Receta Pho Bien (North Shore City, New Zealand)

by Ang Sarap

I like discovering hidden places like this, unpopular underrated establishments that needed to be known. I might be wrong but I am speaking for the majority, since places like this can be popular with the nationals of the foreign cuisine they represent. Pho Bien is located in a quite hard to find location in Wairau tucked inside and beside the small factories and Warehouses of North Shore called Korea Town. We discovered this place because one time we were invited on one of our friend’s birthday celebration. They serve Vietnamese dishes, similar to what Hansan serves, there are even comparisons with Hansan and suggests this is a better place. For me they have both pros and cons but yes, they both do serve good food. What I like though on this place is that they serve steamboat which is good for groups from 3 or more, the ingredients include a combination of seafood, meat, vegetables and noodles, and if that is not enough then you can customize it by adding extra ingredients. For a group of four the large steamboat costs $80.00 which I think is reasonable considering the amount of ingredients given, $20.00 each is not cheap but I guess it’s worth it. The amount of meat and vegetables can cater for one more extra person. Ingredients includes large prawns, fish balls, wontons, surimi, tofu, beef, pork belly, mussels, squid bean sprouts, bok choy, noodles, broccoli, cabbage, mushrooms and banana blossoms. It is then served with your choice of broth from the most basic one to the spicy one. And if that is not enough you can also finish it with some cold dessert like this Korean shaved ice called Bingsu, yes, they are in Korean town so it’s just OK to sell this in a Vietnamese restaurant. Overall, we do like the food, like I said its quite good for groups but sometimes large groups tend to be noisy so their usual diners will find this a nuisance like the last time we were there, we just got some odd stares from their patrons. So, if you are a large group just be mindful of your noise levels. Pho Bien   Address: Korea Town, 75 View Rd, Wairau Valley, Auckland 0627 Phone: +649 444 2223 Recommended Share