270 Victoria St, Richmond
Phone: 9427 7749
For those of you readers who follow mt on twitter, it might stagger you beyond belief that I have not actually reviewed Pho Chu The before. Indeed it was a surprise to myself when I recently met up with friends for some pho that I had actually neglected to blog about Chu The up until that point.
Perhaps it was not wanting to make the perennially popular pho joint even more famous; because it’s hard enough to get a seat in there on weekend lunchtimes, or some evenings. Anyway, when Mr E came down from Canberra, I met up with him, Ms T and Ms G to show him what pho in Melbourne is about. He’d recently returned from a holiday Viet Nam, armed with my map of Saigon hotspots, so I guess the lack of good pho (or so I’m told) in Canberra was felt all the more keenly.
As always, I ordered the pho bo dac biet. As always, the broth was wonderfully spiced; the anise and cardamom singing out against a solid background of beefiness. Yes, there was detectable MSG action, but that’s a part of good pho broth, in my estimation. It wasn’t over-the-top, which is what matters.



aaahaha "anise & cardamon singing out" omg i think i didn't recognise those flavours in the broth! #palatefail :p
I do remember it WAS a lovely bowl of pho, MSG notwithstanding.
Ok. Must bring mum down. The first thing she wanted to eat when she arrived was PHO!
I wonder if the Footscray branch stacks up? (Hopkins St, cnr Dalmahoy I think)
Just want to raise to your attention and spreading the word that the original owners in that establishment has moved a few doors down to 264 and their urbansoon page has been hijacked by the people that bought the name off them who also removed all negative feedback with relation to their restaurant.