A Pho to Remember?

Dinner last night -- rare beef pho at Chua Lam's Pho in Central

Yesterday my colleague and I finished an assignment in Central just before 6pm and she was wondering where to get a cheap bite to eat.

I suggested Tsui Wah, the cha chaan teng chain, but she said "no" right away. Then I remembered the famous food writer Chua Lam had opened a pho shop nearby and suggested we check it out.

Food critic and restaurateur Chua Lam at his restaurant

Called Chua Lam's Pho, with the tagline "A bowl of pho to remember", is on Wellington Street in a two-storey building with minimalist decor, complemented with beer bottles cut to have plants in them. There's a variety of seating and even more upstairs so we went up to get a table near the corner. The menu is pretty straight forward.

If you want to splurge, there's the "special beef pho" for HK$128, apparently with wagyu beef, but we stuck to the "rare beef pho" for HK$88.

Or you can have a basic beef pho for HK$68 and add toppings like raw beef, beef shank, brisket, tendon, beef ball, and tripe.

There are also other dishes like fried spring rolls, or rice paper salad rolls with fish and mango, or Thai pomelo salad -- what is that doing there! We ordered a dish of stir fried morning glory.

While we were waiting for our food to arrive, we sipped on the complimentary glasses of water and quickly realized they had a sweet peanut flavour! It's obviously a ploy to get customers to order drinks as well, which is what we did -- a young coconut for my colleague, a preserved plum and lime soda for me.

The ground floor interior of the shop

The food arrived quickly and in large bowls, and come with small cups filled with basil leaves, bean sprouts, lime wedge and fresh chillis. When the place first opened, everyone was raving about the soup base, and I have to say it has a round, flavourful beef taste, and wasn't oily.

Meanwhile the portion of morning glory was much larger than we expected and a bit on the spicy side, but still delicious.

My drink had a fake green syrup in it, probably a lime syrup which was completely redundant, while my colleague enjoyed her drink and the thick coconut meat inside.

In the end our bill came to HK$360 for two, a cheap and cheerful dinner.

Chua Lam's Pho
UG/F, 15-25 Wellington Street
Central
2325 9117

Picture of the Day: Hong Kong Style Milk Tea

Milk tea with condensed milk at the bottom

Every cha chaan teng in Hong Kong has its own secret recipe on how to make milk tea. It depends on what kind of tea leaves they use to brew the tea, how much milk is added, what kind of milk, and how much sugar.

As a result everyone has his or her own particular preferences of where they like to have their favourite caffeinated drink.

My friend recently took me to Wai Kee Noodle Cafe 维记加菲粉面 in Sham Shui Po where we had her favourite milk tea.

Milk tea champagne at Tsui Wah

Actually it's called 茶酒 or "milk tea wine" because it's a bit more expensive and smoother because at the bottom of the mug is a layer of condensed milk that is sweeter than the usual milk tea.

And it's so addictive. I couldn't stop drinking it, which of course left me feeling jittery afterwards from the strong tea and the extra sugar.

Well known cha chaan teng chain Tsui Wah has taken the idea of "milk tea wine" and calls it "milk tea champagne", even serving it in a glass bottle complete with a wine bucket with ice to keep it cool... and sophisticated for a cafe...