Pho Lan, Prinsep Street

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

We weren't sure what to expect but still ended up a little disappointed because the broth from their pho wasn't hot enough. That resulted in rather raw bean sprouts. They obliged in our request to heat up that broth (in a pot, not microwave mind you) which overcooked those thin slices of beef in the process. I also detected quite a bit of cinnamon in their broth. While I thought the pho was pretty ok, I preferred the one from Pho24. The portions here were also a little small.


There was a chao tom (shrimp paste on sugar cane) on the side which tasted quite shrimpy. It reminded me of something that I used to have as a kid at the Prima Tower Revolving Restaurant. They had some shrimp or crab fritter thingy that had a stick of sugar cane stuck in them. The sugarcane in this didn't taste as sweet.

I should give the pho at Madam Saigon a try.