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| - Pho is considered a fast food in Vietnam. Like the hamburger, one can order this delicious bowl of beef noodle soup and receive it within 5 minutes or less. The establishments in Vietnam would specialize in nothing else but this dish, working in very minimalistic kitchens, often exposed to the open air to let the savoury aroma do all the advertising to bring in their customers, because a pho joint can be found literally on any street corner in the major cities of Vietnam!
So how is it in a modern, proper Western kitchen can anyone screw up pho like Pho Quinn did?
I was nicely greeted by their very young staff members one weekday afternoon for lunch, looked to be 1st or 2nd year university students. (Wait, don't they have school?) I was situated in the corner which had a tremendous cool draft going, so much so that I kept my warm winter jacket on. It was still -3 celcius outside and the restaurant felt almost like being outdoors if not for the humidity.
One quick perusal of the menu, (in Cantonese, Vietnamese and English) and I settled for the large bowl of rare, well cooked and tendon beef. I also ordered a side of the famous iced Vietnamese condensed milk coffee.
Within 10 minutes my coffee arrived, and it would be another 10 minutes for my pho to come out. (20 minutes for one large bowl of pho, not a good omen.) There was actually another patron who sat down 5 minutes after me and he somehow received his pho well ahead of me. Not another good sign.
The place wasn't packed or brimmed with customers, I counted about 15 patrons in total during a late afternoon 2:30pm lunch.
This is my experience with the pho:
- soup was clear, but very bland
- strong cinnamon and star anise after taste in the broth, a clear sign of broth not cooked long enough to bring out the beef flavors from the oxtail, beef bones, etc.
- only 4 pieces of "rare" beef which were clearly pre-cooked
- 3 pieces of well cooked beef
- 1 large piece of beef tendon
- minimal garnish, barely a handful in the broth
- thin pho noodles were cooked adequately
- side dishes next to non-existent, a tiny clove of basil on top of a lot of bean sprouts with 2 small wedges of lime
- when asked for more (wild coriander, basil, mint, peppers) I was given 4 more small cloves of basil in a bowl. (See my photo for reference.)
The coffee didn't fare any better:
- bland, watered down. Barely any of the bitter coffee taste, a trademark of the Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk.
- condensed milk tasted off like sweetened powdered milk, like the ones you get with bubble tea. It's suppose to be overly sweet and overpowering.
- opened the slow drip lid to reveal barely a teaspoon of grounded coffee was used, they clearly cheapened out tremendously. It didn't even fill barely half of my glass for the coffee. (The coffee was $3.75 on the menu!) See my photo for reference.
Pho Quinn failed for me in every aspect. Service was slow, the food not up to par, how can you claim "authentic Vietnamese cuisine" on your menu when the staple of your name (the pho) comes nowhere near close what an authentic experience is suppose to be?
For $9.75 for a large bowl, I expected more. The owners are definitely cheapening out, over charging for what I received. The decor was - well, with its wood accents and warm colors. Maybe more attention was given to the ambience, and not so much the food and overall value, which to me, seem like an after thought.
I never, ever do this but what I'm about to do is recommend OTHER pho restaurants to go to for the true, 100% authentic Vietnamese experience. If I get enough flak for doing this, I may remove this part of my review:
(In order of best, good and OK)
1) Pho Tien Thanh in Toronto
2) Golden Turtle (both in Toronto and Mississauga)
3) Pho Linh in Toronto
4) Pho Viet Express in Vaughan
5) Pho 88 in Scarborough
Moving on, unless Pho Quinn is willing to change, I cannot foresee myself returning nor recommending this place to anyone. Ever.
Pho Quinn clearly has a basic understanding of Vietnamese cuisine, they just need to increase the value in what they are charging their patrons. More meat in the pho, more flavors, more side dishes, way way more grounded coffee used.
Also, giving us more than just ONE piece of napkins would also help. Train your staff to be more familiar with the menu, I saw one waitress return twice to a patron to double check on what he ordered. Did she not write it down?!?
Hell, I'll even offer my consultation services as a Vietnamese national on what makes a great bowl of pho for FREE! Seriously, if the owners are reading this, drop me a line.
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