Song Huong is a Vietnamese restaurant located on Nanaimo and 1st avenue. I had a meeting here with Popcorn, otherwise, I wouldn’t have noticed this place at all. I have to be quite honest – as in my last post about Vietnamese food – that I am not necessarily a big fan of the Pho (Beef Noodle soup). I’m not entirely sure what puts me off, I think its the fact that I don’t enjoy the soup base (I would literally have to put the entire plate of fixings, hot sauce and hoisin for it to taste good). Most of the times, I get the fried or BBQ plate – which I still feel is not worth getting because it tastes to similar to some Filipino fried and BBQ plates (which can be easily made at  home). That being said, I can appreciate a good bowl of Pho.


I was highly entertained with the fact that all the Chinaware had their respective English and Vietnamese name indicating what was in them.

Today, I had the Vietnamese Ice Coffee with Condensed Milk. It’s this wonderful contraption of a metal filter on top and an ice cold glass with condensed milk at the bottom. You let the coffee drip through, stir the mixture and add ice to it. But be warned – it’s very strong!!

I eat my Pho soup kinda weird, I like squeezing a lot of hoisin sauce onto the spoon they give me for the soup and top it off with hot sauce.

Most of the Pho soups range from $2.75-$7 for a small (which is quite a lot) and $4.75-$8 for a large (for more hungrier people). They also have an assortment of rice dishes, vermicelli dishes and special dishes. Some other reviews I’ve read up were for a 7 course meal of beef which is about $25.00.

But I wasn’t feeling as adventurous, as the weather was cold and I wanted something to warm me up. I ordered a small Pho, with rare beef and flank. I enjoyed my bowl of Pho here, the meat was soft and tender and the noodles were not mushy or overdone. When I eat Pho, I like putting in the basil leaves, bean sprouts and lime, as well as using the hoisin sauce and hot Sriracha sauce. I think next time, I’m going to try the fish sauce with it though.

My husband ordered a rice dish that was barbecued chicken, shredded radish, “meatloaf” and shredded pork. He told me that he enjoyed the chicken, but was kind of disappointed with the meatloaf as it had more noodles and vegetables than meat.

We also ordered two deep fried rolls and they were okay. They were fried crispy, but had very little flavour to them.

Overall, this is a pretty good place to come for Pho, I can’t say the same for the rice dishes but I’ve never tried it yet. The prices are good and the place is fairly big, so they can accommodate a big group.

They also take Visa, Mastercard, Debit and Cash – wow!

Food: 
Although I don’t enjoy Pho, I did like it here. The noodles, broth and even the meat were tastier than other Pho places I’ve been to. I was a little disappointed with the lack of flavour from the rolls, but I’ll know for next time to just order the Pho.

Ambiance : 
It’s not exactly the nicest place to eat, but for being a hole in the wall, it’s pretty standard. There’s a big seating area so they can accommodate a lot of people and it’s not too gritty.

Value: 
Getting a bowl of Pho for under $5 is always a deal to me. Although it’s a small bowl, it can easily fill someone up.

Service: 
The service is standard, seat yourself and they take your order. Not much else. They are friendly though.

OVERALL: 
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