Monday, July 19, 2010

My Favorite Pho Restaurant in the City--PPQ

Pho Phu Quoc
1816 Irving St, San Francisco, CA
(415) 661-8869
www.ppqsf.com/

Okay, I don’t know why I never review this place even though I come here very often. PPQ is my favorite pho place in the city so far because it never fails and I know I will always get the consistent and delicious bowl of pho. My family and I found this place because it was conveniently close to where we live and there are always a lot of people waiting outside for seats. When my boyfriend discovered the curry noodle on the menu, oh my gosh, it became one of the restaurant that we visit a lot and keep going back to.
Imperial Rolls - Crispy fried rolls filled with ground pork, taro, carrots, and silver noodles. Served with lettuce, mint leaves and cucumber with nuoc mam/ fish sauce

The imperial roll here is really good. Crispy outer wrap and meat filled but mushy and hot inner fillings. I could taste the taro roots in the imperial roll; it adds a strong delicious flavor to the roll. I like how they give you lettuce to wrap it just so that you can have a more balance mouth-feel for the fried roll and fresh lettuce combination.
Curry Chicken Vermicelli Noodle Soup - Tender chicken breast nuggets in PPQ’s signature spicy coconut milk curry broth with pho

One of my favorite pho has to be this curry chicken one. It supposes to come with vermicelli noodle but my boyfriend and I always request it to be served with pho noodle. I prefer the pho noodle because it is chewier and absorbs and holds the curry soup better. The curry is a spicy red curry and coconut milk, thus very creamy and comforting. They give you generous amount of curry and chicken breast. The chicken is very tender and taste great with the curry.

Papaya Salad with Shrimp - Julienne papaya, basil, and carrots tossed and topped with poached shrimps and peanuts and fried shallots. Nuoc mam dressing.

I also like to order their Papaya Salad with Poached Shrimps. I like how simple, refreshing and light Vietnamese style papaya salad is. It comes with fried shallot and fish sauce. I have had better ones elsewhere, but PPQ’s is not too bad. The only thing is that be careful how much fish sauce dressing you add to the salad because the fish sauce that comes with it is super duper salty.

Another cold "salad" I like from them is the Five Spices Chicken Vermicelli. It is a noodle salad that is served with generous amount of chicken, vermicelli, lettuce, carrots, mints, bean sprouts, peanuts and fish sauce. It is my alternative to a hot bowl of pho on a hot day.

The service at PPQ is pretty okay. My table usually get attended to, and the wait for my food to be served was never long. Just beware that you will most likely walk out smelling like pho noodle though.

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