Host, Liverpool

Pan-Asian, a restaurant genre to strike fear into the heart of the purist. I'm not really one of those, but I understand their criticisms. Asia is a big place. The two most populous nations on earth have cuisines more varied than some continents, and that's just within their own respective borders. And it's not as if the vast span of Asia outside China and India eats food that's lacking in distinction either.

So can a Pan-Asian restaurant like Host really do justice to such myriad variety, or is it destined to disappoint? The classic jack of all trades but master of none.

A duck and watermelon salad with cashew nuts and thai basil was pleasing to eat on account of its textural contrasts. Fibrous meat, yielding, juice heavy melon and the snap and crunch of nuts and beansprouts. Taste wise it wasn't so much fun. Sweet fruit, sweet-ish meat and a sweet dressing left it one dimensional, needing something acidic for balance, or at least for the advertised basil to be detectable.

I couldn't resist ordering the seared beef pho to follow, partly because I fancied something soupy, and partly because at twelve quid it was by some margin the most expensive pho I've ever seen.

What does the mark up on your average Vietnamese restaurant prices get you? A very fine looking dish with a well stocked platter of garnishes, which although plentiful sadly didn't include any of the more unusual herbs, just regular coriander, mint and basil. The meat was the high point of the dish, a good slab of well seared, blush pink sirloin that wouldn't have been out of place with a bowl of frites. Springy noodles were also a hit.

So far so good, just the broth to taste, and oh... it just tastes of salt. Not offensively so, there's just not much else to it. None of the meaty depths of a good stock, no aromatic star anise back note. Ultimately what you're paying for is the European-isation of the dish, everything else acting as the supporting cast to the big slab of protein in the centre of the plate. Not unpleasant, just not really the point of pho as far as I'm concerned. It should be all about the broth.

Sadly it didn't really add up for me at Host. I hoped that the food would defy expectations, but it just served to confirm my suspicions that pan-Asian restaurants are never the place to go for genuinely good Asian food.  At £24 for two courses, one beer and service it's also not cheap.

Service, I should point out, was excellent. Everyone I spoke to was attentive, polite, and keen to check that everything was ok. Fine, I said, of course. Which it was. You can't really take up your issues with the entire concept with the waiting staff.


5/10

31 Hope Street
Liverpool
L1 9HX

http://www.ho-st.co.uk/

I Am Pho, Manchester

It's banh mi time! You'll find I am Pho, or Vietnamese Pho, or whatever it's called (this isn't really clear), on George Street in Chinatown. It's a basement café, next door but one to the 'Long Legs full strip lapdancing club' whatever on earth that might be.

It appears to be everything a good Vietnamese caff should be. Basic but clean, a fine selection of condiments on the wipe clean tables and a short menu of lovely sounding stuff, pride of place going to the pho. But I wasn't here for the pho this time, I was after a banh mi, the splendiferous Vietnamese sandwich.

A single filling banh mi costs a very reasonable £2.99, and it's 50p more for each extra filling. The best thing to do is just order one with every type of pork in it. That'll be roast pork, Vietnamese pork sausage (a bit like luncheon meat, but in a good way) and pork liver paté. You might think that sounds like a lot of pork, and you'd be right.

It was stuffed to the rafters with pork. Livery pork and slightly chewy pork and tender roast pork. The standard accompaniments were all present and correct with the notable exception of chilli: coriander, cucumber and lightly pickled cucumber and daikon. It really did miss that kick of heat from the chilli though, being just slightly unbalanced towards the rich and meaty side of things. Of course you could argue that's entirely my fault for ordering triple pork, and had I eaten in rather than taken away the problem would easily have been rectified.

The only slight downer was the bread; a fresh and perfectly acceptable regular baguette, but not the lighter, crisper rice flour baguette like they use in Vietnam itself. Lighter bread and a chilli hit and this would have been an outstandingly good sandwich.

The folks in there were absolutely lovely too, they fetched me a cup of tea to sip while I waited. A great new addition, I'll be back to try the pho.

7/10

44 George Street
Chinatown
Manchester
M1 4HF

Little Hanoi, Sheffield

Vietnamese food has well and truly arrived in the north, and not before time. This is one London food trend that's been slow to catch on outside the capital, but one that I wish really would (unlike certain others, like burger joints with sweary menus and queuing for example).

There's lots to love about Vietnamese food, it always seems healthy with the nourishing broths and generous use of herbs but never fails to satisfy with a good dose of meat, carbs and spice. Although the cuisine has plenty more to offer it's to the two most well known meals that I return time and again. Pho, the beef noodle soup of wonders, and Banh mi, one of the finest sandwich creations known to man (a Banh mi can involve no less than three different types of pork so must be amazing).

Manchester and Sheffield had single Vietnamese food outposts until recently, and there's the odd place in smaller towns (Ilkley for one), but we haven't had anything like competition until now. Both Sheffield and Manchester have had new openings recently, with Little Hanoi in the former and Hanoi Quan and I am Pho across the Pennines, about which more tomorrow. I took a trip to Little Hanoi to sample the pho.

The classic rare beef pho at Little Hanoi was very good, the finest I've eaten outside London (where I like Café East at Surrey Quays best), the all important stock offering up deep, savoury satisfaction. The beef, thin slices of flank, was marvellous, tinged pink and delicate in texture but strong on flavour. Springy noodles completed the package.

There's room for improvement on the herbs front though, this was a better effort than Pho 68 over the road but single sprigs of coriander and mint is still a bit lacking. More of both and some of the Vietnamese specific ones (sawtooth herb in particular) and they'll really be on to a winner.

The rare beef pho will set you back £6.80 and everything on the menu is under eight quid. I drank an iced coffee but they are licensed if you fancy a few beers. Service was friendly and the food came fast. It's worth noting that although my pho was great, others haven't been so lucky. Clare from Feast and Glory tweeted a photo of the same dish that didn't look a patch on mine, so they may be a little inconsistent. Go, and hopefully you'll get them on a good day.

8/10

216-218 London Road
Sheffield
S2 4LW

 

Pho 68, Sheffield

Mission 'find pho in Yorkshire' arrived in Sheffield last Friday. Surely Pho 68 would come up trumps. The clue is in the name.

Pho 68 is a Vietnamese Cafe serving 'Traditional Vietnamese and select Pacific rim cuisine'. Their words not mine. I'm not really sure what they're on about with the Pacific rim bit, in practice the lengthy menu comprises a fairly short list of Vietnamese classics (noodle soups, summer rolls, clay pot dishes, grilled meat and rice/noodle plates) and a far longer one of Anglo-Chinese dishes.

We mixed and matched, left to my own devices I'd have stuck to the Vietnamese stuff but AS had a craving for crispy duck. A quarter duck and a Vietnamese pancake was clearly far too much food for a starter as both were enormous, a theme that would continue with the mains. Be warned.

The pancake was stuffed to bursting with beansprouts, other veggies and chicken, and wasn't overly greasy like some of these I've eaten in the past. I was rather pleased we'd chosen the duck once it had arrived, as it was fragrant with lovely crisp skin and still moist flesh. The hoi sin sauce doesn't really do it for me though, it's far too sweet. Give me some chilli bean sauce and I'm happy.

Here it is. The real purpose of the visit to Pho 68. Pho with rare beef and braised beef. It looked the part, and tasted it too. They've got the makings of a really good pho here. The stock was excellent. Deep, aromatic and intensely savoury. Wafer thin slices of beef were rare on arrival but cooked through as time progressed, the gentle poaching keeping them tender. The braised beef (brisket I think) was also sliced thin, but had a stronger, minerally flavour. The tendon running through it was soft and gelatinous speaking of long, slow cooking. The noodles, save for a little gluey clump at the top, were cooked just right.

So all was well with everything that arrived in the bowl, it was the plate of accompaniments that rather let the side down. For me, the thing that can really lift a bowl of pho from the good to the sublime is the plate of things to add. The contrast between the earthy depths of the nourishing broth and the freshness and zip of herbs and citrus can be just the best thing ever (especially when hungover).

You'd expect to get beansprouts, a wedge of lime, some chopped chilli, and as a minimum, a good handful of coriander and mint. There are several other herby possibilities (sawtooth herb is my favourite), but I've never seen anything other than mint and coriander offered outside London. Pho 68 offered up one measly sprig of coriander. To be fair, I didn't ask for extra, maybe the good folk of Sheffield don't want their tea tainting with unnecessary greenery so they don't bother. Next time I'll ask, but more herbs really should be the norm.

Our other main was a Vietnamese chicken stir-fry which was pleasant enough, if a little boring. A more generous hand with the lemongrass and chilli would have perked things up a bit.

It's a casual sort of place but they are licensed so we had a couple of beers each. Including those the bill came to around £34 before tip. Service was efficient but also very friendly. It's a bit of a tricky one to rate this, as some things were excellent (the pho broth, the duck) but others disappointing (the stir-fry, the lack of herbs).

I'll definitely return though, sort the herb issue out and this is best pho I've eaten in the North by a clear distance (ahead of Vnam in Manchester and Viet-Thai in Leeds).

7/10

175 London Road
Sheffield
S2 4LH

www.pho68.co.uk

Viet-Thai-Cuisine, Stanningley, Leeds

I found pho in Leeds! Ever since returning to Yorkshire I've been moaning about the dearth of South-East and East Asian dining options in these parts. It's still proving a bit of a challenge. Thai Aroy Dee have come up with the goods for great Thai food but there's still no sign of Korean or Malaysian, and Vietnamese continued to prove elusive. Until last week that is.

Viet-Thai is a lovely little neighbourhood restaurant in Stanningley. When I paid a visit one lunchtime last week it was clear this is a popular place with the locals. There was a steady stream of customers, most of whom seemed to be on first name terms with Huong, who runs front of house with husband Minh in the kitchen.

I ordered beef pho, upgrading to a large portion because the normal size is listed alongside Tom Yum on the menu as a starter portion. What arrived was still in the small sized bowl  rather than the huge vats pho tends to be served in, but there was a more than generous amount of beef in the dish and I was brought an extra bowl of stock to top up from if I ran dry.

So what about the all important stock? Intensely savoury, quite salty, just a hint of anise and all round good depth of flavour. That, combined with nice, bouncy noodles made me very happy. The beef wasn't the thinly sliced flank or brisket usually used for pho, rather the same stuff they'll be using in the curries and stir-fries - cut into strips and tenderised using cornflour, like Chinese takeaway beef. It was tasty enough though and I ate every last morsel.

The platter of bits and bobs to throw in to the soup included beansprouts, hot chillies, lime, mint and coriander. All standard stuff but a more generous hand with the herbs would have been a bonus.

Service was lovely and the bill was £8.40 including a large pot of jasmine tea (£1.80). I've had better pho, but I doubt a little place like this would sell enough of it to make stocking the little extras worthwhile (pho specific beef, rarer herbs, enormous bowls), and it was still very satisfying. If I lived in Stanningley I'd be a regular. Good food, small, basic, clean, friendly and you can bring your own booze.

7/10

132/134 Bradford Road
Stanningley
Leeds
LS28 6UR

www.viet-thai-cuisine.co.uk