By Mr. Taste
My family used to come here at least once a week to briefly forget those cold winter nights. Going to ‘Pho’ was synonymous to going to ‘Pho An’. When I was really really small, this phrase was thrown around so much that I actually believed Pho An to be ‘the’ original pho, the mother pho from which all other inferior Pho’s were derived and then spread across the world, developed after years of research by a brave visionary in a Bankstown kitchen who came up with the ingenious idea to put some beef and noodles together into a soup enriched with the secretest herbs and spices, creating the greatest food known to man.
Large Pho Tai (Rare beef) $13
Sad to say, we haven’t been very often in the last 7-8 years because of the price jump ($13 a bowl). Plus, parking in the giant carpark next door can be a pain (no matter what time we go, we have to park on the roof). But still it is always the first port of call after an overseas journey and the fond memories of the great meals we’ve had here always draw us back, regardless of the price or whether our last visit was nowhere near as awesome as how we imagined it would be.
Pho An - Bankstown
The service at An Restaurant is unparalleled to any restaurant in Sydney. The mechanical efficiency in which the restaurant is run is an engineer’s dream (as opposed to the café system, which is an engineer’s hell). Aptly nicknamed ‘McPho’, every process you can imagine has been refined down to the n-th degree. The experience of dining here feels like being a minuscule cog in a perpetual machine designed to take in the hungry, feed them and then get them out of there as quick as possible. Rarely do you need to wait for a table here – you sit down and order, your pho comes less than a minute later (not joking here), you be quiet and slurp down your delicious noodles as fast as you can and then get on your way.
Bean Sprouts, Basil, Lemons and Chilli
The pho here is beyond unique. The peerless quality of the stock comes from hours of simmering with herbs and spices, which work to release all the wonderful flavours that put Pho An’s soup distinctly ahead of others. And with only Pho on the menu, you certainly know where Pho An’s priorities lie. Regulars don’t come here for the service or the convenience, they all come here for the delicious pho, and only the pho, which this place has refined to near perfection.
Pho Tai
Pho An Restaurant
27 Greenfield Parade
Bankstown NSW 2200
# 02 9796 7826
Monday to Sundays from 7am – 9pm
