04 November 2011

Madame Nhu: Vietnamese, The Galeries, CBD Sydney (1 Nov 2011)

Shop 5, Lower Ground, The Galeries
500 George Street, Galeries Victoria, Sydney NSW 2000
http://www.madamenhu.com.au



Opening special a tasty bargain

Madame Nhu has just opened this week and her opening $5 special for all dishes has become very popular indeed. It's so popular that you'd best get there early before dishes sell out and queues get really long to take advantage of one of the cheapest lunches you'll find in the city until this Saturday, 5 November. The Vermicelli Sugarcane prawn ($9.50, $5 opening special) is served on a plate but to make it easier to mix I'm thinking a bowl might have been better like they do at Pasteur. There's a little bit of lettuce I used to wrap up a bit of everything although a few rice paper sheets would have been great. The flavour was quite prawny which is quite nice with the other ingredients. The sugarcane stick was a little hard to try and chew which you can sometimes do. Their Pho noodle special beef pho ($10.5, $5 opening special) could maybe have been served a bit hotter but flavours are quite nice and the stock isn't too oily. There's a fair amount of beef balls to consume as well. The Caramelised pork kho ($10.50, $5 opening special) is slow-cooked berkshire pork belly and rice. The meat is pretty tender as hoped and nicely flavoured. Beware of the thick fatty skin if you're health conscious which simply melts in your mouth.

If I had the time I'd probably try and come back every day for the $5 lunch to try other dishes on the menu. The renovations of the food court are looking pretty good compared to the old one which was very basic. The seating in the centre surrounded by a curtain wall reminds me a bit of Spice Temple. It's nice to see a few decent new eateries are now settling in including Top Juice which make a great fruit salad that I believe also supply to David Jones Food Hall.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:
PROS: Food court seating and decor has been renovated, Presentation and flavours fairly decent for the special price, Buzzer provided to let you know when your order is ready
CONS: $5 special only until Saturday 5 Nov, Long queues due to special pricing, Some of the food court ceiling lights are a bit bright and angle directly into your eyes
MUST TRY: Other dishes on the menu


Vermicelli Sugarcane prawn ($9.50, $5 opening special) — decent flavour although if served in a bowl might be a little easier to mix and eat

A bit more lettuce would have been good to make little wraps

Signature đặc biệt - Pho noodle special beef pho($10.5, $5 opening special) — could have been hotter in temperature, flavours OK

Caramelised pork kho - Traditional slow-cooked berkshire pork belly & rice ($10.50, $5 opening special) — tender meat, fatty skin

Service counter

Limited store seating, looks a little squashed


Menu


2 dishes for only $10 during promotion. Buzzer provided for when your meal is ready

Busy kitchen

Take away bag

Bright ceiling lights can sometimes be angled straight into your face which isn't nice


Food court seating

The Galeries entrance via Pitt Street


View Larger Map
Madame Nhu: Vietnamese by xage on Urbanspoon

4 comments:

joey@forkingaroundsydney said...

I walked past the other day and love the look of the new food court area; it was about time it was renovated. Wow, $5 lunch specials would go crazily quick and the food looks delish too.

Tina @ bitemeshowme said...

I had the beef pho yesterday and it was great! My broth was quite hot. The noodles were nice and soft. Lots of meat - meatballs and all. For $5 I think I was a happy camper. I must say I'd be more than happy to pay full price for it, even after the opening specials. Definitely one of the better places to have pho around where I work.

Simon Leong said...

hi joey, for $5 it was a bargain. wish it was that price all the time though.

hi tina, glad your broth was hotter than mine. perhaps i took too long in collecting and starting to eat it but it didn't seem to be steaming much when i picked it up. makes it quicker to eat though. the full price might be ok i guess for the price but i prefer to only spend up to about $8 usually if possible as i get takeaway everyday.

MarkSindone said...

I've not tried the food at this particular food court but apparently it seems I need to start getting out to more places in Sydney! What an interesting iPad ordering system! Are a lot of places in Sydney are starting to make use of that?

Simon Food Favourites Map

View Simon Food Favourites in a larger map Key: BLUE - Location visit and review PINK - Simon Favourites and places offering something special

Small Bars in Sydney map


View Small Bars in Sydney in a larger map