Review Series: Chinatown Challenge
When looking for a place to eat in Toronto’s Chinatown it is easy to become overwhelmed by the options. There are a lot of factors at play when you are deciding on a restaurant. Sure you want delicious food at an affordable price but, you also want a nice environment to sit and enjoy that food in. Restaurant decor and ambiance are essential parts of enjoying your dining experience. Therefore, in the Chinatown Challenge Review Series attention is not only given to the quality of the pho but the atmosphere of the restaurant as well. Decor played a large part in my dining experience this week as I tried the Pho Dac Biet at Pho Ai My.
Pho Ai My - One of the most beautifully decorated restaurants in Chinatown
Pho Ai My is a beautifully decorated restaurant. The small dining room is blanketed in white, radiating a clean and modern feel. On your left as you walk in is a white brick wall that stretches the length of the restaurant. Opposite the brick wall are floor to ceiling windows that wrap around the front of the room. The use of white when combined with the large windows opens up the restaurant and creates a relaxing dining environment. The sleek white chairs and dark brown tables give the room a streamlined and crisp look that is highlighted by a giant chandelier, which hovers over the center of the restaurant.
Overall Ai My blew me away with its style. It presents itself as a restaurant where you want to have a leisurely lunch, one where you sit back and enjoy the atmosphere as well as the delicious food. The ambience of the restaurant was capped off by an excellent selection of R&B music that played softly in the background. Before I even tasted the food it became clear that this was like no other Vietnamese restaurant I have been to in Chinatown.
pho!
On to the pho. Despite having pho in the name of the restaurant it took me a while to locate pho on the menu as it was stashed away at the back. In fact, Pho Dac Biet is the very last item on the menu. The pho was brought out to me in a white bowl that matched the look of the dining room. The pho itself smelled intoxicating and my first bite of the well done beef broke apart as it hit my lips. The pho was delicious, crisp and fresh. The broth was light but still packed a lot of flavor. This was one of the first bowls of pho I have had where I didn’t feel compelled to use hoisin sauce.
The well done beef was delectable and the tripe was soft but, the best part about this pho were the beef balls and the rare beef. The beef balls were easily the best I have had in any pho and seemed to be comprised of high quality beef. Soft and chewy they soaked up the juices from the pho and released them in your mouth as you bit down on them. The rare beef, my favorite part of any pho, was the most abundant meat in the whole bowl. Cut thinly the rare beef almost melted in the hot pho. The noodles of the pho were thin and tasty however, they were not as abundant as other ingredients. Packing the soup with sprouts made up for the lack of noodles. Overall, this was one of the most pleasant experiences I have had yet at a Vietnamese restaurant in the Chinatown Challenge. I can’t wait to go back to sample the rest of their dishes.
Pho Ai My
221 Spadina Ave
(416) 849-3631
my-ai-my! i remember when they were just renovating this place. very nice job on the design.
You gotta try the rice at Ai My, and vermicelli too
<3 this place. right across the street from where i work!
pho hung, pho88, ai my, xe lua.. all these viet restaurants have the big open windows in common. wonder who started that..?