My search for a good pho place in Shanghai continued. Having read all the great reviews on Pho King online I was full of excitement and expectations. From the set lunch menu I picked the Pho King special with all cuts of beef, and it came with an exceedingly sweet and syrupy lemonade.
The special pho was smaller than I had expected. There were just about enough pho to make it a lunch portion and the cuts of beef were stingy too. The small round ball with the size of my pinkie nail floating at 8 o'clock was the one and only beef ball. Then there was a think slice of 2 or 3 kinds of beef for each cut. It was hardly enough! The broth itself was pretty plain and lacked depth. I had to ask for basil, bean sprouts, and extra chili. Ordinary would be a polite way of describing it.
I thought I'd try the appetizer platter while I was there. The satays were very greasy and the spring rolls were disappointing. Other than some finely minced pork I didn't find any vermicelli in them, which was disappointing as it's the very reason why I love Vietnamese spring rolls. The prawn on sugar cane was very greasy too and I lost interest on the fresh prawn rolls.
Curry beef with rice - another disappointment. I didn't even have to taste it to find out it's going to be bad: the color was wrong and there was no curry aroma whatsoever. And what's with the chucks of carrot?
Lunch came to about RMB100 and I guess I will probably eat the pho again if I'm right next door and desperate. Won't be making a special trip down there though.Pho King
458 Jiangsu Rd. (nr. Yu Yuan Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 3250-5760
1 comment:
i haven't had pho in shanghai but my experience with pho in Southern Chinese cities is that most tends to be "localised". the soups are generally plain chicken broths or worse, and basil/chilli is generally missing or already well submerged in the soup by the time it gets to you.
the worst pho i've had was in some fancy restaurant in hk, who somehow decided that they need to premiumise it and throw wagyu slices in......
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