Dinner, Pho, Nationwide

-
I really like a good backstory and the story of Pho is a great one. The owners decided to set up Pho while travelling Vietnam after they feel in love with the food. The chain has been running sine 2005 and at present, 29 locations. If you are based in or around Southampton, your nearest Pho in Portsmouth at Gunwharf Quays (pronounced 'fuh' encase you were wondering).

I first stumbled across Pho at their Kingston restaurant. Cast you mind back to the beginning of last year when we had that terrible snow around March time. I know it's hard to think of snowy weather in the middle of summer, but here we are. I was staying away on a work trip and I fancied something tasty and easy for my dinner. It has been a long day and I was tired and just wanted to eat and get to bed. That's when I saw Pho's neon light shining bring through the snow. I know, sounds romantic right? But from that first trip, I was hooked...so I guess you could say it was love at first sight?

The first thing we need to talk about is the menu. The majority of items on the Pho menu are gluten free and accredited by Coeliac UK. When you see the broad range of items on their menu, you will understand why this is so amazing (you can see the menu here).

My mum has a gluten intolerance and it's hard to find somewhere that has a great range of tasty dishes on the menu that she can eat. So as soon as I saw this, I dropped her a text telling here how excited I was to have found a new place she can enjoy too! Mother and daughter shopping trips just got a whole lot easier!

Everything is made in house and the broth's are made by simmering down bones for a good 12 hours. Each dish is brushing with flavour and it's fresh, brightly coloured ingredients mean that the dishes looks as delicious as it tastes. I've pulled together some of the dishes I've enjoyed below, each of them is making me salivate just thinking back to eating them.

Starters 

Nem Hai San 
(large crispy spring role of king prawn, crab & pork with dipping sauce)  

Goi Cion 
Fresh rice paper summer rolls with herbs, vermicelli and pickle with peanut sauce 

Mains

Pho Chin 
tender beef brisket slow cooked in broth 


Pho dac biet
king prawns, chicken and flash friend steak with garlic beef broth 

Bun 
Vermicelli noodles with beef 

With a casual and relaxed environment, Pho offers a range of mouth-watering street food that is reasonably priced and extremely filling. I still haven't made it to the dessert section yet! 

I would highly recommend popping into Pho and seeing what delicious dishes they have on offer... FYI they also do food to go! 

(All pictures taken & owned by SistersDineOut unless otherwise stated)

Popular posts from this blog

Dinner, The Goat, Timsbury

-
Image
When we had friends come to visit mid-September, we knew exactly where we wanted to go for dinner. The Goat in Timsbury (just outside Romsey) has been open since June/July 2019 after a full renovation. The result? A beautiful gourmet pub which offers a lovely garden area to watch the sun go down with a cold drink. Because we decided to take a group a friends to The Goat, I was lucky enough to try a whole host of dishes all in one go! It's just as well my friends love me and have the patience to let me snap photos of their food and have a little taste of their dish. The new decor is country chic which gives a relaxed vibe. There is a lovely fireplace with sofas where you can enjoy a drink in front of the fire with your loved ones. Starters and small bites We had a combination of dishes from the starters and small bites menu to kick off our meal.  Charcoal grilled halloumi with salsa Verdi  Listed as one of the 'small bites' it was a lovely way to st
Read more

Overnight stay, The Baraset Barn, Alveston

-
Image
Mid July we headed ‘up North’ to visit friends and family for the weekend. As we have a 3-month-old baby, we decided to break up the journey by stopping off at The Baraset Barn, Alveston. We picked The Baraset Barn because it was quick and easy to access from the M40 and meant we could be on the M6 nice and early ahead of the morning rush. There are just 16 rooms This was our first hotel stay with a baby so we were feeling a little nervous. From the website, the rooms looked large enough to accommodate a travel cot or a pram. The room did not disappoint, we had ample space for setting up little man.  Sometimes hotels can make rooms look large on their website then you turn up to something tiny; this was not the case. If anything, it was actually the opposite as the room was much larger than I had anticipated. There is a small mini-fridge in the room that had bottled water and fresh milk for the coffee machine. The room also comes with two dressing gowns, an iron and ironing board.  The
Read more

Summer Garden Afternoon Tea, The Ivy, Winchester

-
Image
Last week I headed into Winchester (with my 11-week old baby) to try the Summer Garden Afternoon Tea. It was my mums birthday, so her partner and I arranged to surprise her. My mum is gluten intolerant, so I’ll show you what the ‘normal’ afternoon tea is like vs the gluten-free offering. Afternoon Tea at The Ivy, Winchester is served between 3-5pm. As we had baby G with us, we opted to eat at 3pm to ensure we were home in plenty of time for the bath routine (how things have changed!).  The first course of sandwiches and scones was promptly bought to the table alongside our glass of champagne. Our savoury selection included: Truffled chicken brioche roll  Marinated cucumber and dill finger sandwich on basil bread  Smoked salmon on beetroot bread with cream cheese and chives  I love that the cucumber and salmon sandwiches were served on flavoured bread. This made them seem a bit more special than your average afternoon tea and delivered a deeper complexity of flavour. I didn’t think I wa
Read more