bad bit of carrot?? =(

Food~
6/10 - P says the Pho here is not too bad but probably not worth the hype. Would be nice if they served more non-Pho dishes here too for people like me who get dragged to Pho places =P

Service~
3/5 - service was quite quick (except the plate of bean sprouts!) but don't expect too much!

Atmosphere~
2/5 - typical Vietnamese restaurant on Victoria Street

C.
xo