By Nadine Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: January 29, 2014
We went to Pho Abbotsford #1 to see if the Vietnamese cuisine lived up to its name.
The restaurant certainly has an interesting ambience. We were greeted by a murky fish tank which contained a company of perpetually surprised koi-like fish. They were staring, so we felt it wouldn’t be rude to stare back. After a conversation about how displaying tropical fish in restaurants is a little out of date, décor you are more likely to see in your dental or orthodontic office, I decided against ordering seafood.
The restaurant’s seating area is poorly lit by neon lights, giving it a diner sort of feel, but has a comfortable atmosphere. No one is there to judge how proficient you are at scooping egg noodles out of your pho with chopsticks.
The menu offers a wide selection of pho, with both pescetarian and vegetarian options. Each bowl comes with piping hot soup, rice noodles, and uniquely prepared meat, tofu, or seafood. The basic options are priced at $7.95 for a medium bowl; seafood options and anything with vegetables are $8.95. We opted for the “chicken meat and egg noodle” pho, which came with an assortment of fresh vegetables. The soup and vegetables were flavoured strongly of chicken, lending it a familiar homemade-chicken-noodle-soup feel.
We also sampled the appetizers. The deep fried shrimp is a must-try; the shrimp is fresh and padded with deliciously spiced batter. They came out with surprising speed and were served with two types of sweet dip. We also tried the vermicelli and spring rolls. These were a little less spectacular — I have a high threshold for satisfactory spring rolls, which I order at nearly every restaurant that offers them — although the noodles and accompanying salad were fresh.
The service was polite and speedy; often restaurants have the waitresses asking how things are at annoyingly invasive intervals, but we were checked on and offered refills very tactfully. The menu overall suits a student’s budget. A bowl of pho for $7.95 is enough food to satisfy. Its other options — the lunch and dinner combinations generally priced around $14 to $16 — are certainly interesting though meat-heavy. Most of the meals include grilled meat patties; if you’re a pork lover, this is the place to be.
As for its claim as Abbotsford #1? The pho is fresh and if that’s all you are after, this restaurant will suit. While it’s certainly worth the trip, if you are in the mood for sampling other Vietnamese cuisine, this is not my first pick in Abbotsford.
