Pho House Halal Vietnamese Restaurant — Restaurant in Claremont

Updated review — see original below.

Unfortunately the pho has gotten steadily worse over time… When it first opened they didn’t make the absolute best pho you’ve ever had, but it had that authentic pho taste. It hit the spot. It scratched the itch.

No longer. The broth is just bland, sweetish and umami-ish but lacking the pho flavours. There’s plenty of beef — maybe too much! But I wish they held back some of the meat and put it into the broth.

The other toppings (herbs) were never very generous but they seem even sparser now.

I don’t blame the owners, who seem very nice. Most people seem to come here for the sushi, so they’ve moved more in that direction. But I’m sad to have lost the only halfway decent pho in the city.

Original review: At last – a place to get real pho in Cape Town. I could dance! I'm going to be coming here again and again for my pho fix.

The banh mi is quite good and so are the fresh spring rolls (if we're quibbling I could do with more pickles on the banh mi). But I haven't tried the rest of the menu. Tbh I will probably just stick to the pho, and give a try to the coffee and the avo ice cream.

There's a small selection of Vietnamese supplies available (coffee, rice paper, a few grades of fish sauce).

Seem like really lovely people running the place, too. Highly recommended.

One note: it's not super vegetarian friendly. There are a couple of veggie options (spring rolls, fresh or fried, a couple of stir-fry-adjacent noodle dishes), but the pho has a beef broth and even the fish banh mi is made with a meat paté. (This is something that should be noted on the menu. Pescatarians will order this thinking that it has no meat.) This is as it should be – it's the authentic Vietnamese way! But if they have the time and inclination, it would be amazing if they could come up with fully vegetarian pho and...

Went out for a late lunch/early supper with my sister and both our respective partners. My sister and her partner had chicken pho and beef pho respectively. My partner had the beef fried noodles and I had the veggie dim sum along with some iced coffee.

My partner and I had travelled to Vietnam so we were really hoping Pho House would be as good as the food we had in there. While some dishes, like the fried noodles were slightly different to what we had in Vietnam, everything was so so good! In fact, I enjoyed the iced coffee so much, I ordered more as a takeaway. The only critique from our party on the food was that the whole peppercorns in the food was quite intense in terms of an eating experience because you end up biting into a whole peppercorn. But, this might be authentic to the way the dishes are traditionally prepared. In time, I do hope that Pho House will introduce more vegetarian dishes like a vegetarian Banh Mi.

The only thing that could be improved is the service time. Our drinks took quite a long time and came after our food, and we did have to go to the counter to get the attention of the staff when we wanted to order and get the bill. That being said, the owner and staff were very friendly.

I will definitely...

Oh my wow..... how can food be this delicious? The beef fried noodle had the most delicious aroma that only a well-seasoned wok can impart, and the beef pho....! It has a simple yet at the same time an intricate flavour and the noodles are so silky smooth. It comes with a generous heap of beansprouts and the most amazing sauce on the side, which you can decide to add to the noodle soup as you wish . That said, you can get multiple experiences with just one bowl. I was left feeling comfortably full and so happy ! We also had the Vietnamese coffee and prawn sushi. Both delicious and can be recommended. It was, however, the mains and coffee that knocked our socks off. The food also cane so quickly but was super fresh. We barely waited at all.

The team there is super friendly. Also, we were worried (based on pics) that it would be quite cold, nut the atmosphere is very warm.

Only thing to note is that they do not serve alcohol.

I can't remember the price of the starter, but main dishes were very reasonably priced. You would be paying well over R100 for the same dishes at other establishments.

I'm going to be visiting...