Vietnamese is a great lunch because there are a lot of options (rice, noodles, soup, meat, seafood or vegetarian), it’s filling and fairly inexpensive.
Pho Orchid’s clean space below ground level is surprisingly bright, thanks to long windows and oatmeal-coloured walls. Once seated, you’re given menus and order sheet. You write down your order and food arrives not too long after.
House Special Vermicelli ($9.50) consists of Grilled Pork, Spring Rolls, Shrimp Wrapped in Sugar Cane, and Pork Ham Stick, served on vermicelli rice noodles, lettuce, carrots, fresh basil, mint, bean sprouts and bowl of fish sauce.
The grilled pork, tender and sweet, is insanely good. The spring rolls — flaky pastry surrounding moist chicken and veg — are sublime. The “shrimp” is actually deep-fried shrimp paste, but delicious all the same. There is no pork stick in my bowl, but I am wholly satisfied.
How often can you say that?
