Sai Gon Phở is tucked away in the back of an arcade in Queanbeyan. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Have you ever had one of those moments when you realise your favourite little restaurant, which had felt like a secret, has become a thing?
Walking into Queanbeyan’s Sai Gon Phở prior to 12 pm on a Saturday and being greeted with a full house was the moment I knew I was just one of the crowd.
Tucked down the back of a 1960s open-air arcade running off Queanbeyan’s main street, Monaro Street, these guys are proof that time and consistency pay off.
Having visited this hidden pho restaurant for the best part of 10 years, I’ve watched it steadily grow in popularity. Perhaps the increasing number of hanging lanterns is part of its secret to attracting the masses.
The brightly coloured lanterns appear in the restaurant and line the walkway of the arcade, beckoning you down the alleyway. The lanterns were a welcome reminder of warmer places on my most recent visit to my favourite little haunt on a dark and cold winter’s day. They’re reminiscent of Hoi An in central Vietnam, well-known for its abundance of lanterns.
Sai Gon Pho has been building in popularity for more than a decade. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Attached to the restaurant and sharing a kitchen is Saigon Bakery, a classic Vietnamese/Australian bakery that has been located here for more than 30 years. The two venues are accessed by separate doors.
The bakery is your go-to location for made-to-order bánh mì as well as bakery classics including sausage rolls, pies, bread and sweet treats such as vanilla slices and lamingtons.
The bánh mì, with their super crusty Saigon rolls, traditional pâté and oh-so crispy pork, are an excellent picnic item to take down to Queanbeyan Park on a sunny day. But when you’re hankering for a big steaming bowl of phở, there’s only one place to be – in the restaurant.
I love that the phở menu – with five phở varieties – leads with phở dặc biệt and not phở tái which is the default pho for most Australians.
While the classic straight-up rare beef phở (Phở Tái) is a comforting and familiar option, phở dặc biệt feels like it has all the fun bits missing from phở tái. It still heavily features the rare beef, but it’s accompanied by well-done flank, lovely gelatinous tendon and bouncy beef meatballs.
The other variations of phở on the menu include a roast pork phở I’m yet to try because I struggle to go past the beef, plus a vegetarian version with tofu, a nice addition to share the phở love with our friends of the non-meat-eating persuasion.
The menu boasts five varieties of pho. Photo: Tenele Conway.
As an avid phở eater, I struggle to talk about phở without lamenting a change in Australia’s phở landscape over the last 20 years. Where did the fish sauce go? The condiments that came with phở 20 years ago were more in line with how it’s served in Vietnam. A bowl of chillies, a plate of bean sprouts and herbs and a bottle of fish sauce to dial up your preferred level of funky fish flavour.
In its place, hoisin sauce has appeared. I urge you not to taint the delicate aromatic broth with this overpowering sauce. Hoisin has its place, but it’s not in a bowl of phở.
On the rare day I don’t feel like phở, and it is rare, I dabble in the rest of the menu.
The cơm (rice) menu includes marinated grilled meats served with rice and salad. It might sound simple but the meat (chicken or pork) is deeply marinated and incredibly tender.
I recommend trying the cơm tấm dac biet, which is pork chop, salad and special broken rice with an egg on top. Broken rice, a by-product of the rice milling process, has had one of history’s most notable glow-ups (positive transformations), on par with the oyster, and is now an iconic dish of southern Vietnam.
The gỏi (salads) and bún (rice noodle) menus come with your choice of meats and are surprisingly hearty and generous in the dressing. It’s a refreshing departure from the sad food court bún and gỏi that heavily rely on cabbage, served up by a Vietnamese chain that will not be named.
You can also enjoy bánh mì as a dine-in. It’s passed through a handy little window that connects the two establishments. And if you find your energy lagging, the intense flavours and caffeine hit of a Vietnamese coffee should sort you out.
Sai Gon Phở is in City Arcade, 71 Monaro Street (down the laneway), and is open Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 3 pm.
