Pho Hoan Pasteur - Quality Pho (Edmonton 30 in 30)

Vietnamese food is soul food for me and finding a quality pho restaurant is akin to finding the needle in a haystack. Most large cities these days are filled with a litany of Vietnamese restaurants and while most offer solid food, I consistently found myself returning to Pho Hoan Pasteur when hankering for a bowl of pho in Edmonton. Literally a five minute drive from Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital I would often take my lunch breaks at Pho Pasteur warming up my soul with a good bowl of noodle soup.

Pho Hoan Pasteur is located on Kingsway Avenue on 114th Street slightly Northwest of downtown Edmonton. The restaurant itself is located in a stripmall and features a handsome yellow billboard with bold lettering beckoning you forth. I always found the "fusion noodle house" wording a little puzzling as they serve nothing but the most authentic Vietnamese noodle soups in town.

The menu is small and compact and features three main types of food: rice plates, vermicelli bowls and noodle (beef and chicken based) soups. Along with those are a few small appetizers for those wanting to tide themselves over while waiting for their meal. I always appreciated it when restaurants choose to focus on the dishes they do best and ignore any pressure to create huge large menus full of dishes they might or might not be able to pull off.

I started off with Shrimp Salad Rolls. Pho Pasteur here features three large rolls filled with lettuce, bean sprouts, vermicelli and shrimp served with a side of Hoison based dipping sauce. These rolls were plump, large and had a nice sweetness imparted from the shrimp. Overall these were as one would expect them with nothing exciting or extra-ordinary about the rolls.

I always mention that the broth used in their pho is the marker of a great Vietnamese restaurant. Indeed, the base of the Steak & Meat Balls Pho was excellent and featured a rice robust beef flavour that had a hint of spiciness. The beef balls were impressively large and firm while the  slices of steak were plentiful and sliced thin enough to cook in the warm broth. Wrapping the dish together are the tender rice noodles and a nice hint of freshness brought out by the green onions and cilantro. Overall excellent!

Another marker of a good Vietnamese restaurant are the freshness of the pho toppings. Here Pho Pasteur featured fresh and crisp bean sprouts and plump aromatic basil. All aspects key to a great bowl of pho.

Pho Hoan Pasteur remains my top Vietnamese restaurant in Edmonton. Their broth top notch, their meat flavourful and plentiful, their bean sprouts crisp and fresh all make up an excellent Vietnamese restaurant that should be considered for anyone in the mood for a good bowl of pho in Edmonton.