Phuong Nam - Good Vietnamese

Readers of the blog quickly realize that my kryptonite is Asian food ... good ones at that. On a tough night of call or a long day of clinics, there is nothing better than a cup of fried rice, a wholesome bowl of Gamjatang or, during this particular long night out, a bountiful helping of pho. Phuong Nam has consistently ranked on the highest lists of Vietnamese restaurants in Winnipeg and is known for its hearty servings of delicious pho and other Vietnamese delights. Thus it was an easy choice to make when me and my co-resident felt the hunger pains after a particularly long night of work.

Phuong Nam has the benefits of being in the direct vicinity of the Health Sciences Center on William Street. Thus it has become a popular outing for the majority of residents and physicians looking for something different than the rather drab cuisine and food in the hospitals.

The interior of the restaurant is rather roomy and sparsely decorated. Clearly this is a restaurant meant for quick and fast food and not designed for the romantic or entertaining crowd. The menu itself is filled with the regular phos, stir fries and vermicelli bowls one would expect from any Vietnamese restaurant. I was quite impressed by their specials which included a, difficult to find, seven styles of beef. Unfortunately one has to pre-order said dish and we were too late that night to embark on that adventure. Nevertheless off to the food we did order!

Going with my typical order I went with the Rare Beef & Beef Balls Noodle Soup (Pho). This incredibly priced bowl of pho features a hearty and rich base with tender noodles and a bevy of fresh beef slices and spongy beef balls. The broth was the star here with its rich and deep beef flavours that complimented all the ingredients well.

Beef Stew with Rice Noodle was the bowl of choice for my co-resident. A similarly large bowl of soup features an accentuated beef broth with chili and oil encompassing the same tender noodles and cubes of braised beef. Also found in the dish were potatoes and carrot which had completely soaked up all the flavours of the dish into their spongy starchy cores. Delicious!

Always wanting to try something new I ordered the Beef in Honey Garlic Sauce. Served on a hot stone plate, it features beef slices and onion slivers in a honey and garlic sauce. While the sauce had a deep rich sweet and slightly salty flavour, I was underwhelmed by the rather tough beef. Further complicating matters is the relatively stingy portion size which took away any value from the dish.

As with all good Vietnamese restaurants, Phuong Nam features tender and fresh bean sprouts and a bevy of other ingredients including basil, lemon, lime and fresh red chili to top off your bowls of soup.

Overall Phuong Nam offers a solid bowl of Vietnamese soup. The marker of the best Vietnamese restaurants are the broth and one can taste the hours that went into making the wonderful broth that becomes the base for all their soups. While their stir fry dish was disappointing, it does little to take away from their noodle soups and becomes one of my first recommendations for good Vietnamese in the HSC vicinity.