Spicy Beef Noodle Soup (Bún Bò Huế)

I had a very delicious noodle soup at my cousin's tonight. She puts so much effort into preparing this dish, which uses many ingredients. She also puts aside a little broth before adding chilli which is great for the kids. As you can see in this picture, her version of Bún Bò Huế looks deceivingly mild. As a lover of spicy foods, I did add a generous helping of the prepared chilli-sate sauce and also extra herbs, shredded veges and bean sprouts. MMmmmm it was delicious! 

Here is a link to a great blog by Wandering Chopsticks and if I am ever brave enough to attempt it one day, I will definitely be following the recipe on that site. 

Phở Real Vietnamese Noodle House, Campbelltown

Phở đặc biệt - Beef Special Rice Noodle Soup

I am quite picky when it comes to Phở as nothing beats mum's cooking. Except, as a loyal customer of An Restaurant in Bankstown, where the service is super-fast, I doubted that I would find another restaurant that would be on par. 

Phở Real claimed to serve the best Phở in Campbelltown. And rightly so! I have tried others places in the area and am pleased to say this one is my favourite. As far as I'm concerned, they passed all the checkpoints when it comes to great food service. 

1. Their beef soup is delicious. 
2. The staff are friendly, attentive and keen to please. 
3. The restaurant is clean.
4. Good value for money as their soups are large sizes. 

I know, it's not really much to ask, however you would be surprised how many restaurants don't meet all four of my checkpoints. Furthermore, the cook seems to take great pride in creating authentic, healthy, Vietnamese dishes. One day, the owner actually came up and asked for my opinion on his menu. This restaurant strives for excellence and yes, they can have my vote!

I am so glad I finally found a yummy and affordable place for lunch. Hmm, now I just need to find a lunch buddy!

Trang Vietnamese Restaurant, Wollongong

I have to admit that I’ve only ever been to this place once and I doubt I will ever be going back. I was expecting traditional Vietnamese food and was disappointed by the quality and lack of knowledge of ingredients required for even the simplest dishes. To make matters worse, they couldn’t even cook the food properly. My friend ordered combination noodle soup and the chicken was still raw and the noodles soft, soggy and overdone.

Co May Vietnamese Restaurant, Wollongong

This is the place to go if you are looking for traditional Vietnamese food which is cooked and prepared authentically and not trying to pretend it's something which it's not. I ordered rice paper rolls for an entree and they were delicious. (Nothing beats my home-made rice paper rolls, but these do!). The spring rolls are also yummy. So are the noodles. Actually there hasn't been anything which I didn't like. This is the best Vietnamese Restaurant I've tried in Wollongong.