Pho Hoa - Greenbelt 5 — Restaurant in Makati

A newly opened Vietnamese noodle house with a name so similar to another one in Glorietta.

Pho Hoa in Greenbelt 5 ( 3rd floor) has definitely a better ambience: spacious, well lit, inviting.

I was hemming and hawing between Vietnamese Beef Stew Pho or the Vermicelli Bowl with Grilled Pork and Fried Rice Paper Rolls ( lumpia) and in the end settled for the latter, small size for p345.00 .

Well, one thing for sure, in the Makati Ayala Malls there's hardly any value-for-money deals because of high rental and commission of mall owners from sales.

Anyway, the bowl was very attractive with cucumber, lettuce, cucumber, spring onions, chopped peanuts .I pour the chili vinegar sauce ( which I found too sweet by the way ) , mix, toss, turn... then found, to my dismay, a MINIMAL amount of noodles. I felt shortchanged. The name of the dish, after all, is VERMICELLI bowl. And yet, where's the noodles? They scrimped on the noodles.

My niece ordered the same except that she opted for "prawn " and pork topping. The term "prawn" is used by many restaurants to make a dish sound more appealing. Well, the "prawn" ( defined by Webster as a large shrimp) on top of her bowl was a SHRIMP. NOT A PRAWN ( see photo).

So 2 misleading descriptions.

For dessert, we share a Sticky rice with mango and ice cream. Hmm... yes, quite good. Then we pour the coconut milk sauce - big regret. Very salty. Strange. The waiter confirmed that the kitchen does add salt. We asked for another one, with no salt - much better.

Service left much to be desired, perhaps because it had...

Curious about how Pho tastes like? 👀 That’s what brought us to try Pho Hoa at Greenbelt 5. As first timers, we even have to search online how to “eat pho” 😭 and upon serving our bowls, it didn’t disappoint!

We ordered beef stew pho (red one) and brisket meatballs pho. The soup base is still flavorful, but you can still add the brown sauce, sriracha sauce (for extra spice) and even a squeeze of lemon to your liking.

Also as a precaution, make sure you keep your top safe from the soup splatter especially if you’re wearing a light color clothing. 😩😭 anyway, we enjoyed dining at this place as it is quiet and with peaceful atmosphere, the staff were also accommodating. Overall, it was nice for our first time Vietnamese...

We went there for late dinner and it was pretty spacious. Timing probably helped us feel more relaxed because there weren't that many people during our visit. A GrabFood rider was there too. What brought us to their restaurant was the urge for something light and healthy.

Fresh Spring Rolls We've tried this many times in different restaurants, and since then, we've been ordering this as an appetizer almost all the time. Every piece was cold, refreshing in the mouth, and fairly sweet when dipped.

50 Pho Chin, Nam, Gan, Bo Vien (Brisket, Flank, Tendon, Meatballs) Serving size was perfect for two people. Broth was very simple and relaxing for an itchy throat plus the meats were light and...