Pho Dau Bo, Hamilton

Pho Dau Bo
15 Cannon St E
Hamilton, ON
L8L 1Z6

More Vietnamese, yes please. I figured I'd try out this 'staple' Vietnamese restaurant in Hamilton that people on review websites seem to rave about - it's also a chain throughout Southern Ontario.

Harry and I started with the fresh shrimp spring rolls. They seem to be uniformly tasty at any authentic Vietnamese or Thai restaurant, and these were no exception. Oddly, they came after the rest of the meal showed up (all within a matter of minutes though).

I couldn't resist going for a 'bun' vermicelli bowl, though I was a bit disappointed to see there was no meat + shrimp + spring roll combo's. I went for a grilled pork + spring roll 'bun' - served over shredded carrots, shredded lettuce, shredded cucumbers, and vermicelli, with a sauce to pour over it. It was very tasty, but I've been spoiled by the 'bun' at Little Saigon (66 Mall Road, Hamilton). The Pho Dau Bo vermicelli was thicker than I consider to be vermicelli, there wasn't quite enough sauce to pour over it, and, yes, my favourite combo option was missing.

Harry got the original pho with rare beef, and was definitely not disappointed by the huge spicy bowl of broth + beef + noodles presented to him (and it was the small size!). He didn't know the size would be quite so large, and also got a massive Pad Thai, which was a spicier, less sweet version than the ones I usually have.

To top it all of, we got milkshakes. Coconut for him, strawberry for me. We each preferred our own flavour. They were a bit smaller than we were expecting, but sufficient.

All in all, the meal was reasonable ($30 total for way too much food), and tasty. But I've been spoiled by Little Saigon, so that's where I'll return when I'm craving 'bun'.