Bon Bon Boy — Restaurant in Melbourne

It's a cosy little place, looks fancy, but that's where it ends. I was served my beef pho hoping for the "authentic" experience, but no. That soup is pre-packaged stock. There ain't no 'clarified' soup base, it's just cube stock, and it is immeasurably disappointing. The first bowl I had was absolutely reeking of cleaning solution. I told the first waiter, and she looked at me like I was speaking another language when I said 'this smells like cleaning liquid', and just walked off. When I went to the counter infront of the other customers, then they suddenly were like 'oh shit we can't look bad'. The next bowl thankfully was okay (as in no chemical smell) but the broth was absolutely horrible. You could walk over to coles, grab a stock cube and throw it in water and you'd have a more genuine flavour profile. The beef, probably about 50 grams worth, also had about 30% fat on it. The branding saying "Pure Vietnamese"? They might as well spit on my ancestors' graves calling this pure Vietnamese. As for food safety, I'll definitely be reporting this place. They spray the window cleaner right over the rice paper rolls, and wipe the inside of it while the food's just sittin there marinating in windex. Delicious. One lady behind the counter was handling raw beef with her gloves, walking over to the counter, pressing the monitor and handling bowls, plates and cutlery with raw beef juices still on those gloves, before coming back and picking up more beef, noodles and herbs/bean shoots. Absolutely zero food safety training and contaminating everything she touched. Also, they never changed their gloves between handling other foods like rice paper rolls as well. I ain't never been so pissed off about food safety in a place before, this food made me feel ill bro. They also don't even listen to substitutions or modifications, you ask for no coriander on a roll, guess what bro, here's a full on BUSH of it. Anyone saying this is authentic needs to go to any other Pho restaurant, there's tonnes in the CBD just a 5...

I came back to this place hoping my experience would be better than the last time I went, having been served Wagyu Pho that was a couple of minutes from being lukewarm.

This time, I ordered a traditional beef pho and it came with a cloudy and dark broth (see photo), a first among the many I’ve had before. At first tase, I found it rather salty so I decided to take a bite off the grilled pork rice paper roll and that was average and could use more flavour as it was about 75% rice noodles. After having a serving of that neutral rice taste, I go back to my pho and found that it was just incredibly salty. I just had no choice but to have it returned.

I’ve never asked staff to have food taken back to the kitchen before in my life. They were apologetic and offered beef stir-fried noodles in exchange as the person who talked to me said they we’re having problems with the broth. I would have given service 5-stars if I hadn’t known that I was given problematic broth in the first place. Apart from that, I can’t fault the staff’s approach to hospitality.

Having said all that, it’s safe for me to say have never regretted having vietnamese food in my life except for the times I’ve visited this place. A shame, because the ambiance and service they provide is rather...

Featured dishes: Staters: 🍗 - Chicken wingettes [$11.5] 🐤 - Salt & pepper chicken ribs [$11.5] 🥓 - Nem nuong pork skewers [$11.5] 🍤 - Spring rolls [$14]

Mains: 🥓 - Crackling pork belly vermicelli bowl [$17.5] 🐷 - BBQ pork vermicelli bowl [$17.5] 🥩 - Wagyu Beef Pho [$18.5]

Drinks: ☕️ - Vietnamese iced coffee

My favourite of the starters were the prawn spring rolls. The chicken wingettes were tender with a nice coat of sticky, sweet chilli sauce and the salt & pepper ribs were crispy and had a nice kick. The nem nuong was smokey and savoury.

The servings for all of the mains were very generous. I had the pork belly vermicelli bowl mixed with leaves and pickled veggies. It was refreshing, but I needed to add the fish sauce from the sides for extra flavour. The pho broth had a very rich flavour (maybe too rich), and the noodles were slightly overcooked - could definitely be improved. For the chilli lovers, give their fresh chilli a try!

If you’re visiting during lunch time, pop in early because they can get quite packed! That being said, the restaurant is very spacious with ample seating, and the staff are super lovely!

I wouldn’t say the food here is the traditional Vietnamese food you’d find at home or in Springvale/Footscray but a good...