Pho Restaurant at The Village

Pho (pronounced "fuh") is a traditional Vietnamese noodle soup that by now is loved around the world.

It typically consists of a rich, slow-simmered broth made from beef or chicken bones and aromatic spices like star anise, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and onion with flat rice noodles, thinly sliced beef (pho bò) or chicken (pho gà) with fresh herbs and toppings such as basil, cilantro, bean sprouts, lime wedges, and sliced chili peppers.

People often customise their bowl by adding hoisin sauce, sriracha, or fish sauce to suit their taste.

The rich soup is commonly eaten for breakfast in Vietnam, but is enjoyed at any time of day elsewhere in the world, including in any of the three Vietnamese restaurants in Reading.

We've previously reviewed the other two, so it was high time to write up the most popularised of them. Pho was started by an English couple after a visit to Vietnam in 2005  (incidentally on St John St in Clerkenwell, where I had my office for many years) and now has over fifty locations around the UK.

They are the anchor tenants at the front of The Village food mall and their takeaway service seems incredibly popular if the toing and froing of couriers is any evidence.

I was catching up with Phil to discuss the projects we are working on. He has recently, quite rightly, picked a fight with Heathrow airport over how slow they have been in adopting Auracast and helping hard of hearing people use technology to navigate the giant airport. (The UK is way behind Germany, for example, in adopting this Bluetooth-based technology.)

We decided to pass on the usual spring rolls and Pho dishes and try some different things.

The starter list is short - spring rolls, summer rolls and we alighted on the pork meatballs and morning glory.

The pork meatballs were different from those I have had in the past (or make myself) - they had a light batter - and came with the usual parsimonious Pho quantity of lettuce, no coriander and no cold noodle and a sprig of mint. Usually I would wrap them, as you do spring rolls, in all the above and dip in the nam doc or peanut sauce.

And a word on the sauce. I have spent years optimising my version and I am as fussy as a Yorkshire person is about their puddings or an Italian is about carbonara on this one. The Pho version is passable but bland. Perhaps they are catering for all tastes. There are plenty of condiments on the table, including pickled chillies. I longed for some fresh lime too to sharpen up the sauce a bit. Above all I would argue that it is too diluted and lacking in fish sauce.

The pork balls were not good - coating them did not improve on the usual meaty caramelisation and they were both oversalty and had far too much lemongrass, which is one of those ingredients that is lovely in balance but cloying if you go a modicum too far.

The morning glory was nice and garlicky - flash fried in the wok. Simple and fresh, but again with too much salt to my taste. It is a long time since I have eaten it and will probably order it again, but as a side to drier dishes such as fried rice.

Talking of which, for mains Phil had the chicken fried rice and I became a bit adventurous and ordered the tofu and brisket in crab and tomato sauce.

What can you say about chicken fried rice? I love the stuff and had it once a week in uni - it was the only way I could keep on any weight after the awful cafeteria food which resulted in one Belgian overseas student throwing her whole tray at the serving counter, exclaiming 'Ziz iz Shit!' and storming out. Any of you who had to suffer institutional food in the 70s and 80s will, I am sure, relate.

Phil seemed very content with his choice and cleared his generous serving.

Meanwhile I was really enjoying my fishy soup which was a bit like a bouillabaisse (not surprising given the French influence on their former colonial cuisine).

It went surprisingly well with the fluffy albeit somewhat tasteless blocks of tofu and the surprisingly soft brisket on a bed of rice noodles. This time there were plenty of coriander sprigs and lettuce shreds to add the signature Vietnamese freshness to the dish.

As ever at Pho the quantity was very generous and I barely finished half the dish. Largely, I suspect, because I was pontificating about the failures of local media to poor Phil. Fair dues, given his experience I really am preaching to my granny about sucking eggs (where the heck does that expression come from?)), he ate his rice and nodded, wearily.

Phil had a coke and I had a lovely apple, mint and lime juice which was even better than the fresh apple juice served at Bakery House (or Lebanese Flavours as it is now called). I would come back just for that.

The trouble with noodle soup is that it is not doggy bag food. By the time you next want to tuck into it, the noodle has gobbled up too much of the sauce and become mushy and nothing quite tastes right. This is food to be eaten fresh.

So, the trick at Pho is two starters and then share a main, provided you can agree on flavours and meat or veg. Or just plan to have something left over for the next day that's not soupy.

Probably best to do it with a significant other. (If Lady & The Tramp were remade today there's a fair chance that it would be noodles, not spaghetti that would provide the defining scene.)

There were plenty of people in - lots seemed to be on a working lunch and the speed of delivery from the kitchen and the friendliness and efficiency of the staff makes that more than feasible than in many local restaurants.

The prices are keen - starters well under a tenner and mains all around the mid teens. Our meal, with drinks and service, came in under fifty quid.

Pho is a slick operation with good food and too much seasoning. I will inevitably be back soon now that I've discovered some new favourites. Out of the three local players it worryingly seems to be the best.