Mekong: 241 Swanston St, Melbourne CBD

I’m sure a lot of people know about Mekong already, especially you asians. Yeah, just admit it! Some of their customers claimed that Mekong has gone shit lately, but I beg to differ, their phở is still the best I’ve ever had!

If you go here around lunchtime, don’t expect to get a seat straight away, especially when you’re in large groups. It gets crazy busy. And oh, for those of you who are not used to ‘wine and dine’ in asian joints - this place does smell a bit… you know, that asian food smell - but it’s perfectly normal, just ignore it and don’t let it change your mind! Hehehe! Another tip is to slowly state what you want, the staff aren’t very fluent in English and there are always many cases of misunderstandings.

So.. phở, as in rice noodle soup. It’s a Vietnamese dish, duh, and you can get it with chicken or beef in Mekong. They’ve got a few selections of them, most of the people I went with always go for the normal phở with beef slices - but I like the beef special. It may sound gross to you non-asians, but, beef special comes with beef tripe, bone marrow, meatballs and other whachamacallits, but they’re yummy, yeah.

Mekong’s phở has that rich, thick, meaty flavour. You can taste how the herbs and meat were cooked perfectly, producing this delicious liquid. They give you a plate of Vietnamese mint leaves, lemon wedge and some raw bean sprouts on the side. I personally don’t like the sprouts but the mint leaves give a refreshing bite to the noodle soup. Its rice noodles are really smooth, delicate, almost feather-like. The sliced beef are thin and it sorta melts in your mouth, I mean, chewing effort can be downgraded to a minimum here, folks, it’s that good. I’m not gonna talk about the beef tripe and bone marrow as it may gross some people out. See, I’m being considerate, hehe!

I also ordered the rice paper roll, with char-grilled chicken. It’s huge, by the way, compared to the normal spring rolls or other kind of rolls I usually get. I think they put vermicelli, lettuce, bean sprouts and carrot, and also the chicken in them. It’s fresh, refreshing and crunchy - a good appetizer I suppose. They have either that chicken or char-grilled pork or just prawn. I had the prawn before, it was bland and dissapointing. Go for char-grilled. Oh even better, go for the broken rice, with char-grilled whatever, it’s not as epic as the phở but it’s getting there!

Another thing about the phở in Mekong is the portion, guys! I eat a lot, ask my friends, they will nod in horror - but I can never finish a small bowl here. Honestly. It’s big. Small is big in Mekongland. And large would be gigantic probably. So be careful in sizing, adjust it according to your stomach’s state. As usual, price is definitely in the cheap range, it’s $8.50 for small, $9.50 for large and the rolls were $4.50 for two, if I’m not mistaken? Yep. If you’re desperate for a quick phở, or just wanna try it out for the first time, I think you should check out this joint, yes sir.

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