Phat Phuc Noodle Bar — Restaurant in London

This is an extremely casual restaurant that is basically outside with a cover and heaters so don’t fret if it’s cold however there are several seats that are not covered and are truly outside. The bulk of the diners were under 30 years-old on a Saturday afternoon; we were not. The restaurant is only accessible via stairs so it’s not for those with mobility issues.

Here’s how it works: you order at the cash register which has its own separate area that has soft drinks and a few stools. Then you find a place to sit which can be tricky as the space between tables is extremely tight and narrow — definitely wouldn’t meet ADA code in the US — and you might have to share a table with others. Definitely not a good date spot.

The staff was very nice and they were quick to clean tables. The food however was the big disappointment for me. It was eh, lackluster and seemed to be missing some things such as the lime, Hoisin sauce and basil. They used spinach leaves which was odd. The chicken in the Pho Ga (chicken pho) was extremely dry and flavorless. The broth looked like dirty water and didn’t have much flavor.

My spouse had the beef pho and said it was okay but nothing special and of course he noticed it was missing some ingredients and others were used instead which didn’t add any flavor and were just a waste of space. His broth didn’t have a deep color that it normally would. He did however enjoy the deep fried...

TLDR: bland broth, tiny portions, uninspiring Laksa, I will not return.

Laksa - 0/5 As a Singaporean, I was bewildered after trying what they called "Singapore" Laksa. The broth was bland, tasting neither of coconut nor of spices, both of which are absolutely crucial for a robust and flavourful laksa broth. The missing coconuttyness was especially jarring because that is such a significant element in Laksa. The noodles used were also incorrect, with the store opting for typical Vietnamese noodles, rather than the thick vermicelli + yellow noodles used in Singapore Laksa.

Duck and Beef Pho - 2/5

The meats were ok, with both duck and beef tender and flavourful. However, the broth was, like the laksa, almost tasteless. The only flavours that came through were the meats and fresh basil; the broth was like mildly-flavoured water.

Portion size - 1/5

Whats worse than bland broth? It's tiny portion sizes. For the £10 per dish paid, I felt like I had eaten only a single croissant off the sainsbury pastry shelf. We ordered 3 bowls for 2 adults and 2 young children, which would ordinarily be more than enough in any other Asian restaurant in London. But the 3 bowls were hardly enough to fill my us and my 2 kids asked for more food.

Ultimately, the whole meal was terrible in terms of taste, and in terms of value for money. I was so hungry that I went to buy a Tesco meal deal immediately after. I...

Phat Phuc? More like Phat Phoul. Truthfully and sadly, a profusely disappointing experience, especially given the fact that the queue was humongous. Don’t let the reviews and plentiful of TikToks deceive you, this place is far from amazing.

The food itself - 4/10 at most compared to all other similarly priced Vietnamese establishments around Hoxton and around. The Pho Bo however, gets 1/10. Even the unimaginative Pho Cafe chain does a better job of creating subtle yet flavourful pho broth. The Phat Phuc Pho Bo simply lacked flavour and the Pho noodles were far from the best. For an establishment calling itself a noodle bar, one would expect handmade noodles. I imagine with such high foot traffic, they simply cannot keep up with the production and the quality drastically drops.

Coming to a noodle bar, one doesn’t expect upper class customer service, if any at all to be fair. Phat Phuc didn’t disappoint on this. On the contrary, managed to deliver service with highest of excellence bluntness and rudeness. With the queue stretching upstairs and around the block, once you get into the bar area, nobody or no sign notifies you that one should order whilst in the queue. This was communicated to us with shock and audible annoyance once ordering at the bar after...