Pho Bac (Vietnamese Restaurant)

Pho Bac has a not-so-new space fronting Glorietta 3, beside Subway. It’s shabby-chic-meets-casual-contemporary pretty and I am not sure if such a prettification is affected by competitor Pho Hoa’s efforts to prettify themselves too. Too bad they didn’t commit to the design in order to realize its full potential. We ate there since I am missing Vietnamese food a lot, and while the décor is pretty, the food is pretty sound as well and the service a little bit on the exasperating side.


Exasperating because: (1) the restaurant was empty when we got there and none of the waiters bothered to give us a menu or even ask for our orders as they all huddled up near the kitchen; (2) they served our food in this order: pancit, then the soup, the salad and then the complimentary kropek/kerupuk (fried fish crackers) which I believe should have been served as an appetizer; (3) we had to ask them thrice for additional plates and bowls since these were hefty servings that we would like to share; and (4) we had to ask them for utensils. The staff needed to be trained, and the manager needs to be more attentive if only to live up to the prettified environment. Maybe I am getting old since I found the music annoying and loud. They were playing Sunday rock songs on the radio, and I don’t know when it has became standard practice for restaurants to rely on the radio for ambient music.

Thankfully, the food was generally good. The Chicken Pho wasn’t so fresh as I would have wanted it to be but I suspect they used pre-packed chicken broth for this one.


Their Mixed Seafood Noodles tasted a lot like Pancit Canton and I am somewhat missing the eclectic use of fresh herbs that I remember peppering the crispy noodles I tried before in Hanoi, giving it a more balmy flavor. This was too soy-sauce-ey, salty. But for Pancit Canton, this is still good.


The best dish for the night is the Seafood Salad: mint, basil, nuts and sesame seeds on a bed of greens and mixed seafoods dressed with the classic Nouc Cham (a combination of water, lemon, vinegar, fish sauce and sugar). It’s a good way to cleanse the palate.