Pho Capital

It was a lazy Friday and I was at school thinking about what to eat for lunch. But seriously, who wants to eat over priced cafeteria food (not to mention how awful they taste) every day? Since W and I both have a spare after lunch, we decided to drive out to north road and find a good place to eat. After many indecisive thoughts, my friend W suggested Pho Capital,  and I suddenly realized that I have been craving a Banh Mi for the longest time. Plus I normally don't go to pho places other than Pho Hong so I wanted to try something new. 

It's a nice family owned restaurant with quite a few booths and tables. The seatings were not crowded. However, it's located in a small court across from the large Korean North Road court, so it will be very hard to catch people's attention unless you live in the area. The people there were mostly office men and ladies near by. 

W and I decided to share a large pho and a Banh Mi (Viet Sub) and we were served by the owner's little daughter! (not child labour, she just helped to deliver food, cutest thing ever!)

We got their signature bowl, #15 eye round steak, well done brisket,fatty brisket/soft tendon/beef tripe ($8.40 3/5). 
I normally don't like beef briskets, tripes and tendons but since we were sharing and W likes them, I would just eat the slices of beef. The slices were served raw in boiling soup broth to ensure their tenderness. Which they were, but the broth and noodle portion could be more balanced. The noodles were cooked right, but the broth could have been more flavourful. It can be a good thing for some people since they add less amount of MSG, but I still think the broth is the heart of Pho, if we have to consume MSG anyway, why not make it a good experience? The large bowl was more expensive than Pho Hong's and their portion is a lot smaller too. Even though Pho Hong is going down hill, It will still be my #1 go to pho place.

Since I only came here for their Viet Subs, we ordered the grilled pork Banh Mi ($4.75 4.5/5) 

The baguette was toasted perfectly, and the pork was grilled and seasoned very well. Good portion, pepper could have been diced so the spicy flavours would even out, but unfortunately they were julienned (cut into stripes), and I ate a huge strip full of seeds (you can imagine how spicy it was...) But nonetheless, Craving Satisfied! I would definitely come back on school days to get a Banh Mi to go. 

Overall Experience:

Better than Pho 99 across the street, smaller but a lot quieter, Pho could obviously improve, but it's not a bad place to have a quick meal if you are in the area. Although the Banh mi could have had more ingredients added, but I didn't mind tasting the grilled pork alone since it was well seasoned. Overall, a decent lunch to have on a school day!