[Shanghai Girl Eats] L.A. Pho
L.A Pho | Dianping: K11 & Star Live
Address (2 locations):
– 淮海中路300号上海K11购物艺术中心B2 – B2, K11, 300 Huaihai Zhong Lu (卢湾区 Luwan District)
– 虹桥路1665号B1-B113(星空广场) – B1-B113, Star Live Plaza, 1665 Hongqiao Lu (长宁区 Changning District)
Date visited: 2016.06 for lunch
Price: <RMB100 per person
Will return: No
For those who use pho as a hangover treatment or just like to eat pho a lot, this is definitely one of the better phos as far as Shanghai goes. For those who are indifferent to pho, this won’t convert anyone. I fall in the latter category so I will most likely not be coming here pho-requently (come on, just one pun pho fun — and there goes two). Honestly, I don’t even like pho that much so I don’t know why I came.
Service needs some work but this is a shopping mall joint with chain ambitions so I don’t ask for much except that everyone’s pho comes out at the same time. This is how it went down with our four appetizers and four bowls of pho:
- One bowl of pho came first
- The second bowl of pho came 5 minutes after that
- Appetizers then came out one by one about 5-10 min apart
- The other two bowls of pho came at the end of the meal when we were almost finished with all the food
I don’t care if four bowls of pho come in the beginning or in the end as long as they come together. I don’t understand why four bowls came so far apart; the broth is the same in every bowl so it is only a matter of throwing in different components.
Hanoi style fried tofu (RMB28)
Recommend: yes
Excellent spices and would taste very good with white rice.
Vietnamese fresh spring roll (RMB48)
Recommend: no
The basil gave the roll a false refreshing start but wore off quickly and revealed very bland mixture of chicken, shrimp, and vegetables. The dish comes with peanut sauce but did not help.
L.A’s house special fried spring roll (RMB48)
Recommend: no
Despite being fried, the skin had a chewy, not crispy texture.
Lemongrass grilled pork (RMB38; chicken also available)
Recommend: yes
If I were to come here again, I would get this instead of pho. It can also be made into a main with either rice or noodles.
We tried both the L.A’s house special pho with raw beef, cooked beef, beef tripe, beef tendon, beef ball(RMB48) and raw beef & beef tendon pho (RMB47). The thin slices of beef were tender and split apart easily. There was only one piece of tendon in each of our bowls and mine was so chewy and tough that I could not eat it. The noodles were slippery and thin and cooked just right. All of this is housed in a bowl of clean broth.
Discounting the tendon (which may have just been an unfortunate piece in my bowl), this was a well-rounded bowl of pho but it still doesn’t have the magic of good USA pho. I might be back once in awhile.
