Beef Pho In Oz

At 'Saigon' in Northbridge, Perth.

I don't get the man's obsession with beef pho (phở bò). He has to hunt them down in each Australian city for a meal. There's enough of decent pho back home, although the flavors and styles differ. But I'm like, whatever. As long he gets to satisfy his cravings.

(Note, this is separate from his other must-hunt of beef brisket noodles while in London, US and Hong Kong.)

In Perth, he dragged me into 'Saigon' for pho. Staring at the menu, I ordered a random soup and asked for only fishcakes and eggs. A crappy mish-mash of things floated up. Oh whatever. He didn't mind his A$11 bowl of pho. Rather herbal, but the meat was of a shite quality.

In Brisbane, he made time to have a meal in their supposedly good eatery 'The Vietnamese'. He didn't quite like this pho and thought it wasn't authentic, although he still doesn't know why. It's not as if he's been on a pho discovery trip to Vietnam. I wasn't about to try the bowl of noodles to ascertain the how and the what! I was busy with my fresh rolls, and hoping that their kitchen would be cleaner than the steady stream of cockroaches lurking around the shopfront.

The saving grace in these Vietnamese restaurants is in their fresh Vietnamese spring rolls. They're usually rolled with prawn and pork. If the latter offends you, feel free to ask them to remove the meat. I like mine with only prawns. There's usually a vegetarian version available as well. The rolls are good. But the dips aren't fine enough. It's a very strange odd version. It's disturbing when there's an equal mix of ethnic groups in the restaurants. I've no yardstick to gauge if the general public thinks the food is authentic or dependable.

So far, he has proclaimed the Vietnamese food in Melbourne the tastiest. Okaaayy.

At 'The Vietnamese' in Chinatown, Brisbane.