Phở Phú Vương — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

My dining experience here is bad, very bad, but not particularly because of the food, but because of the service.

I ordered a big special bowl, which is quite expensive compared to any pho bowl out there, so my expectations are quite high. Contrary to my expectation, the bowl itself is kinda meh, with an average score across all aspects. The broth is clear enough but there are hints of umami being used, because the sweet taste lingers in my mouth for an hour even after eating.

Now, the problem with my bowl is: when i'm eating my bowl, I find it very strange that there aren't any beef brisket in my bowl, which i even specifically ask for extra brisket in my bowl. And to my surprise, there is an abundance of beef tendons in my bowl (like 60% of toppings are tendons). After i finished eating, I asked the girl at the counter about this, and they said "oh we ran out of brisket so we put tendons in its place" ? I'll not dwell into this problem, but at least have some decency to notify me first before serving me a frickin tendons-filled bowl (and i don't even like tendons).

In conclusion, this is a kinda expensive place to have a bowl of pho. I don't really recommend eating here with, because the quality is totally not lived up...

I ordered my regular pho bo tei, the dish that I order in all pho restaurants on my first visit. I had stumbled upon Phu Vuong Pho by pure chance while tramping the pavements of Ho Chi Minh. It had just started to get dark as I was passing and thought that the interior looked bright and inviting. Tables are communal, but the restaurant wasn't busy as Sunday afternoon transitioned into early Sunday evening, so I had a table to myself.

The waiter arrived quickly with the menu, and then again to take my order.

While my pho was being prepared in the open kitchen, fresh Asian herbs, lime wedges, blanched bean shoots and raw chopped chillies we placed in front of me.

The bowl of pho was larger than expected for 70,000 dong and the tast bang on the money. The rice noodles were perfectly cooked to a silky smooth texture. The broth was light, yet full flavoured with just the right amount of star anise and cinnamon. I added juice from the squeezed limes, a generous amount of chillies, torn herbs and pickled garlic.

By this point, I noticed that I was the only non Asian. Perfect, I had found a place away from the hoards of tourists.

I have pinned the restaurant location, so that I can return again in the...

*Update * Order 2 extra bowls and 2 plain pho. Extra bowl doesn’t means there is more portion of noodles but meat. After three days of searching, we finally found the perfect pho at Phu Vuong Pho, reminiscent of Pho79 in California.

The broth and noodles were spot on, but the portions were disappointingly small.

We had to order six bowls of noodles plus one large size beef noodle bowl to satisfy our group. Total 7 pho bowls.

Next morning for the breakfast we ordered 6 as well.

Communication was challenging as there was no English spoken, and even Google Translate didn’t help much. The staff often responded negatively to our requests. If you’d liked to order extra noodles there’s no such 🙂‍↔️🙂‍↔️

My daughter barely eats 1/2 bowl of pho anywhere we go but she had 2 bowls here because of the small amount. My husband order 2 large beef pho and he said he can eat more. 😵‍💫

On the plus side, the noodles soup (without meat) are very affordable at 30,000 VND. The price is just average because you need at least 2-3 bowls per person.

However, based on local reviewers’ comments, it seems the restaurant became famous and subsequently reduced the...