Fancy a bowl of Pho?

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Truth be told, Vietnamese food has never been my cup of tea. My notion of Vietnamese food has always been beef soup with rice noodles or “pho”, with the strong smelling basil leaves. When BigBoysOven mentioned a food session at Pho Hoa in Tropicana City Mall, I was a little doubtful, seeing that I could end up giving biased reviews. In the end, however, I decided to give Vietnamese food another try.

Pho Hoa menu

Pho Hoa claims to be the Health Conscious Choice for all. The interior of the restaurant was dimly lit by soft light from Vietnamese lanterns, surrounded by bamboo shoots and leaves, giving it a cozy ambience.

Lanterns

Bamboo

Bamboo leaves

Interior of Pho Hoa

Without further ado, we were served with drinks. The most popular drink of all times, of course, was the Vietnamese drip coffee. This was freshly prepared with drops of coffee goodness going on top of condensed milk.

Vietnamese drop coffee

Once the dripping process was completed, the waiter would stir the coffee with milk, and pour the mixture into a glass filled with ice.

Stirring of coffee with milk

Coffee into ice – yum!

The coffee was fragrant without being too strong. Most importantly, I didn’t have trouble sleeping after that, as I would have when I drink Coffee Bean coffee. *LOL* I also tried the Salty Plum Soda, which was recommended by the manager, Dennis that this drink would quench my thirst. It really did work wonderfully. I believe this drink was a mixture of something like 7-up, lime and sour plum?

Salty Plum Soda (RM5.95)

Food started pouring out pretty soon, and we had the customary Summer Roll which had shrimp, julienne chicken, salad, and rice vermicelli in one. I must say, I enjoyed the rolls a lot! They were full of vegetables and healthy meat, but were never bland. The trick is in the sauce. It was perfect match.

Summer Roll (RM3.95)

Next, we have the Fried Roll consisting of minced chicken, vegetables and traces of yam. Eating them hot makes a big difference! The skin was crispy and warm, and most importantly, not greasy.

Fried Roll (RM3.25/roll)

Served on the same plate with fried roll were sticks Lemon grass chicken, which were very well marinated! The lemon grass aroma was very fragrant in the chicken, making it a big hit among all of us.

Lemon grass chicken (RM7.95)

Ah Bok who was on Vegetarian diet that day, was served this attractive plate of salad as an alternative. I wonder how it tasted!

Salad

Then, it was time for noodles! We were served two versions of noodles, one dry and one with soup. The dry version of noodles is also known as Vermicelli Bowls in their menu. I had the one with grilled chicken and vegetables. Very healthy indeed! The ingredients were all fresh and clean, and one had to pour the gravy onto the noodles before eating.

Vermicelli bowl with grilled chicken & vege (RM12.95)

The gravy/sauce

The sauce was a little sour and sweet, pretty appetizing actually. Mixing all of them together, it gave me a feeling like I was eating ‘yee sang’ during Chinese New Year. *LOL*

Sauce on vermicelli

Since there were many flavours of soup and meat for the noodles, we were given different choices at random. I ended up with the beef version! There was a side plate of basil leaves, bean sprouts, fresh lime and chilli as condiments.

Side dish

The rice noodles were slightly thicker in texture compared to the Chinese vermicelli, and smoother as well. And I learnt one thing new. Apparently, everything provided on the side plate was supposed to be poured into the soup, including the small plate of chilli sauce (not shown in picture). Interesting! I did just that and found the soup to be savoury and slightly spicy, without the taste of basil overpowering it (thank God).

Pho Tai (RM13.95)

Generous amount of beef slices were given in the bowl of slurpee-licious noodles.

Beef slices

Definitely a good way to warm yourself up especially during a cold, rainy day.

Steak pho

Last but not least, we had desserts! And ice-cream no less! It was called the Cha Gio Re Kem, which was Net spring roll (yam) with vanilla ice-cream. The fried yam spring roll was still crispy at time of serving, and the ice-cream was icy cold. Blending them together just created a fusion of goodness, I’m sure my sweet tooth thanked me.

Cha Gio Re Kem (RM5.95)

Yam and ice-cream

I have to admit, giving Vietnamese food another try was definitely the right decision. Now I’m not bound by just Vietnamese noodles, but spring rolls and ice-cream! I’m definitely going back for them, if not for the noodles.

Pho Hoa (First floor behind Borders)
Tropicana City Mall
Petaling Jaya

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