17 August 2009

Pho Ba Le before David Copperfield: Vietnamese, Lidcombe (8 August 2009)

22 Joseph Street, Lidcombe NSW 2141


Cheap & Cheerful

Before heading to see the very theatrical and entertaining illusions of David Copperfield at Acer Arena it was a quick dinner at my dad's preferred little cheap and cheerful eatery when he's visiting Lidcombe for Mahjong. It's clean and tidy and has flasks of hot tea awaiting your pour. My dad's a fan of their special beef soup but today we decide sharing a few other dishes with the family. The dish standout I preferred tonight was their soft shell crab which had a nice crispy outer shell and was quite tasty. The crispy chicken and egg noodle soup was good value as well as the combination and prawn stir fry noodle dishes. I've had better chicken pho soup and their chicken meat is a little on the dry side but came with fresh sprouts and Vietnamese mint. The spring rolls perfect outer appearance didn't quite deliver due to a fairly bland inner taste.

I very much enjoyed David Copperfield's show which had many illusions that stumped me including the fan illusion, floating rose and slow mo duck but I can now finally sleep having found out how they were done. He's latest laser illusion looks so cool but wasn't performed. I lost sleep being stumped by this one too but searching Google for answers saved me from my sleepless nights again.

David Copperfield nose bleed seats at Acer Arena $117. I guess any trick from this distance would have been a miracle to see :-)

Salt and Pepper Soft Shell Crab $8

Seafood Spring Roll $6 (4)

Crispy Chicken with Egg Noodle Soup $8.80


Chicken with Rice Noodle Soup $7.70 (small)


Combination and Vegetables Rice Noodle $8.90

King Prawn and Vegetables Egg Noodles $11.80

Pho menu

Sauces and dips

Table condiments


Dining

6 comments:

Adrian said...

Hi Simon- the soup looks great. Lately, I've been opting for egg noodles instead with my beef pho. Not sure if that would suit all tastebuds though!!

Cheers Adrian @ Food Rehab: The Tastebud Diaries

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Aww no you found out how his tricks were done? I don't know if I'd want to know

Unknown said...

Hi Simon - we added a link to your post on Pho Ba Le's directory listing:

http://www.phofever.com/restaurants.php?rid=2904

Jen (jenius.com.au) said...

The food and pho is better at Vincent's Noodle House which is upstairs at Dooley's on John St in Lidcombe.

Simon Leong said...

Hi Adrian, that's interesting having egg noodles instead. not quite authentic but i guess it would be more tasty.

Hi Lorraine, i can't sleep without knowing. it's the scientific skeptical inquisitive nature of mine that has to know.

Hi phofever, that's for the add. so where's the best pho in Sydney you can recommend?

Hi jen, that's where my dad plays mahjong hehe although i have eaten there once before. from memory i think it was better although when i asked for pho they didn't understand what i was saying. i'm thinking it was the young waiter or possibly how i pronounced it. very weird at the time though.

YumchaGirl said...

Looks fantastic and I bet it tastes even better!

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