Pho Hung Vuong

128 Hopkins Street, Footscray
Phone 03 9689 6002

It’s not often that Mellie and I venture out to the Western ’burbs unless it is for a specific purpose, like when we travelled to (insert Franco Cozzo voiceover) Foot-des-Kray a couple of weeks ago for The Go Show, which was part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival.  When we do Go West, we love to avail ourselves to the local treats like Forges of Footscray, and foodie experiences that previously included super spicy Ethiopian and old school Italian.  This time round, there was only one thing we craved: the Vietnamese beef noodle dish that, like Cher, is known only by one word – pho. 

We’d heard good things about Hung Vuong from comments on this blog as well as the venerable pho-obsessed site Noodleoodle.  Located on the main drag of Hopkins Street, Hung Vuong turned out to be a large and very modern looking space, dispensing el cheapo laminex in favour of quite nice looking tables.  And what would a pho shop be without two large plasma TVs showing the “latest” music clips from the 80s?  All up, it was a very nice place to dine; even the toilets were modern and the cleanest that I’ve ever seen in a pho place.  Menu’s are hard to come by, so just choose from the menu on the wall and flag down a waiter to order.  We started with some spring rolls, which were very tasty and went a treat with the iceberg lettuce and tangy dipping sauce.  The fillings of the springys here were a cut above many places I’ve tried – meaty, delicate and redolent of spices. 

Mellie had the classic sliced rare beef soup noodle.  Just look at those slices of quality beef slowly poaching in the steamy, rich broth.  A plate of ultra fresh bean sprouts, Vietnamese basil and lemon slices provided fun customisation options.

I had the sliced beef and tripe.  Tripe is something that Mellie can’t stomach (boom boom), but I love the crunchy texture that only quality tripe can offer.  The thing that qualifies pho as Melbourne’s soul food is the broth, and the one at Hung Vuong was certainly up there with the very best I’ve had.  As you can see in the previous pics, the rich beefy broth was flavoured with onions, both original and spring, and spice flavours like star anise complete this awesome soup.  Sure, MSG is present too, but this is more toned down than some other pho places.

Also popular here is a three colour drink -  a refreshing concoction of coconut cream, red beans, green glass jelly, which is pretty much a drink version of the South East Asian dessert chendol.

Pho Hung Vuong is definitely a premier pho shop.  I highly recommend it if you’re ever out Footscray way!