Pho Tau Bay, Cabramatta

I’m a winter kind of girl, because the heat and I just don’t get along very well. And today’s post may not be one for the warmer hotter days but who knows, some still like to take that challenge and attack a good bowl of pho in 30 degrees heat.

Cousin PC’s boy, Mr JJ is a born Cabramatta boy so the aunts and myself put the trust of our bellies in his hands one Saturday afternoon, we found ourselves sitting inside Pho Tau Bay.

Fried bread stick $1.30 each

Weird combination with pho, but we ordered the yau tiao anyways as when deep fried right the family likes to eat it alone. We can pass on the congee. The exterior holds that slight crisp and the inside slightly soft and doughy, as it should be. Elements of a fresh yau tiao.

We also wanted to order the sesame bun, but unfortunately they had sold out that day….

Beef combination $11

I went with the regular special beef noodle soup, the soup base was delicious,  with a strong beef soup base. I’m not sure about you all, but I have found that most of the raw beef slices now at pho joints are just a bunch of minced beef. Rarely would you see the thinly sliced beef pieces sitting on top of your noodles, here at pho tau bay, they serve my beef slices, beef meatballs, tendons and tripe.

I am told by local Mr JJ that they hand make their own beef balls, and this is definitely evident with the nice firm bite into the beef ball.

Believe me, if I am ever in Cabramatta again, Pho Tau Bay will be visited again. However, I do also need to take into account that there are plenty of other eateries around that I should consider…

Pho Tau Bay

12/117 John Street,

Cabramatta

Pho Phd, Marrickville

Every time I go to Marrickville, I have wanted to try Pho Phd – as my brother swears by it. Saying that it is the place to be. But every time I’m there, it’s closed. So, on a Tuesday night the brother and I meet our uncle there for dinner with his family.

We see the queue as we walk over and it’s only a Tuesday night. Thankfully, with a party of seven, we are lucky enough that they have one big table left.

Thai styled fish cakes $10

We start with the fish cakes, chewy outsides with mushy innards. The spice is enough to give you a kick in the tastebuds.

Boneless stuffed chicken wings $12

Boneless chicken wings? Um … yes please! Stuffed with mince as well. Like can this get any better? It is a bite-full, and has a lot of different things going on at the same time, especially when you dip it into the fish sauce. But the slight crisp on the chicken makes me one happy girl.

Vietnamese crepe-styled pancake (prawn & pork) $12.50 

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same to the Vietnamese crepe. I was actually looking forward to this, since the first time I had it was at Red Lantern. I thought perhaps being in a little local restaurant, I could try a more “traditional” take. This however, was full of oil and that was all I could taste.

Combination Pho Regular $12; Large $15; Extra large $19

BRING. ON. THE. PHO! So, there’s a regular, large and extra large to choose from. On this fair winter’s night, I proudly admit to you all, I went with the large. My brother on the other hand went with the EXTRA large. Now, I tried to capture it for you all to see his basin pho, but it didn’t turn out too well with no comparison to see how MASSIVE it was.

The broth was delicious, packed with flavour. There was a generous amount of noodles to meat ratio, or is it because I ordered the large that I think that? However, one downfall is that it was not hot. It was luke warm, I’m not sure about you but when I order a bowl of pho (or any noodle soup) I expect myself to be blowing endlessly before I can eat it. And nothing worse than a luke warm bowl of soup on a winter’s day.

Vietnamese jelly drink

Please enlighten me, do you prefer a bowl of steaming hot noodles blowing endlessly yet still burn your mouth or a bowl of luke warm noodles where you can simply indulge instantly?