Cover Vegetarian phở from Cô Thành (Photo: Instagram / @cothanhrestaurant)
Vegetarian phở from Cô Thành (Photo: Instagram / @cothanhrestaurant)
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We share our favourite spots in Hong Kong for this hearty and steaming traditional dish just phở you
With its vibrant street food and diverse traditional specialties full of robust flavours and refreshing accents from its liberal use of herbs, Vietnamese cuisine is well-loved not only in its native country, but also abroad. Good news for anyone in Hong Kong: there’s no need to travel to Phú Quốc or Hanoi just to enjoy a good bowl of phở.
From hole-in-the-wall hidden gems to luxurious restaurants within a hotel, here are the spots where you can find the best phở in the city—according to our Tatler editors. Where will you for for your next bowl?
You might also like: 13 of the best Vietnamese restaurants in Hong Kong
Le Soleil
I have a soft spot for Le Soleil in the Royal Garden Hotel. The restaurant takes its phở broth seriously—steeping the soup with its secret combination of spices and ingredients for hours before it’s served to the diner. The set and promotional menus get updated regularly, but the classics are always on the a la carte menu. If you’re headed that way, try the off-menu baked rice with crab and garlic in Ho Chi Min style as well, and make sure you top it off with a Vietnamese coffee before you leave.
- Jacqueline Tsang, regional head of content and editor-in-chief
Le Soleil, 3/F, Royal Garden Hotel, 69 Mody Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui East
Sep
For an elevated take on phở, my personal pick would be Sep, the Vietnamese fine-dining grill overlooking Tai Kwun.
While the restaurant, helmed by former private chef Dobee Lam, offers a rave-worthy tasting menu based around live fire cooking—featuring everything from carabineros prawns with Da Nang shrimp roe to Hoi An poulet made with dry-aged three-yellow chicken—phở lovers are advised to visit for lunch where they can tuck into a bowl of phở bò with 44 Farms Angus beef and homemade rice noodles. Soothing and multi-layered, the phở can be upgraded with Hanwoo 1++ ribeye cap for an extra beefy kick.
- Gavin Yeung, senior dining editor
19/F, High Block, H Code, 45 Pottinger Street Central
Bun Cha Vietnamese
When I am hit by phở cravings—something that happens quite often—I turn to Bun Cha Vietnamese, a hole-in-the-wall eatery in a quiet corner of Kennedy Town. But what the restaurant lacks in space, it makes up for in the quality of its food.
I usually choose phở bo (beef pho). The rice vermicelli is as smooth and the broth as aromatic as you’d expect in a typical phở, but what makes it phở-bulous is the thinly sliced sirloin beef which has been cooked medium rare so that it retains its tenderness. The soup is topped off with basil leaves, onion and spring onion, which adds an element of freshness. Oh, and if you want some extra kick, just add the lime and chillies that are served separately.
- Suchetana Mukhopadhyay, digital sub editor
Bun Cha Vietnamese, G/F, Full Harvest Building, 6-18 Hau Wo Street, Kennedy Town
An Choi
Eating a good bowl of phở feels like you’re getting a hug from the inside, and An Choi in Sheung Wan gives big hugs.
Their phở bo—only available on Mondays—consists of perfectly toothsome rice noodles, a light yet deeply flavourful broth, and a generous portion of beef balls, tenderloin and raw slices topped with fresh herbs, onions and beansprouts. Enjoying this delicious combination of crunchy, silky, soupy and tender textures among the authentic Vietnamese decor of the restaurant is worth waiting for, and helps set the tone for an excellent week ahead.
- Amalissa Hall, digital style writer
Shop A, 15, 17 Mercer St, Sheung Wan
Kam Loi Vietnamese Noodles
Where can you find a bowl of phở for just HK$27 nowadays? Kam Loi Vietnamese Noodles hasn’t changed its menu or pricing since it opened its door in 1995, and while it’s all the way in a hidden mall in Kwai Chung, it’s one of those little shops in the neighbourhood that people keep going back for its comfort food offerings.
The beef bone broth is slowly cooked overnight, which adds depth to the flavour of the phở. And don’t forget to order a cup of freshly made herbal tea, such as the class five flowers tea for just HK$7.
So what’s the owner’s secret to keeping the restaurant going for almost three decades besides having a group of loyal regulars? The landlord values their relationship more than anything and has kept the rent much lower than the market rate all these years. If that’s not what the spirit of Hong Kong is, I don’t know what is.
- Ashley Yue, project manager at Tatler Dining
Kam Loi Vietnamese Noodles, Shop 13, G/F, Tak Cheong Building, 1001 Kwai Chung Road Kwai Chung
Nha Trang Vietnamese Canteen
I stumbled across the North Point branch of Nha Trang by pure chance. My wife was craving Vietnamese and we had been trampling around only to find every other Vietnamese restaurant in the neighbourhood closed. But what should have been a “make do” situation turned out to be a fantastic stroke of luck.
Their phở is delicious and with its upmarket spin on the diner offering a comfy unpretentious vibe, it’s not a bad place to sit and nom noodles either. Make sure your eyes aren't bigger than your stomach though, while the sides are extremely tempting and tasty, the bowls are definitely big enough to fill you up. I recommend trying the simple perfection of their shredded chicken phở ga before diving into anything else.
- Rick Boost, Gen.T Hong Kong digital editor
Nha Trang Vietnamese Canteen, several locations
