Pho has become such a staple food for the Vancouver diet. It’s simple, delicious and you’re seldom more than 5 minutes away from a place that makes a decent bowl. Despite the market being saturated with an almost excessive number of Vietnamese noodle places (I’ve seen three or four in the same complex before), it seems like a new one is popping up every week. Pho 99 isn’t actually new but it isn’t one of my more familiar pho places so I decided to give it a try. Unlike so many other places in this city, it’s actually open quite late. I believe this one on Alexandra Road in Richmond is open til at least midnight but I’ll go check and amend this later.
Pho 99 is actually a chain with five locations in the Lower Mainland and a couple more over the border in Washington. The inside is cleaner than most…although that’s not saying much considering how poorly maintained some pho places are. At Pho 99, you can place your arms on the table without them getting all greasy, the chairs only squeak a little bit and the floor looked like it was mopped at some point during that day so that’s already in the top 5% I’m sure.
The menu is…well, not only is it as thick as a very long children’s book but it’s confusing as well. Things are listed multiple times because of the combo deals and it’s all spread over several pages so figuring out what you can order with what can get a little tricky. Prices aren’t always listed next to menu items either for some reason and certain configurations of meats in your pho aren’t available with combos and…you get my point. However, the menu has all the usual things you’d expect from a good Vietnamese noodle house and the prices all seem in the reasonable range. The combo deals in particular are very good value, all of which are under $10.
For that price, you get a bowl of pho, an appetizer and a drink. That may not seem like much but consider that the bowl of pho is usual about $7 and the drink around $3, you’re basically getting a free appetizer out of the mix. The exact same order at our usual Dot Com Pho spots would be $15 easily.
The pho is the usual…tasty, warming and familiar. The broth isn’t as good as some other places I’ve been to but it’s got good flavor. I can’t tell for sure about how much MSG is in there but I didn’t notice it too much. The beef is tender, not too fatty even when you get flank and brisket and there’s a decent amount of it. A standard issue bowl of pho…nothing spectacular but it’ll do.
This is a lemon soda, which is probably the easiest drink in the world to make but we order it anyways. Again, nothing too exciting. Not super sweet like some other places make and the bottom wasn’t full of undissolved sugar so maybe better than average?
And these…are the chicken wings I got as part of the combo. Wow. These were much better than I thought they might be. Perfectly fried to a crispy golden brown on the outside and very, very juicy on the inside. They’re well seasoned with salt and pepper and delicious. They’re not quite on the same level as the ones at Phnom Penh but just super tasty and flavorful. They’re as good as the ones from Wu Tung at the Aberdeen Center food court and maybe with a little lime and white pepper for dip, they’d be even better.
Pho 99 isn’t the best pho place in the city but it’s a solid choice for a good meal and the combo deals are very good value for money. Order the wings!
