We’ve been to a few Vietnamese restaurants in Toronto and one in Montreal and its the only restaurant nationality I’ve ever seen the self-serve order check! The menu items are all labelled with numbers and you write your item number, size and price on the form. There is NO TALKING. Now my friend Barb, from Profiteroles and Ponytails can attest, I’m not a big fan of small talk – but I must admit, I find this custom is quite strange! Even the Japanese establishments we frequent with freshly landed Japanese wait-staff suffer through the language difficulties without the order-by-number form. Is this custom world-wide? Do other cultures use it? Please do comment and let me know!
My favourite Vietnamese place close to work (Asia 21) know me as #102 small, I don’t even have to order. I just walk in (OK, I fill out the form, but she places the order to the kitchen before I fill it out) hand the lady my cash (they don’t take credit or debit) and they hand me my soup to go. Rare Beef Pho (pronounced Fa). I could eat this every day, except for the sodium content (my rings are tight even thinking about it!)
Pho Huong is a relatively upscale Vietnamese restaurant; it has great lighting and very nice contemporary décor (compared to Asia 21 which still has light blue ‘fake ship motif’ décor, remnants from the predecessor Greek place, and fluorescent lighting). And, it’s close to our hood, it’s a bit further north than Bloor West Village in The Junction. It’s usually packed and this past Saturday was no different. JT and I stopped in for lunch because it was a drizzly, snowy grey day and I wanted soup! And they give you free tea!
I order the Pho with rare beef; I love this soup because it takes time to eat it. First, you have to add all of the inclusions: sorrel, thai basil, a squirt of lime, bean sprouts (if you wish, I usually don’t) and Sriracha Sauce and Hoisin Sauce. JT’s polished off half his lunch before I even start! And then the soup is really, really hot, so you can’t guzzle (not that I would :-P).
Overall rating of Pho Huong (in my opinion. I’m rating this compared to other Asian restaurants in Toronto): Decor 4/5, service 3.5/5, food 4/5, Value 4/5, Noise: 5/5 (1 being very noisy, and 5 being very quiet).
Disclaimer: We purchased our meal for full price and my opinions just that, my opinions.
I just made my Pho last week and it took ages but was so rewarding! 😀 And I’ve had to tick a form at some yum cha restaurants but they will help you if you want it 🙂
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I actually adore home made pho, Lorraine, the salt content of the restaurant made kills me! JT makes a really tasty one!
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The food sounds delicious…and I’ve NEVER heard of the practice of your writing your own order check! Kind of fun, tho…in a I’ve-never-tried-it kind of way!
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Eva that soup looks really delicious. I had a thai noodle soup for lunch, but I would have gladly swapped it for this soup. I wish this restaurant was a little closer to me. Oh yes, and it is true you are not a small talk kind of girl — why talk when a hand signal will do??? You are good at conversing with people you know well, both on and offline though. 🙂
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I love Pho and have been to a number of restaurants here that serve it any number of ways. Yes, there can be language problems but never have I been asked to check the menu items I want. I think I’d prefer some conversation, even if rudimentary.
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I agree John, but it really makes them efficient! You’ll have to let me know the places you would recommend in the windy city!
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I only do those menus at sushi places. Such fun to make those checks!
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I’ve never seen it at sushi places, Greg, but Maria mentioned her All You Can Eat Sushi place does it too!
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I’ve seen the self-serve check system in asian countries. It’s great if you know what you want, not so good if you want advice or if you want to make some customisations to your order?
One step on from this are vending machine order systems? They common in Japan. At the entrance of a restaurant is a big back-lit sign with photos, text, buttons and option to pay. You pick your meals, pay, receive a ticket and sit down. When your meal is ready, it is delivered to your seat. Staff don’t take orders or handle cash and I suppose counting up the orders at the end of the day is just button-push away. Do you think this is the way of the future?
Here’s a photo I found online:
http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-photo/andreazl/1/1257110791/restaurant-where-you-order-from-a-vending-mach.jpg/tpod.html
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Wow, that’s pretty frightening, but it takes the error factor totally out of the picture! I’m discovering the self-check must be a Canadian thing!
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hmmm… a pho pas to speak at a restaurant? ;). I’m a self-professed introvert and even I would find that disquieting….. Thanks for the review Eva! Our family will be back in Toronto in March for the NDP convention so I’m enjoying your reviews… And, striking coincidence, my husband and I went out for Pho noodles on Saturday night!! Charles and I on parsnips, you and I on Vietnamese… doesn’t the universe work in amazing ways? :).
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It certainly is interesting, Kelly! There is another nicely decorated Vietnamese place I’d like to try on Dundas West! Is your husband a politician? Jack’s shoes will indeed be difficult to fill.
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We have several Vietnamese restaurants around here and none of them have a number/silent ordering system. Pho and summer roles are my favorites! Okay, now I’m craving Pho.
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So I guess it must be a Canadian thing, Betsy! I hope you have a place close to home!
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Hi Eva,
The soup looks so yummy. I haven’t been to a Vietnamese restaurant in a long time. That’s what I will do this weekend. Really craving this food.
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I do hope you are able to go Asmita, it’s so tasty!
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I want to try pho one of these days, but every time I think of going, I see my favourite sushi restaurant 2 blocks away and keep driving. 🙂 It sounds very tasty … I love hot soups to be served HOT. And, I’ve never heard of actually having to write out your own bill. Your order, yes, at the all you can eat sushi restaurants you fill out your order sheets as you also do at the dim sum places Mon thru Fri (on Sat and Sun the boys come by with trays from which to select your dishes).
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Interesting, Maria, I’ve never been to an all you can eat Sushi place! You should try Pho next time, it’s a difficult choice for me between the Udon Soup and Pho!
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I have 4 different AYCE sushi places within a 30 min drive but I’ll have to try the pho. Maybe this weekend.
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Hi Eva – I LOVE pho – I think it’s my favourite thing to eat out and I go quite a bit to quite a few Vietnamese restaurants in Chinatown in Paris. I can definitely say that I’ve never seen that ordering system here, and in one of the places I quite enjoy the interaction with the owners because they remind me quite a lot of my parents (aside from the fact that my parents aren’t Vietnamese 😀 )
Everything about the soup is wonderful, and if yours was half as good as mine normally is then I know it would be excellent. Do you get onion with yours too? We get a small bowl of extra raw onion which has been soaked in vinegar for a few hours before – that’s also a great addition!
Great review, and the soup looks great!
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Your favourite place sounds endearing. I’ve never had the pickled onion with this soup before, Charles, but I do think I would love it. I’ll have to check out China Town when we visit Paris later this year!
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Great review…I’ve been looking for some new Pho restaurants around my apartment to try. I’ve got a few on my list. This place sounds great, and the food looks yummy!
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Thanks Caroline, I find Yelp a great tool for finding new restaurants; mainly foodies write about it.
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God how I do love Pho. There is a awesome little place here in SLC that is run by two elderly sisters from Vietnam. Sooooo good. 🙂
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That’s the ticket, Jed, I love these family run places; always the freshest ingredients, they would only serve to their families.
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I have never heard of that self-serve check system, but I haven’t dined out much recently. I am a chicken pho gal myself. I love all of the fresh herbs and sauces to play with.
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I hope they don’t serve the chicken raw, Sharyn, that would be a bit scary for me. I’ll have to give it a try sometime, though!
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No, no — no raw chicken: you get chicken cooked in hot broth, plus all of the usual suspects on the side so that you can customize your soup with lime, peppers, basil, cilantro, etc.
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Sounds like this was a good place. I’ve never eaten Vietnamese food before. I’m sure we’ll get around to trying it sooner or later. Perhaps I should visit a restaurant first to do a bit of “research.” 😉
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You should definitely try it Kristy, you won’t be disappointed.
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Great review I am wishing I had a pot of that soup with the beef! It looks amazing
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Thank you Jessica. I could eat that soup all the time!
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I think going to a Pho restaurant during your winter would be the perfect escape from the cold. I love how the soup comes out really hot and then you throw in all the other ingredients. It’s a great way to eat soup and so fresh! I’ve not heard of the silent waitering/ordering system. Unless I’m mistaken I don’t think it’s reached here yet.
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You are absolutely right Charlie, I love that the broth is so hot that it cooks the beef; it’s definitely a warming soup (I’m usually sweating by the end of it!)
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