Pho South Saigon

Phở, phở, phở! Bring on the Phở! I have a bit of a thing trying to find the best broth in Adelaide. So, as soon as I read Jason Z. review, I hit bookmark and had to check it out.
I must have driven past this place a hundred times. Not sure why I missed it? But, so glad I read a review on it otherwise I might not have noticed it at all.
So the restaurant is set up near the Marden shopping Centre at the lights on the Paynhem Road side. You will need to park in the shopping centre carpark to get access to this one.
The restaurant is not very big, a few booths and chairs set up inside. I heard it is popular during the workday lunch. Probably for Banh mi. But we were here for Phở.
First thing to note is that I ordered a small… But, this small is HUGE! I think it is the size of a large in most other places. It was pretty impressive. So, you definitely get your money’s worth here.
There is a good amount of veggies available for you to add into your soup. We did notice that you do not get thai basil though. Instead you are provided with a sweet basil. But, that is ok.
As for the broth, well… there are not many Phở destinations around Adelaide where I don’t go reaching for more fish sauce. This broth is really well balanced. All of the spice flavours were there, nice amount of salt and the beef stock flavour really came though. The rice noodles were amazing, very soft and fresh! The onions were sliced a little thick for my liking, but they were jam packed full of broth flavour. Overall, this was a very impressive Phở. In fact, I think this is just as good than the ones offered on the northern end of town.
If phở is your thing, mark this one in your bookmarks and give them a go! I will be back!

Phở South Saigon was an unexpected gem. I’ve never been to the area before so I had no idea what to eat. Thanks to the trusty Unilocal app for pointing me to a good spot. We walked in on an extremely rainy Friday (as in that crazy Friday where a half an hour drive took me 1.5 hours), just happy to get away from the torrential downpour.
After a while we decided or order drinks. I wanted the avocado smoothies but there wasn’t any avacado. So I asked for another drink I can’t remember but that also wasn’t available. So I settled for the three bean drink with shaved ice. It’s probably the best one I’ve had! They handled the sweetness really well because most places will drench it in sugar. This one is creamier and less sweet than usual so it gets 2 thumbs up. It’s not a drink for everyone as it contains beans, slivers of green jelly and other things I’m not sure about. So there’s alot of textures, warm drink mixed with shaved ice and different flavours going on at the same time. I’ve been drinking 3 bean for years and still not sure what’s in it haha.
I got the combination phở (tripe, tendon, sliced beef, brisket and beef balls) and from the first bite it was epic! This must have been the first time I’ve had phở with really tender brisket, because every other time it’s chewy and fairly dry. This one is obviously slow cooked for hours because it almost melts in the mouth, but at the same time it holds its shape when sliced. The beef balls are also amazing. I don’t know where they get them from but they’re so much flavourful than usual ones. In fact, just the meat in general is higher quality than the stuff you’ll find in a typical phở spot.
The broth also hits all the right notes. Clean and not heavy, and with the herbs and chilli added it’s next level! I also noticed that they gave me some lime instead of lemon. Small thing I know, not that anyone would care because they achieve the same result, but I just like limes more. For $ 13 I got a massive bowl I could barely finish! Even after a good workout.
Last thing to mention is service. The waitress there was really helpful and friendly who seemed to care about our experience, asking how the food is and things like that. Overall, great food and great prices. I think I spent around $ 16.50 — $ 17 for a massive phở and drink, which is solid! It’s definitely worth checking out but it’s a bit too far for me to go normally. I may not be Vietnamese but it’s so goooooooood.

I ate here on a Wednesday for lunch with two other friends, when going in we saw it was busy and there was only one table left but wasn’t cleared yet, we sat down and someone come up saying «hi I will fix up soon» pointing at the table and she seemed flat out and never came back, we then saw another table cleared by another lady working there so we decided to move table.
We then ordered our lunch, I ordered a rice combination and my two friends ordered beef soup.
We then got two soups which both looked and tasted amazing, BUT the chilli on the side was frozen with a massive kick!
I then got my meal but instead I got a combination soup which was wrong I ordered rice combination. So she took it back and came back with the right meal, I only received pork and the pork chop, No beef or broth on the side, it was nothing special and I was very disappointed but didn’t end up saying anything because I was hungry and already waited long enough for the right meal. The waitress was not experienced and didn’t know how to clean tables properly. I would only go there again for the soups.

Having traveled in Vietnam, and great dishes have been consumed there. Finding this small restaurant was a bonus. This little gem in Adelaide has by far the best beef phở I have ever eaten. Simple place that only accepts cash at the moment, has fresh, aromatic and frugal food. Come check it out!