wat da pho

So those of you that know me know that I love fish sauce and everything related to it. The only reason I haven't eaten my way through Vietnam yet is because this year I'm taking my sister on a trans-America trip which is just hemorrhaging money. A recent conversation between a most awesome friend and I over work email (talking about banh hoi which you can read about here):

me: that ban hoi place. OMG BAN HOI. FISH SAUCE.

H: FISH SAUCE. VIETNAMEEEEEE!

me: I WANT TO GO TO VIETNAM AND JUST EAT ALL OF THEIR FISH SAUCE. ALL OF IT.

H: I WANT TO GET FISH AND SQUEEZE IT INTO A BOTTLE

me: I WANT TO GET FISH TO FERMENT IN THE SUN WITH THE AID OF BACTERIA AND THEN SQUEEZE THE DRIPPING CARCASS INTO MY MOUTH.

True story.

Anyway, as luck would have it a new Vietnamese place called Wat Da Pho opened up around the corner from my work. They have MSG-free pho and other delicious ricey distractions. Cow and chicken Victoria Street pho it ain't. There is a TV in the corner that, instead of 80's karaoke clips, broadcasts Luke Nguyen's hyper-coloured culinary journey through Vietnam. The tables are not sticky and you don't need to wipe the chopsticks before using them. Decor is fresh, young and spot on the zeitgeist. Perfect for the South Melbourne yuppy (do we still use that word?) crowd. WDP are so cool that they serve the customary bean shoots and Vietnamese mint on a wooden chopping board.

And their beef pho.

Underneath this steaming pile of rice noodles is buried beef.

Y'all know how I feel about MSG free pho but this was surprisingly delicious. Fat rice noodles, fresh crispy beanshoots, very tasty broth. Without the MSG you don't get dry mouthed and sleepy 2 hours post consumption. There isn't much to complain about. 

WDP are acutely aware of their new Asian kid on the block status and as such have culturally sensitive names for the rest of the menu like "sticks on da chelli" (grilled skewers of meat on a bed of soft rice vermicelli noodles) and "ching rolls" (seriously).

Chicken sticks on da chelli.

Here you pour a small pitcher of fish sauce yourself. After this photo was taken my tertiary educated friend E spilled the fish sauce up her sleeve. She had a hard time explaining to people at work why she smelt like Bikram feet. JUST JOKES E I LOVE YOU!

Prawn ching rolls.

I have an inordinate amount of photos of food from this place on my phone. I go here at least once a week to bask in all the fish saucey goodness. WDP also serve very fresh rice paper rolls, $10 for any 3. They even have vegetarian options with a seriously yummy marinated tofu strip. My workmates are aware that I do rice paper roll runs, all the freaking time.

My afternoon tea.

South Melbourne sorely needed authentic Asian eateries and despite not being authentic in a Footscray kind of way, WDP ticks all the boxes. Watch out for the sometimes long wait at lunch, otherwise you can always get a table at dinner.

Wat Da Pho
212 Clarendon Street
South Melbourne
9696 5605

hanoi hannah

"Sex, drugs and rice paper rolls" announces the awning above the hippest Vietnamese restaurant in this neck of the woods.

The lights are dim and pink, the music is right now and the food is fusion but tasty.

I met a friend J here for dinner on a weeknight when our working lives point blank looked like scenes from the director's cut of Horrible Bosses. After a lively exchange of ways to make the problem "permanently go away" J and I drank from big white fleshy coconuts and ordered away with reckless abandon.

Due to the fact that J is very cool and I didn't want to embarrass her with my intrusive food photo-taking, the photos below are terrible. But I filched a good one from Food with Frank.

Chilli prawn with papaya salad. Photo from Food with Frank - http://www.foodwithfrank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/IMG_1599.jpg

Papaya was thinly shredded and the sour/spicy sauce had soaked all the way through the crunchy slivers. The prawn were a little limp but boiled prawns (as these were) are kind of hard to glamourise.

Soft shell crab with wasabi mayonnaise and lime, basking in all  its pink neon glory. Even from this angle the crab looks damn sexy.

J and I have a devotion to soft shell crab. It combines love of seafood with complete laziness - Hey! Just eat the whole damn thing - and this one was definitely the best order of the night. The crab was like the size of my palm! Complete with scrummy lime and an exotic take on mayo (wasabi).

Mixed mushroom pho and Vermicelli with lemongrass beef

I have never ever had a vegetarian pho before, so seeing "mixed mushroom" on the menu was delightful to my 70% vegetarian sensibilities. However, quickly after the pho arrived I realised why. The reason I love pho is 70% attributable to MSG and high-blood-pressure inducing levels of sodium and there was neither in this very very healthy but unfortunately bland bowl. The soup was bountiful with mushrooms though and mushrooms are always welcome.

Vermicelli with lemongrass beef or bun (pronounced "boon") was yum. Fish sauce, well cooked beef, ricey vermicelli noodles, what is there to complain about? Heaps of condiments to add spicy to your life and the prices here aren't too bad either.

Hanoi Hannah
180 High Street
Prahran
9939 5181