Pho & Bun
Pho & Bun
76 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6ND
££
Nestled in the midst of Chinatown lies Pho and Bun: a subtle and modest Vietnamese restaurant from the same team behind Holborn’s Viet Eat. Whilst the area is awash with delicious food, Pho and Bun stands as one of the few Vietnamese joints in the area: a smart choice if you want the fun fried flavours of the east, without as much grease and guilt afterwards. Whilst browsing dinner options to see a friend in town, I came across a Time Out deal for an ‘Exclusive 4 Course Meal’ costing £22.95. This price for 4 courses seemed like an absolute steal, so all 3 of us purchased the voucher and we booked for the following Tuesday evening.
The upstairs of the restaurant is buzzing and packed: much like many of the popular eateries in Vietnam. They have kept traditional dining themes, and people are packed onto teeny tiny tables with minimal legroom and dangerous balancing acts going on. Annoyingly, we were sat downstairs on a slightly hidden away table with no one else there for the first 15 mins, not exactly the best atmosphere... This area soon filled up, and whilst service wasn’t overtly friendly, it was quick and easy.
To order, we were given a decent selection. We all chose the Pork and Crab Spring Rolls, as well as the Sticky Honey Chicken Wings to start. Both of these options were delicious: perfectly crispy, not at all greasy, and accompanied by potentially my favourite thing about Vietnam – the delicious nuoc cham sauce. My only complaint would be that there could have been more of the spring roll and maybe one more chicken wing (at the time I didn’t really notice the small size of the portions, but having read reviews online these are apparently a lot smaller than the standard non-voucher sizes, which I think is not only cheeky but actually a bit of a scam.)
For main, we were equally unoriginal and again all chose the same option of the BBQ honey belly pork bao burgers. These were good, although contained much more leafy foliage than meat, and the meat itself was quite fatty and chewy. Flavour-wise, it was no doubt very tasty, however, the quality and portion size could have been improved. For dessert, Tom and I went for the Vietnamese Flan Caramel (essentially a crème caramel surrounded by sweet coffee), and Hope chose the Coconut Snow. The flavours of these were less impressive than the rest of the meal, and I think could have been a lot more inspired.
Looking online out of curiosity, I discovered that we only really saved around a fiver – meaning that this ‘exclusive four course’ meal should really be renamed ‘free beer with your grub’. The setting and food at Pho and Bun does hold authenticity to the real thing in Vietnam, however, the overall experience is forgettable. Top tips: go for the small plates, as these were the best, and order the Pho instead of Bao Burgers to get more bang for your buck.
OVERALL RATING: ***
https://vieteat.co.uk/pho-bun/
