Pho Liverpool

There are many arguments you could make against Pho Liverpool. It’s a chain restaurant on a street known for its independent businesses. It’s ‘Vietnamese’ yet run by two white people from London. Yet it has a place in our guide anyway, simply because it offers one of the best meals on Bold Street for the price.

Popular dishes include their house pho: king prawns, chicken and steak in a sea of gently scented, herb-strewn, noodly broth. Their prawn and green papaya salad with peanuts and prawn crackers is a lighter, more summery option. They also offer curries, rice dishes and an enticing range of small plates such as beef betel and baby squid.

End on honey and ginger ice cream while watching your Vietnamese coffee slowly filter into a glass of condensed milk. This jolt of caffeine and sugar is reviving, to say the least. 

Pho Liverpool also scores high on the ambiance factor with its eclectic music, giant bamboo lampshades, rough brickwork and comic book art. It’s one of the rare chains that has expanded rapidly without losing its original appeal along the way.

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