You’re craving a quick and tasty Vietnamese meal in Newtown and you’ve turned your pockets inside out and found just 10 bucks and a few coins. Where to eat, hey? Try Pho 236. It’ll sort you out. After rattling the building facade by just sliding the door open you’ll notice how plain-Jane the decor is. Nothing much happening on the walls, noisy uncomfortable chairs just about make your ears bleed when you pull them out to sit down. Thank lordie for restaurants that open on Boxing Day. We were hungry!
Oh look, a menu with pictures. Makes life a little easier. Not that I’m the indecisive type.
Mr K. goes for something predictable. Chicken Noodle Soup.
Me, the good old (and yes, they’re are good here) fried spring rolls. Delicate little fingers of filled crisp pastry to start before the spongy-yet-tasty sugar cane prawns arrive.
As with any Vietnamese/Chinese (well, most) restaurant you have the obligatory condiments sitting on the table. Here at Pho you have the choice of freshly chopped red chilli, hoi sin sauce, chilli sauce and soy sauce. And in true Vietnamese tradition, a plate of crispy bean sprouts, lemon and basil. I still miss complimentary herb plates you get in Vietnam. Herbs you struggle to get in this town.
The food here at Pho 236 is nothing fancy, not overly-sized (though not tiny) and quite fresh. Service extends as far as “What would you like?”, “Are you finished?” and “Your bill is $xx.xx”. I don’t expect service other than this at a place like this.
I’ll keep coming back.
chicken noodle soup $7.8; sugarcane prawn with rice noodle $10.5;
spring rolls $4
spring rolls $4
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Those sugarcane prawns look delicious. Thanks for sharing
Phoe 236 is a restaurant I often went to when I lived in Newtown. And I keep coming back although I moved far away from Newtown already. I still don’t know how they can keep the price that low. For the last 5 years, I think the price only increased about 0.5-1 dollar for each dish. Their crispy skin chicken with tomato rice cost less than 8 dollars.
If you come back, you should try their salt and spicy squid. This is one of my favourite dish in the restaurant, and this one is the most expensive dish here, 14 dollars. However, I don’t think their “pho” (noodle soup) or spring rolls meet my standard.
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