09 Aug Pho Flamed Beef – Vietnamese cuisine
Review by Michael Elias
Restaurant: One Clementine Casual Dining
Location: Shop G1, The Pottery, 11D Mashman Ave, KINGSGROVE NSW Australia
Dish Tried: Pho Flamed Beef
Review: Vietnamese cuisine has long been a part of the Australian eating landscape for quite some time now but oddly doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves. The cuisine has many loyal fans and I am one of them, mainly due to the clean flavours and ingredient combinations. One Clementine is a warm and inviting casual dining restaurant that is currently doing an excellent job in bringing these wonderful flavour combinations to the locals of Kingsgrove. Whilst the few dishes we tried were all excellent our focus for this Chilli review is the Pho.
For those that haven’t tried Pho it is a Vietnamese noodle soup, typically carrying a beef stock baseline flavour(you can get a chicken broth as well sometimes – which I’m pleased to say is an option at One Clementine) and contain either one or a combination of beef, chicken, meatballs, pork or crispy skin chicken. It typically arrives to your table with the noodles in the broth and may or may not house the meat component depending on your order. It is served with garnishes that you add to the soup to your taste. Your garnish plate can come with ingredients such as Thai Basil, bean sprouts, sliced chilli peppers, shallots, coriander, onion, lime or lemon juice and two side sauces. These side sauces are normally Sriracha style Chilli and Hoi sin but depending on the restaurant you may get the option of chilli pastes, crushed dried chilli’s or chilli’s in oil.
I ordered One Clementine’s Flamed Beef Pho which is served with flamed grilled beef that has been tossed in onions. The meat arrives in a beef broth base with noodles and the garnish plate has Thai basil, bean sprouts, chilli, lemon, Sriracha and Hoisin. Right from when it arrives to the table the aroma from the broth and the beef is mouth watering. The broth has a clear and light consistency, with a clean beef flavour that is well seasoned, seriously the spicing of the broth is on point. When it comes to Pho the broth is a critical element that can make or break the dish and I have long maintained that to know if you are eating a good Pho try a spoon of the broth on its own. In that one spoonful you will know what kind of Pho you are getting….and judging by this first taste I’m about to devour a seriously good pho. The beef is thinly sliced and cooked to medium rare. The onions, shallots and coriander are in the broth which only adds to the overall flavour. It really is a nice alternate option to the classic Pho and works extremely well with this broth. The garnishes are fresh and add some balance to the overall dish, I must admit I tend to be heavy handed on adding the basil and the chilli’s but not so much of the sprouts but that’s my personal preference. The fresh chopped chilli’s are a medium heat with the seeds kept in so it brings a nice level of spice without overpowering the dish. The noodles are cooked perfectly and the beef is very tender. On my heat scale it’s a 5 out of 10.
Final Verdict: One Clementine’s Pho in this humble reviewers opinion is right up there with the best that I have had the pleasure of tasting across this great state of NSW. It homes in and hits all the targets on the flavour map like a trap shooter at the Olympics. A really well balanced distribution of flavours. Pho Experts and Novices alike will really enjoy this take on the humble Vietnamese noodle soup. The Pho may have its roots firmly placed on the streets of Vietnam but One Clementine’s version pays respect to where the dish came from and elevates it to where it belongs. It would be remiss of me not to also mention that One Clementine does have a really nice selection of delicious items on the menu that are also worth a try. My final score for the Pho Flamed Beef is a 9.5 out of 10.”
