Pho Viet on No 3 Road, Richmond

When our lives were simpler and our boys were toddlers, we often eat out on weekends at Vietnamese restaurants a lot. That was because Vietnamese restaurants gave us a lot of value for money. Back then I remember that we would spend not more than $16 each time the whole family dine out. Yeah, back then a “#1 Special Large” is just $7 and that came with a spring roll.

So our favourite Vietnamese restaurants are the ones along Kingsway Pho Hong, Pho Van and Pho Saigon. We would almost always go to these restaurants after church service.

Closer to home, we would go to Pho Viet. Yeah, we went to Pho Viet a lot. Back then Pho Viet is located on Ackroyd, near where Nandos and Suhang is today. Take a look at the early day chowtimes post of Pho Viet on Ackroyd which I wrote way back in July 2006. He he he … that post was some sweet and short. Not long winded like today.

And then chowtimes came along. We started looking for different places to eat … we hardly ever return to the crime scene anymore, so to speak. Over time, Pho Viet fell out of sight … out of mind … and before we know it the Pho Viet which was a family favourite was gone. It closed and we did not know why.

I know that the Mike, owner of Pho Viet, reads chowtimes and so am going to pose an open question to him … can the owner of Pho Viet tell us more why the old Pho Viet went missing for some time? I am curious. :-)

The name Pho Viet is such a generic name for a Vietnamese restaurant. There was once another Pho Viet on Kingsway which we liked a lot. That Pho Viet had since closed too. For a moment, we thought that the Pho Viet on Kingsway was the Pho Viet of Richmond on steroids. Guess it was not as our readers quickly set the records straight.

Well, the Pho Viet that we so loved is back — back with a vengeance. Not only have they reopened, they reopened with TWO restaurants. They are just a few blocks from one another. The first one is located in the strip mall on Westminster Hwy, across the street from the Richmond Public Market.

The other one (this post) is located in the Empire Center strip mall on No 3 Road where Buffet King (ex-Hon’s) is. This Pho Viet takes over the previous location of West Lake which was another favourite Vietnames restaurant of ours. We like West Lake because it was a blend of Vietnamese and HK Style Cafe — they gave free milk tea with every order of pho!

Some people are very sensitive to authenticity of a restaurant, particularly cuisines such as Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese. To some these restaurants must be ethnically owned … and NOT Chinese owned in order to be considered authentic. People tends to snub their noses, for example, on a ramen restaurant if they find out that it is Chinese owned. Likewise too with Vietnamese restaurant.

Guilty as charged. We do sometimes judge a restaurant like that. :-)

So when we sat down, we strained our ears and see if we hear whether Vietnamese or Chinese is spoken in this restaurant. He he he … yeah … we heard them speaking in Cantonese.

I shouldn’t say all these, I know. All that matters really is if the food is good and gives value right?

Anyway, we know now that Pho Viet’s owners are ethnic Vietnamese but speaks both Cantonese and Vietnamese if that matters to you.

Nanzaro ordered the … More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Pho Viet on No 3 Road, Richmond (525 words)

© ben for Chow Times, 2010. |
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Post tags: Restaurant Review, Richmond, Vietnamese