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| - It was D's birthday and we were down by Chinook mall, I asked D what he was feelin' for food and he was feelin' some pho so we decided to hit up Golden Bell, a place he suggested. It was my first visit and they have their own little reserved parking area in a strip. Golden Bell is located across from the Chinook mall on MacLeod trail. It was about 3PM and it wasn't busy at this hour. We were immediately seated at a nice big booth, handed menus and ordered some water and a pot of jasmine tea. Normally when I go for pho, I order satay beef - D said it wasn't too spicy, but had a nice flavor so we both went with #51 satay beef pho with the meat on the side and ordered some shrimp salad rolls to start. Pho anywhere doesn't take long so we weren't surprised when our salad rolls came out pretty quick with our nice hot bowls of pho following shortly after.
The salad rolls came in three and were nothing out of the ordinary...a salad roll is a salad roll. It was nice that each roll was cut in half though! As mentioned, we ordered the meat on the side just so it would be nice and rare. The bowl of pho itself had big pieces of cilantro, crispy green onions, al dente noodles and tender beef. As usual, when anyone orders pho, it comes with a side plate of lime slices, bean sprouts, basil, and chilis. I always top my bowl off with a ton of bean sprouts for the crispy texture, squeeze a little bit of lime for that citrus flavor, and peel up a basil leaf. The broth in the soup was nice and light, but I had wished that it was more flavorful, it was kind of plain and I didn't find it spicy at all.
The service at Golden Bell was pretty good. They frequently stopped by to make sure we were still doing okay and topped up waters. After we ate, D and I sat there chatting for a while, we didn't feel that they wanted to rush us out or anything. I think Golden Bell is a good place, but I've had better pho...so it's A-OK!
If you're in around the Chinook area and it's frightful out, I'd say stop by for a nice hot bowl of pho, it's a great way to warm up.
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