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

Finding pho in Chinatown is not hard, there are many places that serve the delicious combination of beef, broth and noodles. What is difficult though is finding the pho that best suits your tastes, as every restaurant adds their own little spin on the traditional Vietnamese dish to make it their own. Our Chinatown Challenge series is here to help you make sense of your pho options. This week we visit Pho Hung.

The Pho Hung logo has become synonymous with Vietnamese food in Toronto

Pho Hung is easily one of the most popular Vietnamese restaurants in Toronto’s Chinatown. The easily recognizable bright yellow sign depicting a red laughing bull has become synonymous with Vietnamese food in the city. Pho Hung’s location at 350 Spadina Avenue helps it attract a wide variety of customers as it straddles the border between Chinatown and Kensington Market. By capitalizing on the large amount of foot traffic that both of these areas get, Pho Hung has established a large customer base, one that has allowed it to expand to Bloor street and Mississauga locations. 

Anytime you go to Pho Hung you should expect a crowd. During the peak times of lunch a dinner it is not unusual to see a line forming out the door of the restaurant. The great thing about this restaurant though is that the staff does an excellent job of turning tables, so the wait is never more than a few minutes. Although it is always busy, the lay out of the restaurant allows for its clients to feel comfortable once they have been seated. Pho Hung is divided into two long rooms that run parallel to each other. The decor of the rooms is rather plain with a few Vietnamese pieces of art placed on the walls. The windows are decorated with small paintings of animals, reminding the patrons what is in their soup. Both rooms are filled with small wooden tables that are adorned with a collection of sauces and hot peppers. 

Pho Hung offers a well balanced bowl of Pho Dac Biet

But it is not the decor of Pho Hung that makes it one of the most popular Vietnamese restaurants in Toronto, it is the food, or more specifically the pho. The Pho Dac Biet at here is unique because in addition to the different cuts of beef it is packed with a great deal of cilantro, scallions and onions. The presence of vegetables plays off the other ingredients well and allows for a well balanced bowl of pho.

There are also beef and noodles in the pho of course. Pho Hung’s Pho Dac Biet has beef flank, rare beef and even beef balls but they pay close attention to the beef tendon. My small bowl of pho was brimming with the tough white tendons. The cook does not focus as much on the noodles as he does the other ingredients. While the thin rice noodles that the pho does possess are delicious I would have loved to see a little bit more in mine. Perhaps next time I will just have to order a larger bowl. 

Pho Hung does not disappoint when it comes to a traditional well balanced bowl of Pho Dac Biet. So the next time you find yourself walking by the laughing red bull you should definitely pop in and grab some pho, you will be glad you did.

Pho Hung
350 Spadina Ave.
416-593-4274

When walking through Toronto’s Chinatown you have to keep your wits about you. As you weave in and out of sidewalk stalls it is easy for your senses to get overwhelmed by the smells, sounds and sights. One thing you will notice is a dozen or so signs advertising pho. We all know what pho is, but what is the difference between pho at one restaurant in Chinatown and another? This series entitled the Chinatown Challenge is aimed to help you get a sense of the different styles of pho and help you find the pho that is perfect for you. Over the next few weeks I will visit 10 Vietnamese restaurants in Chinatown and sample their Pho Dac Biet (Special Beef Noodle Pho). I will then share with you my findings.

The first restaurant I visited for the Chinatown Challenge was Pho Xe Lua located at 254 Spadina Ave. Situated on the second floor of its busy Chinatown location and walled almost completely by windows on its East and North sides, Pho Xe Lua offers an interesting view of the crowded markets that lay below. The recently renovated and well kept interior provides a modern and comfortable atmosphere for the restaurant’s guests. The open format of the restaurant allows the helpful staff to accommodate larger parties as well as intimate tables for two. One of the most impressive aspects of Pho Xe Lua is the speed of the service. Within seconds of being seated you are provided tea, and within minutes of ordering, a steaming hot bowl of pho will be placed in front of you. 

Pho Dac Biet at Pho Xe Lua - Packed with Beef

Pho Dac Biet is the type of meal that can vary between restaurants depending on the ingredients the chef chooses to focus on. The staples of course are beef and noodles but there are variations within these two ingredients. Most Pho Dac Biet will include a variety of beef options but Pho Xe Lua has concentrated on serving it with beef flank, beef brisket and tendon and perhaps more importantly they concentrate on packing a lot of beef into the pho. This was the first thing I noticed when the bowl was slapped down in front of me. My bowl was overflowing with the different cuts of mouth watering beef.

The beef sat on a bed of thick rice noodles that absorbed the flavor of the broth. The pho did not contain as much scallions, onions or cilantro as other restaurants making it clear that the beef is what is important to this restaurant. Like all Vietnamese restaurants this one serves pho with a plate of sprouts, basil and lime for those who want to balance the beef with some vegetables. 

The beef itself was so tender that it almost melted in your mouth as the meal went on. The noodles and broth were incredibly flavorful as well and sucked in the flavor of the hoisin sauce I had poured on it. Overall the Pho Dac Biet was very satisfying and I would recommend it to anyone especially beef lovers.

Pho Dac Biet Prices – S – $4.95, L – $6.00, XL – $8.00

Pho Xe Lua
254 Spadina Ave.
Toronto, ON M5T-2C2
(416) 703-8330