Mo'Pho

Back to Pho and I couldn't help but order exactly the same things that I had last time. I think that this is one of those places where I am completely convinced that I have the menu worked out and will always be happy ordering the same dishes. The more this goes on, the more likely I am to stick to this pattern because I'll get increasingly fearful that any other dishes might prove to be a letdown. I'm sure that they'd actually be very nice, but I shan't risk it.
A second visit revealed that I was right first time round that Pho has a quality absolutely essential to lots of good restaurants: integrity. It seems to me that this is especially important with Chinese and SE Asian food because there are so many totally dull old-style and new-style Oriental joints which aspire to offer no more than an approximation of food that you'd actually eat in the region, and charge you plenty for the privilege of this ersatz experience. Pho, on the other hand, has plenty of sauces sourced from Vietnam on the table, a decent list of different Vietnamese lagers, the amazing herbs that I mentioned last time around and, I guess most importantly, plenty of authentic dishes that you won't find in other restaurants. As far as I know, the couple who run the place are English and fell in love with phos whilst in Vietnam, and that really shows. Writing this I have something of a Groundhog Day feeling, because I'm sure that I said much the same things the last time I wrote about Pho, so perhaps it'll become a monthly tradition that not only do I visit the restaurant again, but I also order the same dishes, and then bore whatever audience is left with an identical account of why I like it so much. I think it'll be OK, so long as I do it in an authentic way, full of integrity...