PHD Vietnamese Restaurant, Marrickville

It's another Friday chill out dinner night and a couple of Friday's ago we ended up at PHD Vietnamese Restaurant. Now PHD Vietnamese use to be Pho Bac Hai Duong a couple of doors down.  Cheesecake Boy had a bit of a panic when Pho Bac Hai Duong closed as he rates their pho tai as his favourite. Cheesecake Boy had been  going to Pho Bac Hai Duong  for his pho tai fix since he was 18, so he has a  huge attachment to this place.  

PHD Vietnamese was the obvious choice for a Friday night pho craving for us, we miss the old decor of Pho Bac Hai Duong but as long as our favourites were still on the menu we weren't going to complain.  There was an ulterior motive for going out this Friday night though, we have been in the process of looking for a new camera as Cheesecake Boy has been bitten by camera envy since we visited the zoo, so a lovely friend of ours lent us her G11 for a test drive.  We are still undecided whether to go for the convenience of a super compact or the quality of an DSLR, we are leaning towards a DSLR at the moment.  Lucky for us that night, the staff were more than obliging with my happy snaps.

Cheesecake Boy always goes for a coconut juice here, and I joined him for once, usually I  just sip his. I love the coconut juice here and it's by far my favourite coconut juice.  As the coconut juice here has just the right amount of sugary goodness, whereas some other places don't get the sweetness quite right.

Coconut juice

I always order stuffed chicken wings if I see them on the menu, as I would never contemplate to make these at home with all the work that is involved with partially deboning them.  I enjoyed these stuffed chicken wings as the filling was quite morish and chicken was nice and moist, but unfortunately not quite crispy.

Stuffed chicken wings

The sides of the pho tai came out first as per usual, and Cheesecake Boy waited impatiently for his pho tai, he really needed it badly that night.

Sides for pho tai

Now the pho tai came out and I got the first sip this time. I was surprised, to be truthful I was never a huge fan of the pho tai here, until this Friday night but I understood the obsession after that first sip now.  The broth of this pho tai was really good, and I realised that this time I got to the soup before Cheesecake Boy drowned it with hoisin sauce that completely altered the taste.  We had a bit of a tiff about his hoisin sauce destruction to that broth and from now on I am not going to share with him, lol. The broth of this pho tai was truly homey and wonderfully balanced, without the hoisin sauce.

Pho tai

My com tam dac biet came and this is another favourite of ours.  In our younger years, we bonded over this dish and really thought we had a connection over this, as it was both our favourite meal at that time when we were initially dating.  Young love is so romantic, I guess.  Anyway, this dish is truly comforting, I love pouring the sauce over the rice and the combination of the meat loaf and the rice is always one of my favourite things to eat.  

Com tam dac biet

Now, I didn't get an itemised bill, but it all came to $36.50 including the drinks so it's good value for a dinner for two now a days.  PHD Vietnamese will always be a favourite for us, as the food is consistently good, the staff are friendly and we never feel that we are imposing on their closing time and need to dash.  I will definitely come back for the pho tai for me and not just for Cheesecake Boy now :)

Happy eating, Dumpling Girl.


PHD Vietnamese Restaurant
308 Illawarra Road
Marrickville  NSW  2204
Ph: (02) 9559 5078