To meet friends on a Friday night curry was ruled out by one of the party being on a health drive (don’t ask) so instead we opted for Vietnamese. Having been to a good local independent recently I thought it’d be interesting how the Vietnamese experience would compare in London’s top chain.

This Phô is in the Westminster stomping ground of Gurt Tichfield Street so on a Friday it’s busy. But they managed to squeeze us in. Sadly they’d run out of a couple of the starter specials but a prawn summer was good and fresh while the squid bits in sauce were also yummy if not entirely generously portioned. A big bottle of Vietnamese beer did the trick on the liquid front and then I was ready for my Phô.

It was a good Phô, everything was in its right place and it enough chilli to give me the watery eyes. The service was fine if of that ‘we don’t want to hurry you but we’re definitely going to need your table if you hang around too long’ variety and a rackety noisy room in this area at this time is par for the course. It was good enough but I’d rather do this kind of thing locally than in town in future. But wait a minute, what about Bang! Bang! up the road … mebbe I’ll give that a try next.

6/10

To see where else I’ve eaten (or now haven’t) in 2016 go to the GoogleMap here

London Restaurants Fitzrovia London Phô Restaurant Review Vietnamese