Sunshine Pho Fever part 3 - Nhi Nuong - 2 Sisters

255 Hampshire Road
Sunshine
Vic
3020

The third and final stop on the Sunshine Pho Fever tour was actually just a short hop next door to the Nhi Nuong - 2 Sisters restaurant, which relatively recently replaced a previous pho eatery on the same site. The décor was definitely Asian themed,

After a brief and passionate introduction to the restaurant we were treated to a couple of songs from our hosts, which was a welcome surprise.

I went for the beef pho on this occasion which also featured onion. The broth was darker and tasty and the thin slices of beef were tender.

We were also offered stuffed vine leaves, which lived up to expectations.

At the end of the evening we were each given commemorative Melbourne Food and Wine festival bowls and shows bags with more information about Sunshine. Overall the event was successful in getting us to try eating in the local dining establishments, as well as having an enjoyable and filling evening!

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Sunshine Pho Fever part 2 - Thuan An

253 Hampshire Road
Sunshine,
Vic
3020

Thuan An was the second stop on our Sunshine Pho Fever tour and it had the most modern fit out of the evening.

Again we were sat at a long table. We were all served some Jasmine tea in tiny espresso style cups. The speach about our food was made at the other end of the table to us, and it was hard to pick much of it up, I believe they said the pho contained both Northern and Southern Vietnamese elements.

Our entrées were brought out first, the chicken wings had a sweet coating.

The bean shoots and mint leaves were the most well presented that I'd ever seen, although isn't that pile of accompaniments on the side plate part of the pho experience?

The pho had sweet broth and this time the chicken was free of bones.

At the end of the meal the chef appeared.

While Thuan An was certainly the most well presented restaurant and the best looking food, the flavours weren't necessarily any better.

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Sunshine Pho Fever part 1 - Queen's Rose The Sun

229 Hampshire Road
Sunshine,
Vic
3020

After taking part in last years Food Festival in Footscray by helping out towing a Rickshaw, this year we headed to Sunshine to to take part in Sunshine Pho Fever! The event began at the Granary cafe where we had a soft drink in the courtyard.

Here some of hosts and organisers introduced us to the event from Brimbank Council and , which was new this year, we were divided up into two groups for the evening, we didn't see the other group again, so I'm not sire if they went tot eh same restaurants in a different order, or to a different group.

Our first stop was at the interestingly named Queen's Rose The Sun, which had the highest kitsch factor of the night, with several flashing LED signs. We were seated fairly tightly together at a long table.

At each stop there was a place mat specific to the restaurant with some information about it and pictures of the owners or chef.

The owner spoke to us in Vietnamese and her son translated, although in this case it was a fairly brief talk.

We had a choice of beef or chicken at each stop, I went for chicken on this occasion and this and our end seats meant we got a our slightly smaller custom event bowls more quickly. The broth was nicely flavour and came with chicken that had been sliced on the bone, which meant a slightly inelegant eating process ensued. Unusually the rice noodles were broken into short lengths.

With our mains we were also offered an entrée in this case we got some great fresh and crispy pork spring rolls!

Some of the other dinners waited quite a while for their beef pho, but other than that the service was good, given a sudden if planned influx of guests. I'd happily return for pho on another occasion.

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