Pho & Bun

Chaotic

Not so rare "rare beef pho"

Pho & Bun is a brand new Vietnamese restaurant launched by the same people behind Vit Eat in Holborn, located in Shaftesbury Avenue nearby Chinatown. For me the location of Pho & Bun has its advantage and disadvantage, the prime location ensure there are plenty visitors flow, but also it faces high numbers of competitions, as most other Asian restaurant in the area would cost less. The concept of Pho & Bun is simple, the restaurant majors on pho, a traditional Vietnamese noodle cooked in hot broth and steamed Asian buns with a modern burger twist. They also offer a tasting menu so you can sample a selection of its a la carte items if you are not sure what to order.

summer rolls

My starter of summer roll which contained salad and prawn was really questionable, the texture of the rice paper was far too thick, clearly a step back if comparing to the likes of Fold and Coba, and at £3 for such a tiny portion, it was hardly worth the cost. The pork belly bun however was a winner, the pork was well marinated and grilled to just the right level, the steamed bun was also soft and light as I was hoping for. But the rare beef pho was a major disappointment, all the beef was clearly over cooked when it was served in front of me, plus the critical error was the pho noodle itself, it seem like it was resting in the broth for too long and it all got stuck together.

grilled honey pork belly bun

sticky pho business...

So, it appears Pho & Bun so far only got half of the element right, which was the bun, pho on the other hand, was best left forgotten. The service was also a little chaotic on my visit, very slow to take orders and took forever to come up with the bill. The manager on duty also looked very grumpy and doesn't seems like he was interested in attending customers' request, all I can say is my visit at Pho & Bun was mediocre at best. I hope they will iron out some of the issues in the near future as I believe the concept has a great potential, after all, pho and bun are two of the most popular street food items in the Far East.

Food 1.5/5

What I paid: 
£10 per head

Average cost without drinks and services:
£16

76 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 6ND

http://vieteat.co.uk/