Pho Toan Thang, Flemington
Monday, September 29, 2014
People naturally
gravitate towards queues. Perhaps it's curiosity. Or perhaps it's the intrinsic
human need to be where the crowds are, to feel included and in the know. Either
way, a queue outside a restaurant indicates more often than not that it is one
that you should visit. If you have the time and stomach capacity to wait, that
is.
At Pho Toan Thang in
the inner west Asian hub of Flemington, you will find a queue snaking outside the restaurant, tucked inside an arcade, every day. Some times, if you arrive early enough, you may be rewarded with a
short queue, perhaps only two or three groups long. Or if you're really lucky
there may be no queue at all. This Vietnamese-Chinese restaurant is well known
among the local community for its cheap, consistently delicious food and fast
turnover. So don't let the line deter you, it simply indicates a level of
popularity and cult-like following signals a good feed. It's not the kind of
place you would take someone for a good chat or catch-up, but rather the eatery
you would turn to for a quick, low-cost but extremely filling, satisfying meal.
Don't be deterred
either by the though of sharing a table, this is one of the many reasons why
turnover is so fast. Another reason is that meals are brought out at a
lightning pace, good for any grumbling tummy. Serving sizes are relatively
large, but normal for an Asian restaurant, as most dishes on the menu aren't
really designed to share.
Conquer the lines
during rush hour and you'll enter the restaurant to medium sized space filled
with four and six seater tables, every space filled with people slurping over
steaming bowls of silken noodles or chomping away on deep-friend pork shops.
Some have with them icy cold slushy-like drinks of bright colours, others
sipping on the essential complimentary tea. The menu is plastered on the walls
in Chinese and English, a drooling mix of noodle soups, rice dishes, and
'Vietnamese cuisine' dishes. This is an eatery where service is fast but may seem rushed at times; this is simply a characteristic of the restaurant's personality.
Rare beef rice noodle soup ($9)
Many come here for
the pho, a huge bowl of silky thin rice noodles and thin mounds of rare beef
swimming in a perfectly balanced, intensely flavoured beef soup. This is one of
the best phos we've tasted in Sydney, and a favourite whenever we visit. Top it
with provided bean sprouts, Vietnamese mint and a squeeze of lemon.
Pork Chop with Dried Vermicelli ($9.50)
Another favourite of ours is the Vermicelli salad, listed 'dried vermicelli' on the menu, that is topped with a golden pork chop or, on another visit, a combination of spring rolls and grilled pork. The pork chop is crunchy with all its deep-fried goodness, cut into manageable-sized pieces and sprinkled with a mound of spring onion and chopped peanuts for a layer of texture and crunch. Underneath the nest of vermicelli lies a salad of lettuce, julienned carrot and cucumber and bean sprouts. The pork and spring roll version comes with grilled lemongrass pork, and whole spring rolls that lend a hot (in temperature), peppery and crunchy texture to the vermicelli. Pour over the nuoc cham dressing that arrives on the side, a refreshing balance of salty, sweet and a hint of chilli, mix up the whole salad, and enjoy a healthy, satisfying meal. This is one of my favourite Vietnamese dishes for its combination of fresh and fried.
Toss it up!
Satay Chicken Rice Noodle Soup ($9)
Dad always tends
towards the Satay Noodle Soup, a noodle soup that he rates as one of his
favourites of all the satay noodle soups ever. This always seems to come in a
bowl that is a little too small for its contents, containing a thick, spicy red
satay soup, slippery rice noodles, capsicum and long pieces of chicken breast
and soak up the slightly tomato-flavoured broth.
Crispy Chicken with Tomato Sauce Rice ($10.50, above is with boiled rice)
Another classic is
the fried chicken on rice, typically served with tomato rice but on this
occasion boiled rice.There is always an excess serving of rice, value for money
as the chicken is quite large too. It's salty, crunchy, golden and perfection
in chicken form, topped with shallots and with a slice of tomato, cucumber and
a lettuce cup on the side. This also comes with nuoc cham for dipping.
Wonton Noodle Soup ($9.50)
Wonton Noodle soup
is a stalwart of Chinese cuisine, something I always love to order for its
clean, tasty broth and bundles of yellow prawn and meat joy. At Pho Toan Thang
you can order this in soup or dry-style, we've tried and loved both on
different occasions. There is a choice of noodles with the soup version, I like
to opt for egg noodles for their bite and flavour. The soup is delightfully
seasoned and flavoured, not too salty but not too bland, and there are around
six to eight wontons bobbing about amongst the huge mound of noodles, lettuce,
sliced fish cake, fresh and fried shallot and rubbles of chicken mince. The
mince is a thoughtful addition that I surprisingly love, for the texture and
slight flavour it adds to each mouthful. What I've learnt from Mum is to make a
concoction of soy sauce and the minced chilli paste they have as condiments,
and dip the wontons into this. Heaven.
Wonton Noodle Soup dried style ($9.50)
The
dry version, Wonton kon lo mein (attempted Cantonese-English transcription),
comes in a deep bowl with a small bowl of the broth on the side. The sweet
sauce it is mixed in is flavoursome and licks the surface of every slippery
noodle, although comes as a much smaller serving compared to the soup form.
Beef Brisket Noodle Soup ($9.50)
Beef Brisket noodle
soup is another one of my all time favourite noodle soups, the Cantonese style
with tendon and spices and all. This version is spicy, without the tendon and
with a much beefier-flavoured soup. The chunks of beef are slightly fatty and
tender.
Seafood egg noodle, dried style ($13.50)
Seafood stir noodles
(dry style) are like a seafood version of the dry wonton mein, not unlike the
stir noodles you can find at most yum cha restaurants. Egg noodles are tossed
in a tasty sauce that includes dark and light soy and oil, laced with bean sprouts
and sliced shallot and fried prawns, squid and scallops. Delicious.
Every dish that
we've tried on the menu at this restaurant is absolutely delicious. This, with
the combination of fast service, huge servings and cheap prices, is what makes
Pho Toan Thang so popular for authentic Vietnamese and Chinese food, in a
suburb in the inner west where there is no shortage of like restaurants. We've
been coming to this place for as long as I remember and it's mostly been the
same people running it all these years, surely they must hold the secret to
success.
0 comments