Pho Thuy Dong- Red Deer

My love of pho has no borders. It even follows me to Red Deer. After spending the day at Bower Mall, which is a good mall now but I miss MMMMmmmmMuffin and San Fransisco, we decided it was time for lunch. And for Big M and I, this brought on a craving for pho. Mom had taken me to a Vietnamese plade behind the Superstore (where I worked in the early 90s) before, so we went again.

Pho Thuy Dong Vietnamese Restaurant is much bigger and fancier since we were there last. They must be doing well as they have taken over the place next door and now run one of the biggest pho places, with the nicest decor, that I have been in. I said it before with the Momo sushi review, but wow. My favorite pho place in Burnaby is a hole in the wall with some pictures of Vietnam taped to the wall along with menu photos. Nothing like this:




I found it interesting how stepping up the decor made me expect more from the food. When you walk into a stripped down restaurant, you expect stripped down food. I expected fancy food from Pho Thuy Dong. It wasn't fancy, but it was tasty.



Did you spot the other difference..... Forks! No bin of spoons and chopsticks. I wondered if they were going to bring them with the meal or not...

As we do, we started with the spring rolls. Deep Fried Spring Rolls served with fish sauce (5) $5.99



They were okay. They were tasty enough but they could have been cooked longer. I really like spring rolls that are stuffed full of tasty pork instead of fillers.   These were more like egg rolls.



Big M went with his favorite pho: Medium rare beef & beef meatball rice noodle soup $5.99 (they did bring chopsticks for the soup)



He liked it. He would have liked to see more meat (seems to be a theme with us!) but he said the broth was tasty and there was a good portion of noodles. He also used a bit too much of the Sriracha which was fun to watch for Mom and I.

I branched out a bit and chose the: Medium rare beef, Vietnamese ham, beef & pork meatball rice noodle soup- $5.99 (spicy indicator beside this one in the menu)



I really liked this soup. There was just enough spiciness to make it fun, and not painful, to eat. I really wanted to try the Vietnamese ham which was a nice addition to the balls. I didn't enjoy the pork ball as much as the meat ball but a very tasty pho.

Mom had the most interesting pho of the day: Hu Tieu My Tho Style- wonton, shrimp, crab, BBQ pork, Vietnamese ham with transparent noodles- $5.99



That was a good portion of meat! She really enjoyed this soup.

We were happy to be able to have pho in the RD. According to Urbanspoon there are quite a few pho places now. Hooray!



Note to my Mom- Remember how hard it used to be to find a place to eat in Red Deer when I was a vegan? Ah, the crazy times of the early 90s when every salad in Red Deer had meat (and the waiters were confused when I asked them to take it out- "but it's *in* there"), Safeway didn't sell tofu and you wouldn't cook for me. Good times!