Review - Sonex Cafe

Friday, 16th March 2012    (visit 1)
Thursday, 19th April 2012 (visit 2)


Sonex Cafe
324-326 King Street 
Melbourne

Cuisine: Vietnamese, Asian, Western Breakfast


Taste Rating: 7.5/10   Value Rating: 7.5/10

Sonex Cafe looks like a milkbar. From the outside, it looks dark on the inside. Most people probably hurry past this place at the corner of King Street and La Trobe Street. The menu pasted on the front window gives a clue that they serve food. Looking in through the windows, there are people seated at the tables at lunch times.

Not knowing what to expect, we went for lunch on a Friday, our first visit. The menu is basic and sits on the top of the counter. There are a few photos of the food decorating the front of one of the counters. There are a few tables,  mainly for two persons, but can be combined. It looks like a family run business and the people are friendly and helpful.

The menu has Vietnamese dishes but also what looks like Malaysian and Chinese dishes. There are 10 'cooked to order' main dishes on the menu, plus rice/noodle combinations from the bain-marie. There are also salads, sandwiches, party pies, quiches and sausage rolls.

We ordered Laksa and Beef Salad with Vermicelli.

What a surprise! The Laksa had beautiful colours (see photo) and tasted great! It could probably be called a Malaysian curry laksa. The Beef Salad with Vermicelli was tasty, with nice slices of beef.

Happy with the food, we came back for a second visit the following month, with a third person. We ordered Beef Noodle Soup, Chicken Curry and Beef with noodles (from the bain-maree) and Crab Meat Noodles.

The Beef Noodle Soup turned out to be Beef Pho. It was good.  One of the mint varieties used for the pho was Cinnamon Mint (Shiso family); the taste may suit others but I found it bitter.

The Chicken Curry and Beef were selected from the pre-cooked food in the bain-marie. These tasted quite ordinary.

I had high hopes of the Crab Meat noodles. I ordered this from one of the photos pasted under the counter; this dish was not on the printed menu. The crab meat was not easy to distinguish in the broth. It seemed to be in a mince-type omelette. This wasn't a memorable dish.

Overall, we will come back to try the other dishes, as well as order the curry laksa, beef vermicelli and beef pho again. This is a simple, unpretentious place with a few gems on the menu at reasonable prices. Worth keeping in mind for lunch times.

Menu

Laksa

Beef Salad with Vermicelli

Beef Noodle Soup (Pho)

Cinnamon Mint from the Beef Pho

Chicken Curry and Beef with Noodles

Crab Meat Noodles

Inside the Cafe

 

Review - Pho Chu The

Sunday, 8th July 2012


Pho Chu The
270 Victoria Street,
Richmond,
Victoria

Cuisine: Vietnamese


Taste Rating: 8/10   Value Rating: 7.5/10

Pho Chu The. Wonder what it means. Well, I know what pho is. But the rest? On a whim, I plugged the name into Google Translate, a really handy, quick language conversion tool. Google Translate tells me 'Pho Chu The' (Vietnamese to English) means 'The Vice'. Really?! Is it pho-ssible? Room for doubt here. One of the Seven Deadly Vices is Gluttony ...  overindulgence in food ... and the pho at Pho Chu The is easy to overindulge in!

Start at the beginning. It was a cold winter night in Melbourne. Finding ourselves near Richmond, we decided we must have pho. We drove past Pho Chu The, parked at the furthest end of Victoria Street to where Pho Chu The is as we couldn't find a parking spot before that, and trekked back in the cold wind and dark night, looking in all the lighted windows of other Vietnamese restaurants on the way. Don't ask me why. Maybe it was the name that appealed to us. We pushed opened the door and were offered a table immediately, which was fortunate as this place was very busy when we were there. Most people seemed familiar with the place, with almost as many Asians as non-Asians making themselves comfortable and confidently ordering their pho(s). What is the plural of pho?

The core business here is pho - and the menu reflects this. The only non-pho items are the spring rolls and the drinks. They keep things simple at this place. The only menu is on the wall, no menu is handed to you at the table.

It is easy to order. You decide whether you like Chicken or Beef, then whether you want the meat only version or one of the 'extended' versions. For beef, there is Special (read 'offal'), Brisket, Fat, Tendon, Cartilage, Tripe or Beef Balls. For chicken, there is Special, Shredded or  Giblets & Liver. Next is the size - Small ($8), Medium ($9) and Large ($10). Having three sizes is really considerate as not everyone can eat the same size meal, or you may have a different appetite at different times. Imagine if clothing came in the one size only! Once you have ordered, the pho is delivered to your table within minutes - bowls of steaming flavoursome soup.

We ordered Large Beef and Tendon, Medium Beef and Tendon, Medium Beef and Small Shredded Chicken. The soup in the beef pho tastes different to the soup in the chicken pho. Both have a rich flavour but the beef pho is sweeter while the chicken pho is saltier. The beef is lean and cooks nicely in the steaming soup. The pho here is clear. I also like that it is not oily. The slippery white rice noodles are not overcooked. There is a plate of bean shoots, Vietnamese mint and lemon wedges for sharing at the table. They are happy to provide more if requested.

There are glasses of cut chillies at each table. Be warned.  I tried the soup with and without chillies, and believe me, these chillies turn the soup into pho with a punch.

We also ordered the prawn spring rolls (6 for $8). These came with a small stack of neatly cut lettuce leaves for wrapping the spring rolls in, and a small bowl of dipping sauce. The spring rolls were OK, not outstanding but a nice crunchy contrast to the soupy pho.

This place also has a good sense of humour. I like their WTP tees. Okay, I meant What The Pho (see pho -to)!

We enjoyed our meal and would definitely come back again to Pho Chu The. There are also several other restaurants here we would like to try. If only it was easier to find a parking spot!

Front of the Restaurant

Menu on the Wall

Phos

Clockwise from Top Left

- Large, Medium, Medium, Small



Small Shredded Chicken Pho

Medium Beef Pho

 Large Beef & Tendon Pho

Medium Beef & Tendon Pho

 Prawn Spring Rolls

WTP

Busy inside the Restaurant

Review - Roll'd

Tuesday, 10th July 2012


Roll'd
Shop TG10
Goldsbrough Lane
181 William St,
Melbourne

Cuisine: Vietnamese


Taste Rating: 7.5/10   Value Rating: 7/10

We went to Roll'd for lunch. This Vietnamese cafe opened early in May and is already so popular that it is packed at lunch times.

Roll'd offers Vietnamese street food - rice paper rolls (Cuon pronounce with a 'K' sound), vermicelli noodles (Bun pronounce 'Buon'), baguettes (Banh Mi), Pho (pronounced 'Fuh'), and salads (Goi pronounced 'Guy'). There is also hot coffee or iced coffee ('Ca Phe' - coffee pronounced phonetically!) I found this helpful site which has audio pronounciations of common Vietnamese food names.

We ordered Beef Pho and BBQ Chicken Vermicelli. This is my second Beef Pho in two days! I had eaten Beef Pho on Sunday in Richmond, a popular destination for Vietnamese food in Melbourne. But today was a cold winter day and I was starving and wanted a hot soup. The soup was not bad - savoury and slightly sweet, not too oily. The beef slices were lean and tender, and not too pink, which was just as well as the soup was not piping hot. The coriander, bean shoots and Vietnamese basil were already in the bowl of Pho, unlike the typical Vietnamese restaurants where you add your own from a separate plate. There is an interesting addition of pickled red onions on top, which adds a splash of pink colour. The Pho came with a dish of Hoi Sin sauce. Unusual combination. We had to ask the waiter to make sure we had not got the sauce confused - was it for the BBQ Vermicelli or the Pho?! The serve is small, even for me, so I still felt  hungry and had a chocolate afterwards!

I had a taste of the BBQ Chicken Vermicelli. The chicken was thigh meat and slightly underdone. I liked the sauce that the vermicelli was immersed in - the flavour was possibly from lime, fish sauce, herbs and sugar.

The queue is constantly forming but fast moving. Interestingly, this row of dining shops at Goldsbrough Lane has mostly outdoor seating. There is a wind tunnel effect at times. I was sitting right under the outdoor heater so was quite comfortable but did spare a thought for the carbon effect ... and the carbon tax! 

Overall, this is a nice place to go for Vietnamese food that seems healthy, with fresh vibrant colours. Roll'd has a small menu but there is a good variety to choose from, with several interesting sounding dishes that I want to try. So yes, there will definitely be return visits.

Not yet 12.30pm and there is a long queue

 Freshly made rice paper rolls

 Beef Pho, BBQ Chicken Vermicelli

 BBQ Chicken Vermicelli

 Beef Pho

 Hoi Sin Sauce with the Beef Pho

- unusual combination

The queue and outdoor seating

Review - Thanh Dat

13th Jan 2012

Thanh Dat  
268 Springvale Road, Springvale

Cuisine: Asian, Vietnamese

The place was reasonably full on a Friday night. We got a table as soon as we arrived which was good timing. It is one of those places where turnover is high - you come for a quick meal and you leave - so the tables are regularly seated with new occupants.  

We ordered beef pho, chilli prawns, seafood noodle soup,  lemongrass beef with rice and spring rolls. The vegetables that accompanied the pho looked fresh but there were only 2 types - regular basil and bean sprouts. It would be nicer if there were Vietnamese mint and/or regular mint as well. The pho was not the best we have tasted but it is passable enough to come back for. The chilli prawns were chilli hot and would appeal to those who are after a mid-fiery taste in prawns. The seafood noodle soup was a touch sweet. The lemongrass beef had just a hint of lemongrass, the accompanying rice was tired and dry instead of fluffy but on the plus side, the beef was not oily. The spring rolls looked nice but did not taste fantastic and the filling was overly firm. 

The place seems popular with families and groups of youngsters of both Asian and non-Asian background.  We would go back if we want to have pho and are in the area.

Taste Rating: 6/10   Value Rating: 7/10

Basil and Bean Sprouts for the Pho

Beef Pho

Chilli Prawns

Seafood Noodle Soup

Lemongrass Beef with rice

Spring Rolls