Reviews Pho

We had the goi cuon (spring rolls in rice paper), goi du du(the best raw papaya salad ever!!..where do they get such fresh raw papayas?!) and pho ga (chicken noodle soup with boiled chicken and broth). The portions are quite generous in this vietnamese restaurant chain. I would have loved to sit down and have this mean in a nice restaurant, instead we had this in the food court at Westfield Startford. So it was the usual, busy, hungry foodcourt where you have to keep an eye on who is getting up to grab seats! All the dishes were well presented and were very very pleasing.

This Vietnamese street food restaurant started by Stephen and Juliette Wall claims to be the London’s first Vietnamese street food restaurant and has over 12 branches in London itself. The first outlet of Pho opened in Clerkenwell in June 2005 after Stephen and Juliette travelled to Vietnam and fell in love with the food. They made the decision to start a restaurant serving pho while sat on high stools, slurping pho bo, around the shopfront of Pho Quynh in Ho Chi Minh City.

Ten years later, Pho is still a family-run business serving great value, authentically prepared Vietnamese street food, with restaurants in London, Brighton, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Cambridge and Bristol. This restaurant specialises in pho, an amazingly tasty and nutritious noodle soup, as well as other authentic Vietnamese dishes, coffees, beers, cocktails and fresh juices.

Pho, pronounced ‘fuh,’ is the national dish of Vietnam. It’s a fantastic steaming bowl of rice noodle soup served with a side plate of fresh herbs. The herbs which are normally served with pho are Ngo (cilantro), Ngo gai (culantro), Hung (mint) or Hung cay (spicy mint), Hung que (Thai basil), red chilli slices and lime wedges. The addition of these herbs and table condiments are an essential part of eating pho and adds another dimension to the dish – their chilli paste for a kick, fish sauce for extra saltiness, garlic vinegar for sourness are all intended to create a riot on your palette. One can also find fresh bean sprouts to add the crunch or bite in the soup.

Thankfully, eating pho is not like eating Western food or Japanese food. There is no unspoken etiquette that one has to observe. Pho is meant to be enjoyed with some noise and a lot of slurping is just fine. So here's the process in a nutshell. The best way to attack a steaming bowl of pho is to have chopsticks in one hand and a soupspoon (a bamboo one) in the other. Take in a little broth with your spoon, slurp in some to get a taste of it. The soul of the pho is in the broth and the scent and taste of the broth are extremely important. Follow it up with the rice noodles using your chopsticks. Then select pieces of ingredients from the bowl and enjoy them individually or together with the broth and noodle.

The restaurant had a special for the day – Spicy Chicken Pho – and I decided to go with their recommendation. The pho came in large bowl and all the herbs and bamboo spoon on a side plate. Since, this was my first encounter with Vietnamese cuisine, I had no standards or benchmarks to compare. I loved this pho and it was so filling. Probably, it’s a tad overpriced. But the experience was wonderful.

Its your destination  if you are craving for pure oriental spicy comfort food.

Vietnamese noodle  Soup was one of the best things I had had during my UK days . it felt like home and it made me warm . The herbs were very interesting . 
Must Have : Vietnamese noodle Soup
Not so great : Sticky Fried Rice

Fine food, been in other brunches and i never been disappointed, the portions are quite large and the prices are very affordable, the service is also basicly  good!!!

Pho can be found at the back of the world food section in Westfields Shopping centre. The staff are aware that Vietnamese cuisine is new to many and are happy to explain the different dishes on the menu so you are satisfied with your order.
They also throw in some exotic and refreshing drinks like the flower teas if your feeling adventures, and it's the perfect drink to have while you rest your feet before round two of shopping!

This isn't the best vietnamese place I've ever been, the Pho's lack the intensely warming umami flavour that Pho soup's should have, but nevertheless it's a pretty good effort.

The summer rolls are a little cold, they should have been taken out of the fridge but they are well put together and with meaty chunks of prawn.

The noodle salads though in my opinion are why you come here. The nuac nom could use a little bit more chilli and garlic in it, it's a little bland to my taste, but the salads are well put together fresh and zingy.

Situated on the top floor of Westfield Shopping Centre Stratford, this Vietnamese Restaurant offers a good selection of dishes at competitive prices. You order and pay first. You are then given a buzzer which will go off when the food is ready for collection. The glasses for drinks and bowls for food are very heavy, so be prepared for a mini work out session when you go to collect your food! The food itself was delicious; Vietnamese Chicken noddle soup and the Chargrilled Chicken thigh rice bowl. To drink; Apple with ginger juice and Beetroot with ginger juice. Both were fresh, vibrant and tasty. Unfortunately they had run out of pork but I will definitely return in the future to try some different dishes.

Always fond of their summer veg roles served with peanut sauce, really good to try. However the fried rice was extra oily and not that good in taste.

I had wok fried noodles with beef and morning glory today. Both dishes were absolutely delicious with lots of flavours! I recommend ordering a side dish along with your main when hungry. I visited around 4:45pm and my order came fast in less than 5 minutes. Overall I'm very happy with my experience and will be back again for more.

Excellent place to try Vietnamese food, but all the dishes are less spicy compared to authentic Vietnamese and Chinese food. Overall, very tasty and reasonably priced.

Never thought I would get the best Pho in the UK from a shopping centre in Stratford! The broth and sauces are the best I’ve had in the UK, the portion is also hugeee! the bun is definitely enough for two people.

Amazing comfort food. We tried it for the first time a week ago and got a steak and garlic pho and a beef brisket pho. It was so good we went back again and got the beef brisket curry noodles. Highly recommend!

great if you love spicy food, the noodles were great and the portion was big too!