Asian food has really taken India by storm. While it was limited to Indo-Chinese and Thai, now Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysian foods have become the new comfort eat out foods. While a restaurant each for the cuisines may not be feasible for all, the Pan Asian minus Japanese, I guess is going to be in for a while and seems to have taken out the sudden craze for mid eastern cuisine that was there for a bit.
Va Pho is a jugalbandi of everything. Is it a fine dine restaurant? Nope. Is it a coffee shop? Nope. It is a fun space that happens to serve food. There is an auto right at the entrance for photo-ops and selfie crazes. Walls full of graffiti. A large space with seats on three sides and two round tables in one corner that will be perfect for a large group that wants to nibble on food while playing scrabble. Oh, you don't have to take your scrabble with you, they give it you. And chess. And some more board games. A high bar table with no bar! Comfy corner tables with some privacy. It is indeed a platter of things. A real fun atmosphere with a menu that comes with all inclusive prices, so what you see is what you pay.
I was there twice. Once with the wife and once with friends on the invite of Va Pho so I am going to try to focus on dishes. The soup, both times I had the Beef Pho soup. Light and warm, this definitely wasn't the best pho and doesn't stack upto Benjarong's festival pho, but it is not pretending to be that either. Glass noodles were yum on the invite visit while the Spicy Malaysian fried rice was fantastic on my personal visit. It was really really spicy, but the tongue asked for more. Inspired by the Jungle Fried rice in Benjarong, the fried rice here is brilliant.
The bau buns are the next best things. Super soft, loaded buns with nice smoky chicken, but the thousand island type dressing spoilt it for me, so I asked for one without it and loved it without the sauce on top. The chicken satay for us with a modified peanut sauce was nice. I didn't really like the dim sums. Rendang with coconut rice was also nice and tangy. The beef was soft and pretty much melt-in-the-mouth.
Va Pho is above Tex-Mex and Hot Breads on RK Salai, but with a dedicated entry via the side road, but valet parking is on the main road.
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