Le Pho

Review

Green is the soup hope

"We had little capital," says Karina Chiang, explaining her decision to set up a Chinese restaurant on Gumpendorfer Straße with her restaurant idea Le Pho. But what sounds a bit like a justification was definitely not a bad move. Not only is the level of gentrification still bearable, but a few pretty interesting restaurants have also settled here: the Indian Nam Nam, the Thai Isaan, the neo-Hungarian Mini, since last year there's been an organic market every Thursday and one of the best butchers in the city is right next door - so: good area!
And what the two very young Chiang siblings have done with the former 80s Chinese restaurant Pazific was definitely not bad either: they left everything that was bearable or at least bizarre (especially this unspeakably powerful metal relief of a Chinese bridge), combined with fresh furniture in light green and white. In general, a lot of things here are very light green and inevitably convey a feeling of freshness, which doesn't go so badly with Vietnamese cuisine. They grew up with it, says Davy Chiang. Her father was a chef from China who fled to Saigon, her mother comes from Taiwan, but the menu at Le Pho remains explicitly Vietnamese. And quite small at that, a few starters, three salads, five noodle dishes and ten variations of the national noodle soup Pho (pronounced "Fau"), which is fine, there's a bit more on the back, but you don't need it. The two baked Vietnamese spring rolls with pork were certainly good, juicy, hot and greasy, delicious. I've never understood when they are served with fresh herbs and a lettuce leaf to wrap them in and when not, at least not this time (€ 2.20). The "shrimp mince" on lemongrass was pleasantly creamy, leek was the most distinct ingredient in the somewhat indifferent mixture (€ 3.60), the cold shrimp rolls are a little more carefully made in Vienna, and the fresh herbs were also missing here (€ 2.90); the glass noodle salad with shrimps, cucumber, carrots and this special sweet and sour peanut sauce dressing was as refreshing as you could get on this freezing cold day (€ 3.80).
"Cold noodles" may sound bland, but in combination with roasted beef, peanuts, herbs and plenty of nuoc mam marinade, this is exactly the opposite (€ 6.50), almost even better than the pho, which we tried in the "deluxe" version with raw, cooked beef processed into something like liver dumplings. The color is striking - not green this time, but rather grey - and the rather spicy star anise and cardamom flavor. To sum up: a new Vietnamese restaurant that specializes in light green decoration, starters, salads and above all noodle soups. Le Pho 6, Gumpendorfer Str. 97, Tel. 01/597 32 26, Mon-Sat 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

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