Small Potatoes Make The Steak Look Bigger

Finally got to drop by at Pho Lan (44A Prinsep Street, Prinsep Place, tel : 6835 9441) after wondering about them for a while now. Legend claims, from the sayings of this place at least, that the word 'pho' could have been a French derivative of pot-au-feu which roughly translates into "simmering pot in a stove or fire."

To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was thinking that it could have been better for their pho which to my disappointment, wasn't served with a broth that was hot enough resulting in a rather raw flavor for the bean sprouts. Still, those guys were rather obliging in heating the soup noodles up (in a pot, not microwave mind you) which then resulted in the thinly sliced beef being a little too cooked for my liking. There was also a noticeable flavor of cinnamon in the broth which I wasn't expecting. I've to say that this was quite a light tasty pho on the whole, and while at that, it certainly also didn't match Pho24 in terms of the beefy flavor nor portions of both the rice noodles and beef which I thought was rather skimpy.


There was a chao tom (shrimp paste on sugar cane) on the side which tasted quite shrimpy. It reminded me of something that I had at the Prima revolving restaurant back when I was a kid where they had some shrimp or crab based ball that had a stick of sugar cane stuck in them. This one here just didn't taste as sweet.

I should give the pho at Madam Saigon a try.