25: Phofect

Back when I was in Bangalore, I loved frequenting this eatery named Phobidden Fruit located in Indiranagar. I’ve written about it here, before. The weather is peachy, windy, and just generally gorgeous today. It entices me to think about lovely things like a good, generous bowl of pho (pronounced as just ph), apart from unending walks, and ice creams too.

Beef Pho with Vietnamese Iced/Cold Coffee

If there’s anything that’s light, playful, and embracing in its ways, it’s a bowl of pho, I assure you. It promises and delivers love, warmth, generosity, good health, and so much fun. Like in the post I’ve attached, the assurance of all things good which you might find yourself craving all at once, can be found in this dish. There’s a beautiful broth, non-sticky flat noodles, succulent meat, crunchy vegetables, and the lift and perfume of spices as you dig deeper. What steals my heart is the role that star anise plays. This dish has always been perfect, and one that I’m afraid to try anywhere else for the fear of being disappointed, to very plainly put it.

Chicken Pho

Chilli Beef

The restaurant, on the whole, is colourful, and alive, which I love about it. The fact that it isn’t as bright and brimming with natural light, is a slight regret I have about the place, but given that it’s in a restored bungalow on a canopied Bangalore street, it’s understandable, and even pardonable, if natural light really does matter to you.

Because I’m a creature of habit, and because this restaurant isn’t even close to my area of functioning, my infrequent visits find me ordering exactly what I trudge all the way to this place to have: pho. Their chilli beef is a total knockout too, and if you’re feeling indulgent or ravenous, it’s a wonderful dish to begin your meal with. I personally try to avoid it, not because it isn’t amazing, but because I like to indulge and treat myself to the perfect marriage of flavours that a bowl of pho presents me with. This dish becomes a little extra special when it’s rainy or overcast and chilly. Perfect.

This isn’t a paid review of any kind, and how I wish it was, because I’d love to savour this magic at this very moment. However, the weather here made me put my thoughts on Donald and Melania Trump, among other hugely overtalked issues, aside, and remember what would complement it best instead.

If you’re in Bangalore, and enjoy a bowl of noodle soup, do drop by and treat yourself to a chicken pho, if not its beef counterpart, which I recommend more. :)