I remember the first time I went to Phở Dzung in Richmond. It was during my school holidays I think in 1992 and I was with my father and his former university lecturer. I still have vivid memories of the line of eagerly awaiting customers stretching out far beyond the door of the restaurant and into the street. All of them salivating in anticipation of the sweet sweet broth that lay within. To be honest though, I really can't remember what that bowl tasted like or even if I had a bowl of Phở that time or maybe I just had an iced coffee that time but the memory of the customers lining up remains indelible.
Since then the Phở Dzung restaurants have become a bit of an empire with several chains opening across Melbourne (i.e. Footscray, Russell St, City, Richmond and now Preston!). I might also add there used to be a chain in Boxhill that I used to frequent religiously, basically due to proximity but in the last five years or so has changed owners and name, which has in turn changed the quality of the Phở (for the worse I am sad to say).
I decided that it would be fitting to start my sojourn at the beginning and hopefully use this tasty bowl as the benchmark for all others to compete with. However, as you can see from the picture I took that on this occasion anyway the best would have to wait until later. As always when I eat Phở, I ordered the Special combination beef which is the best of the best in my opinion. I was feeling adventurous today so I went the medium and I also ordered a glass of three coloured drink to accompany my bowl. As part of the ritual that I perform before eating a bowl of Phở, I will look at the bowl and study the clarity of the broth and the oil content. On this occasion as you can see the broth is a bit dark and cloudy and as suspected a little on the salty side, which indicates that it is perhaps from an old stock pot. I would also like to point out that a good broth must always be piping hot. The hotter the better I always say. I have burnt the roof of my mouth a few times eating a fresh bowl and have not regretted it one bit. The reason for this is that once the basil, bean sprouts and sauces have been added the broth cools down considerably and if the broth is only so warm to begin with by the time you add those aforementioned things, what you end up with is a tepid sloppy bowl of noodles which isn't very appetizing to say the least! The broth today was so so hot and was also a little oily, not looking good so far.
On the plus side though, the noodles were the fresh type and plentiful and the toppings were okay as well. The meat was still a little rare and not so fatty and was in abundance and the tripe looked fresh although a little lacking in number today. The tendons were okay in number but the consistency of them was not uniform which also suggested to me that today they used an old stock pot in combination with perhaps a new one or maybe they just topped up an old one. The meat balls were sufficiently large enough to say that "hey we aren't that cheap that we need to cut them in to such small pieces that they no longer resemble any spherical meat whatsoever, just to make an extra point something of a dollar" which impresses me somewhat. The garnishes also looked fresh and the bean shoots looked clean and washed.
A little tip for you germaphobe types out there. When ordering Phở, it is sometimes better to ask for the bean shoots to be boiled or blanched as I have heard some horror stories of the restaurants re-using old or half eaten bean sprouts and new customers have found old tooth picks in amongst the bean shoots and this ensures that you get a fresh batch or least one that is cleaner anyway.
Overall today was a so so experience not the best bowl but not the worst by far. The wait for the bowl was a little longer than expected and the crushed ice in my three colour drink only came up to half way in my glass where as on other occasions it would have stuck out of my glass half way like the tip of an iceberg. Much like the iceberg that sunk the Titanic. As you can probably guess, I am trying to draw some link between the disaster that was the sinking of the Titanic and the sinking feeling I am having as I write this about my once favourite Phở chain and the experience that I had today. To call it disastrous would be melodramatic and undeserving and I will continue to come here but now only out of convenience but I guess I shouldn't be so hasty and maybe give it a second chance. I will sleep on it. As for my final conclusion on Phở Dzung richmond, if this is the worst bowl that I have had here then I guess it can't be that bad a place but there is much to say about consistency, so as you can see my conclusion for this place is that I have not yet made one. Ha! So much for a review...
