Aug
2012
Pho LV (Sydney, NSW)
Skyview Plaza
Shop 15, 545-551 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000
+61 2 9268 0084
Marty and I really wanted to see Ted one Sunday afternoon in Sydney so we bought tickets to a lunchtime session, making sure we had enough time to watch it before we were to fly back home to our respective cities. Due to our lack of planning, we ended up not going to this Argentinian place in Surry Hills for lunch (the name of the place escapes me and we only saw it the previous day while window-shopping) and besides, we only had 30 minutes to kill before the movie was to start.
After wandering around aimlessly in the city, we found ourselves at a random arcade just off George Street and lo and behold, a Vietnamese restaurant that was open. We figured that a bowl of phở would not only do us some good, it wouldn’t even take long to prepare (and eat). And so we plonked ourselves down at a table at Pho LV and ordered a bowl of phở each (aside: I do not know why it says ‘Just Pho’ on the signage, the menus all say ‘Pho LV’ as does the signage on the other side of the restaurant).
Despite Pho LV being pretty quiet on a Sunday afternoon (only three tables were full, and one of them was occupied by a single diner who only ordered rice paper rolls), the food took us at least 10 minutes to get to us. Given that we were seasoned phở eaters, this was considered a long wait time. Finally, my brisket and rare beef phở ($10.50) and Marty’s phở dac biet (the lot, $11.50) arrived.
Unfortunately, we’ve had better phở elsewhere. The noodles were a little bit dry (they probably used dry rice noodles) and the soup was bland and lacked any real depth. That said, they gave us heaps of noodles (+1 for me) and the portions were on the generous side (then again, if you’re paying more than $10 for a bowl of phở, you’d want them to be generous).
We ended up not finishing our bowls, not just because we were running late for the movie but because the phở at LV just didn’t do it for us. While I can certainly see this place being a popular lunchtime spot for office workers (for lack of better places to have Vietnamese food around the city), I can’t see myself coming back.
On that note, if any Sydney-siders know where we can find good phở in the city then please leave a comment below, thanks!
Choc Chip Uru
August 19, 2012 at 05:56 (276 days ago)I’m not really a pho girl but at least you must have enjoyed the movie
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
squishymonster
August 19, 2012 at 06:46 (276 days ago)Mmm, now you’ve got me craving pho!!
Ames
August 19, 2012 at 18:39 (276 days ago)Nothing beats melb pho… just saying
libishski
August 19, 2012 at 19:51 (276 days ago)Yeah, I reckon.
I’m sure there are some wonderful Viet restaurants in city – you just have to be prepared to go out of the city and into the suburbs (Cabramatta, Marrickville etc) for them!
theragingcook
August 19, 2012 at 18:40 (276 days ago)Ahhhhh pho, we just can’t have enough! Pity it wasn’t that wow-factorness
hotlyspiced
August 19, 2012 at 21:21 (276 days ago)It’s a shame you weren’t able to get to the South American restaurant, given this Pho was disappointing. It does seem reasonably priced though. I hope you enjoyed the movie xx
Martypantz
August 19, 2012 at 21:30 (276 days ago)Ted was farken funny!
Oh yeah, and pho. Right. ^_^
threehanns78
August 20, 2012 at 00:18 (276 days ago)lets pho-get about this place.
ironchefshellie
August 20, 2012 at 11:42 (275 days ago)What a shame it wasn’t great
I hate when restaurants put their star dish in the name of the restaurant and that dish suuuuuucks!!
Regardless, now I feel like pho!
libishski
August 20, 2012 at 14:19 (275 days ago)Agree and ditto.
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
August 20, 2012 at 20:27 (275 days ago)What a shame about the pho-I can’t stop eating a good one and no movie could tear me away!
Adrian Briones (@food_rehab)
August 20, 2012 at 22:05 (275 days ago)aaaah no! Although brisket and rare beef is my fav combo, what a shame. Did you eat anything else good whilst up in Sydney?
libishski
August 22, 2012 at 21:28 (273 days ago)Most of the places we went to were pretty good! I’ve done reviews on most of them and have just completed a write-on on the new Zumbo dessert train at The Star. Now, all I need to do is to set aside some time to do my write-up of Marque
Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake
August 22, 2012 at 23:42 (273 days ago)The noodles here does look a little dry and not the usual slippery wider variety. For over $10 I’d totally expect more. Shame! At least we have a lot of good pho around Melbourne.