I'm Only Here for the Food!

Pho Tan Vietnamese Restaurant
4598 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

Memories might fail me on this one but, when asked which is the best place for pho, somebody said “Pho Tan in Main Street”. On the days prior to the crazy road closures prior to the Winter Olympic games, I went to Pho Tan just to find out how do they compare to other pho shops. Pretty simple, eh? Well, if it wasn’t for one small detail…

This place was packed! Unlike, a lot of places where they would have single diner tables, that was not much of an option here. In a Chinese way, I was given the option to share a table with somebody; however, the other party wasn’t that keen. Hey, since I was there before you, it is easier to accommodate me than your group! Anyway, in the end, I was given a small table near the entrance, which, fortunately, had a screen to block anybody who might be gazing at me, probably cursing me for taking a table for myself.

I might be overstating the obvious here but… I was ordering pho, of course! And, above the garnishes. Now, you will notice something peculiar about the bean sprouts. Similar to the ones I had in Thai Son, they were blanched! I guess some people are turned off by the fact they are served raw and, as a result, the restaurant ends up blanching them… I personally don’t mind/care if it is blanched or not but I am not sure if it is a good thing it is now starting to be a norm. But, other than that, the herbs were green without any signs of wilting.

And here is my order of pho, #16 – sliced rare beef, beef brisket and tendon with rice noodle soup. In a really atypical note from me, rather than ordering the large bowl, I ordered the small bowl. Now, I know there are people who say that the difference between the small and the large is merely that of the bowl and some broth. However, there is some psychological factor at times. Regardless, the broth had a clean taste but, unfortunately, not extraordinary. Don’t get me wrong, it was good in its own way but not necessarily memorable. The meats were OK, though, in the case of the rare one, it was a bit chewy. Normally, that will be a bad thing; however, in this case, that chewiness somehow resulted in a bit more of meaty taste than I have had ran into from other places. The fact it was still red, rather than dunked into the broth might have contributed to that factor. The noodles… Well, not much to talk about.

What seems to be sort of a tradition, I also ordered some spring rolls. Normally, I end up getting the “regular” spring rolls or what ever that means; this time, I went for their seafood spring rolls. In the picture above, a piece is missing because the next table was curious about why I was taking pictures of the food (as a side note, they were NOT Asians) and I told them I take them for my “hobby”. From there, I offered a piece which they found it was quite good. After taking my picture and biting into a piece, I will have to agree with that statement. It is a different type of goodness from your regular vegetable or beef type spring rolls; instead, the shrimp here gave them a different snappy texture. While the flavour was partially muted by the crispiness and the rest of the filling, at least you could “feel” the shrimps made it for me.

After I finished my bowl, I spent some talking talking again with the couple from next table and they were telling me about other nearby good eats places (to be visited sometimes soon) and, of course, about Pho Tan. They went on to explain to me why they liked it and I will agree with some of their points. However, while it is all good from that perspective, the final product still has rooms for improvement. As a result, it is still far from that “best” title (which, at this moment, is somewhat of a question mark). Would I come back? Given there are other places closer to me and the fact parking might be tricky depending of the time of the day, it is a coin toss… If I am nearby…