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Now that we’ve been able to put to bed our 5 year long obsession with finding a decent burrito in this town, we’ve moved onto our next elusive obsession: a decent bowl of pho.
We’ve hardly made any mention of restaurants that serve the fabulous Vietnamese soup noodles before, mostly because the ones that have dotted the landscape have never served a bowl worth mentioning. A couple of months ago there was some rumbling from pho fans about Nam 1975, the new restaurant with a menu so large it’s more like an encyclopedia of Vietnamese cuisine. Sadly, amongst Nam’s hits and misses, it was a big miss for us, with the broth a little too sweet and the noodles a little too yielding. Not bad, but it didn’t kill the craving for the stuff we devoured every day in Ho Chi Minh City (and Los Angeles).
Now comes the punny Pho King, whose pho is the closest we’ve yet encountered to the real deal. A good pho broth is a mysterious potion of simmered bones, oxtails, steak, and spices that takes hours to prepare, and Pho King has got the best in town. We ordered the combo bowl today (an oddly priced 31 RMB), which includes thin slices of flank steak, tripe, and meatballs. The flat rice noodles were firmer than Nam’s, but they shared the same weird characteristic we’ve encountered of all pho in Shanghai in that they’re wide noodles, as opposed to the thin ones we’re used to (am I missing something about pho noodles here?).
So it’s not the greatest pho in the world. The amount of meat offered is underwhelming, the basil and bean sprouts similarly so. But the broth, a gilded stock whose flavor fittingly overwhelms the paltry “everything else” in the huge bowl, that makes this the best pho in Shanghai. That may not be the most flattering of monikers, but at this point it’s Pho King that wears the crown.
Pho King - 1/F No. 458 Jiangsu Lu, near Xuanhua lu (江苏路458号舜元弘基天地1楼, 近宣化路) Tel: 3250-5760 Hours: 11:30am-9pm
Eric Hu is Shanghaiist's Food Editor. Email tips, recommendations, and news and gossip about Shanghai's food scene to food at shanghaiist.com.
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Absolutely agree with you on this one. Had the Combo last night and it was good. Not great, but a refreshing change from all teh poor substitutes here in Shanghai. Its the second best bowl of Pho I have had here in Shanghai (the other being one homemade at a friend's place). Had some issue with teh meatballs as it tasted more like fishballs than beef balls, but the soup was great! So was the portion and pricing was reasonable, if they could offer an "extra meat" option, that woudl be perfect! But overall it is a great deal for Shanghai! I will be back from more!
they're opening a Pho Queen in my area (San Jose, CA) :) the wide noodles are so not pho, but pretty delicious anyway.
Yikes - maybe they have improved over the last couple of weeks, but the broth was straight out the Lanzhou LAmian place down the street.
Beef balls were crap as well
Spring rolls were fantastics though.
Best Pho is still at Taikang Rd... and it is simply fuc*ing great Pho.
@eric - the noodle width is a regional thing. Wide noodles = northern style, thin noodles = southern style. Wide noodles + green onions makes me think they're going Hanoi-style at Pho King. Will have to try soon.
Just another Pho King restaurant.
Do they have grilled lemon grass chicken there? Mmmmm...grilled lemon grass chicken so tasty!
The best Pho outside of Vietnam is in Paris. I also heard the Pho in Oz is great as well. I tried Pho in Westminster in Orange county and the soup stock is sub-par, so I am not so sure about LA's Pho being great. I actually make Pho myself, using the best ingredients, the best beef bones, shank meat and beef balls. The soup stock is paramount. You get the stock right, you get great Pho.