Posted on 09/18/2010
Address: 2616 Kingsway, Vancouver
The ubiquitous nature of Vietnamese pho' eateries in Greater Vancouver is so frequent, that spotting a pho' restaurant while driving could replace the 'punch buggy no return' game... 'pinch pho' no return' or something like that? Take a drive down Kingsway and seeing a Pho' restaurant is as easy as turning your head either to the left or to the right. Recently a work associate invited me to his personal favorite pho' place; Pho' Thai Hoa Restaurant. Which after enjoying some different dishes compared to my other favorite pho' spots left the distinct impression that yes, I have discovered another worthwhile place to indulge my ever-present hunger for anything Asian and particularly Vietnamese.
This eatery is rather centrally located (if you live in East Van). The Canadian flags make me wonder if the proprietors have Domesticated the food at all? I would have to wait until inside to see how many White People vs Others.
So far so good. Only 1 table of White Canadians and my host is Vietnamese original so our table is split 50/50. Let's see how good the food is! The bowls of chile sauces and condiments bode well for the food... usually only Asians like a bevy of spicy sauces to compliment the already spicy? food.
First up -- whole grilled fish. A lot dry and a fish that is easily overcooked... not a promising start, but there is nothing wrong with the food other than too dry sofar.
Fish steaks in dark sauce (soya sauce base) is pretty authentic to what I have tried in Vietnam. While I was in Cantho city in the Mekong delta region, I tried a dish similar to this except that the meat was eel. So now we have a contender!
A homestyle fish soup. A restaurant that is brave enough to feature their staff meal entre' gets my vote everytime! 2 thumbs up for this lightly brothed, packed-full-of-miscellaneous-veggies soup.
A closer view of this winner that exhibits the sour taste ubiquitous to many, many Asian fish soups. Most commonly the sour comes from tamarind paste, or "assam" in Malay/Indonesian/Singapore.