#6 Thanh Phong (7/240 Victoria Street)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Imogene

A heat wave has hit Melbourne. On a balmy evening it is perfect weather for a Vietnamese feast. After two weeks of Chinese restaurants, I am missing pho. At 7/240 we have another non-descript establishment with laminated tables (brown this time) and hard chairs.

For some reason this week turns into speed Chopstick Chowdown Challenge. We are in and out of there with full bellies in all of 20 minutes. Hello food, nice to meet you, you’re lookin’ alright this evening, let me devour you…next!

Everyone seems to be ordering Vietnamese pancakes and it is listed under the house specialities so we go with it. A crisp yellow pancake is folded over a mish-mash of chopped up seafood and loads of bean shoots giving it a crunchy texture. There is nothing holding it together and I feel like it could have benefited with some sauce. We make good use of the condiments to add flavour.

In order to cover our bases we get the dim sims off the specials board and they go alright with their crispy fried outsides.

Number 27 is broken rice with shredded pork and pork chop. I have my doubts about this but it is actually pretty good. The broken rice has a certain charm to it and the pork chop is lean, not too dry and has a Vietnamese flavour to it (is that a hint of lemongrass I can taste?).

The pho is pretty standard but lacks the chopped red chilli which usually accompanies it. Instead we have a massive pile of lettuce and bean shoots, which everyone seems to be getting no matter what they order.

I don’t know if it something in the food or the hot weather but we all nearly lose it in fits of laughter when Imogene tries to use a small pile of rice as a serviette. Imogene laughs so hard she is hyper-ventilating, which just makes us laugh harder. Can it also account for Imogene’s comment “I’m thirsty, I’m going to chew on this”, as she picks up a piece of iceberg lettuce?

Inoffensive, nothing outstanding but on the whole tasty. As Steph says at the end, “I feel this is very much a 7 restaurant” and I totally agree.

Ratings
Rice paper rolls 7.5/10
Beef pho 6.5/10
#27 (Broken rice with shredded pork and pork chop) 6.5/10
Daily special (Fried dim sims) 6.8/10
Vietnamese pancake with seafood 7/10