wordswithvivian

Pho on a rainy day is always a good idea. With a 100% chance of precipitation all day Sunday, my boyfriend, Jordan, and I decided to venture in to north(ish) Austin (Allandale to be specific) in search for a nice, hot bowl of Vietnamese noodle soup. With a little bit of help from Yelp, I stumbled upon PhoNatic. Call me cheesy but I’ve always wanted to go to a pho restaurant with a punny name…you know, like Pho Shizzle, What the Pho, etc. I’ve seen these pictures all over the Internet!

Since I’ve moved to Austin, I’ve found it a little difficult to find decent or good Asian food. I was so excited about finding this restaurant I decided to write a blog post on it so it is definitely worth trying! Note: I live in the middle of what people like to call Chinatown in Houston so I’ve become accustomed to have authentic Asian food within walking distance. Also, I’m Vietnamese. I know a good bowl of pho when I taste one! 🙂

PhoNatic is one of the restaurants where you order at a counter and then they bring the food out to you. You can even order through a touch screen! The restaurant itself looked very new and had a very relaxed feel to it. It was also very well kept and clean. They had a wide variety of Vietnamese cuisine on their menu from pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) to rice and vermicelli dishes and even desserts! They also had a variety of Asian drinks like Vietnamese coffee, Yeo’s Chrysanthemum Tea, and Yeo’s Soy Milk which ignited a little bit of nostalgia because I used to drink the soy milk sometimes ALL the time when I was a child.

For my lunch, I ordered the regular (they also have a large option) #203 (Phở Tái Bò Viên), the Beef Noodle Soup with eye of round steak and beef meatballs. I would’ve taken a picture of my food (yes, I’m one of THOSE people) but my camera on my phone is broken…so sad. The person who rung us up and brought our food out to our table was very kind and polite. Out of all the places I’ve tried pho in Austin, I definitely liked this one the best. Other places’ pho have either way too watery or super salty. The broth was not too salty and the serving size was perfect. A lot of other restaurant’s “regular” sizes have been way too small. The eye of round steak was very tender the meatballs were not too rubbery like other places. They also had a condiment bar with green onions, white onions, cilantro, Sriracha, hoisin sauce, etc., which was nice because I usually have to ask the waiter for more sauce or limes. I just wish I had enough room in my stomach for their dessert. Overall, my visit to PhoNatic was a very pleasant one and I will definitely be returning!