Pho real or pho-ny?
There’s a new gang of chain restaurants taking over UK high streets, which are a step up from the ones that dominated ten years ago. While it used to be ASK and Burger King and Pizza Express, you’re now much more likely to see a Gino’s, a Five Guys, and a Franco Manca near your local shopping centre.
This is a good thing. These are all objectively better than their incumbents, and if chains are a necessary part of the high street, then they might as well be (slowly) getting better. Of course, they have to. Eating out is getting expensive, and a microwaved meal just isn’t gonna cut it anymore. And yeah, I love to hate on them, but some chains can be alright can’t they? That is, until the ruiner of all things, and source of the term enshittification comes along: Private Equity.
I first visited Pho a decade ago in Manchester and it was fresh and exciting. Nothing really like it, at least not in Newcastle. Now we have 49 Pho across the UK , so nearly as many as Wingstop (👍🏼) or ASK (😬). Currently expanding fast, which is more often than not, a bit of a 🚩
Pho took over the YO! Sushi unit on Grainger Street earlier this year and is the UK’s leading/only Vietnamese chain restaurant. Pho is of course the Vietnamese noodle dish that’s famous for a punchy and deeply aromatic broth, and it’s absolutely the headline here. It’s a short menu which interestingly boasts that there is ‘no central kitchen’ and ‘nothing is frozen’. These have become the blight of chain restaurants, so although the bar is low, you have to respect Pho for that.
Pho has leaned in to ‘Healthy Vietnamese Eating’ which is a bold but sensible approach. It differentiates it and pulls comparison away, although I’d argue all Vietnamese cuisine is generally fairly healthy anyway.
Calorie counts on the menu are staggeringly low. It’s a pleasant surprise to learn that my summer rolls and pho only amounted to a combined 675kcal. Yeah, it’s mostly water, but all the pho here come in under 400 calories regardless of protein choice, which is remarkable when you consider you can barely get a Greggs sandwich for that few calories. And at least you’ll feel nourished and satiated afterwards, not dirty and done in. This particular trip to Pho came about on a hangover, and it genuinely felt like bringing some life back to my body. Almost everything is available veggie and vegan. 👏🏼
As you can see, pho may not be the most visually appealing dish, but it should be absolutely rammed with flavour. That broth takes hours to extract deep, fragrant notes and a complex taste. It’s Vietnam’s premier dish after all, and one that’s annoyingly time-consuming to make at home. Here there’s definitely star anise, and a beefy bass note. Lime and cinnamon and ginger and tender rice noodles. And the DIY additions which give you some customisation. The quality of the herbs offered is good, with strong, fresh leaves of Thai basil (use lots), mint, beansprouts and chilli. Small but welcome detail.
It’s a dish that’s all about the stock, so it should be the best you’ve ever had but it’s just not, sadly. It just falls a bit flat and lacks that much smack-ya-gob flavour that you crave. When this type of cooking is founded in a harmony of sweet, sour, salty, spicy, and bitter with a backbone of freshness and zing, the namesake dish just doesn’t deliver in the spades that you want. It’s decent, but doesn’t have me desperate for another spoonful.
Outside of pho, spring and summer rolls are fine. Both light on filling — enjoyable but ultimately, eight quid. Meatballs were the best of the three, nuggets of pork and perfumed lemongrass, deep-fried and served on (also very fresh) lettuce leaves for the health conscious. I felt like think there is generally a lack of fish sauce across the board here, which might be to keep the salt level in check, but for me it’s the cornerstone of Viet cooking, and was missing.
You can get some rice and vermicelli dishes, but instead we also gave the Vietnamese curry (£14.95) a go. Big on coconut cream, it’s silky and pleasantly comfortingly spiced, if a little reminiscent of Maysan. Viet curries usually are. That’s not a slur, there’s a comforting nostalgia there (did you know Maysan is a North East business?). Even with cauli rice which normally does nothing for me, this was an enjoyable eat. Points for the chicken too which was super tender. Drinks are… OK and service is about as good as you’ll get for a chain where the staff probably just wanna go clock out ASAP.
So I have a funny relationship with pho. I guess way back when it was unique on the market and pho was less widely available it had a free pass. And back then, its owners were part of the business, people passionate about food.
And positioning themselves as a healthy choice sort of appeals to me. So yes, it’s still a better proposition than a lot of dire Asian fusion chains that have been and gone. But with indies like the similarly-imaginatively-named pho (Westgate Road), and Tonkin, as well as Cafe Ngon, it’s harder to recommend. In the end, I can’t help feeling like in the world of pho, you’re always going to get a better rendition from a Vietnamese-owned small business than a private equity-owned chain that tried to trademark the word pho. But you try it, and you decide. If you’re having to eat on the high street, you could do worse.
Contact: phocafe.co.uk/locations/newcastle
Address: 139 Grainger St, NE1 5AE
