Pho - nomenon!

Because of the rain today, i wanted to eat a bowl of Seafood Pho (my favorite), for lunch.  I usually take a short walk from my office to Banoi's (which is great btw...)  to satisfy my vietnamese fix.


Although, this time around, I not only wanted to satisfy my craving, i wanted to finally put my curiosity to rest by trying Aquaknox - this non - vietnamese sounding, non - vietnamese looking restaurant along a strip of japanese night clubs, noodle houses and karaoke bars, in Arnaiz Avenue.

Being my first time here, i wanted to try everything, but after looking through the menu, I ended up ordering these:

Fresh Springrolls, a must have always for me...
my first gauge of good viet cuisine...

what i liked: 

1. rice paper - moist, fresh and simply perfect
2. the right proportion of shrimp, vermicelli and lettuce
3. the price: 100 pesos for 4 pieces

what i would add:

1. ingredients like pork, basil and maybe a sliver of carrot
2. more crushed peanuts on the sauce and maybe a fresh red chili 

Garlic Noodles, just had to try it...
hoping it was as good as the one in Crustacean, SF...

what i liked:

1. tasted very close to that of Crustacean ... sweet, not too garlicky and nothing like aglio olio (don't get me wrong, i like Aglio Olio, its Italian counterpart ... then again, we're talking Asian noodles now...)
2. Garlic didn't overpower the dish, it just accented the main attraction, the noodles.
3. the price : 95 pesos

what could have been cooked better:

1. noodles were quite squishy and overcooked.  Would have wanted it more al'dente.

and lastly, my reason for coming...

Pho Hai San ...
with shitake and enoki mushrooms

what i liked:

1. the broth - no msg, fresh seafood flavor, light and tasty.
2. the noodles - generous amount of flat rice noodles considering i got the small order. 
3. the surprise - shitake and enoki mushrooms in a seafood soup... Wow!
4. the price: 120 pesos 

what i would add:

1. basil, mint, cilantro and toge sidings
2. more on the seafood(squid,shrimp, fish), less on the fishball/shrimpball/squidball

So there, despite the non-vietnamese sounding, non-vietnamese looking facade of Aquaknox, i did enjoy a truly vietnamese culinary experience. Next time, i take on the naked thanh long crabs!