Duped!

We set out to visit Richmond earlier tonight tossing up between Pho Chu The and I Love Pho 264. We had narrowed our options down as a result of trawling through online reviews. Our mistake was that we turned off our GPS as soon as we hit Victoria Street. We entered a restaurant with a sign saying "I Love Pho" out the front assuming that it was I Love Pho 264 but only realised we had entered the wrong restaurant when we were handed menus with the "Phoenix" logo on the front and when we looked around and saw only 3 other tables. Anyhow, we decided to stay and give the Phoenix - Phuong Hoang Restaurant a go.

For entree, we ordered san choi bow ($8) which was lovely even though it was missing the essential ingredient of Chinese sausage.

Of course for our mains, we ordered pho bo ($9). I was instantly chuffed that on the plate of condiments, they had generously given me 3 pieces of lemon (most Vietnamese restaurants only give you one piece of lemon).

Unfortunately, the pho broth was a let down. It was quite bland which meant that I had to reach for the fish sauce, hoisin sauce and chilli sauce on a number of occasions to spice up the broth. All in all, the pho was below average. I was disappointed because on a cool Autumn evening, I wanted some superb pho to warm me up and hit the spot but unfortunately this pho just didn't do that for me. Ah well, next time, we will keep the GPS on and head to I Love Pho 264 on 264 Victoria Street!