Pho Deluxe at Pho 88

Yet another pho restaurant has hit the Shanghai scene. Still having hope for pho in Shanghai, I had to try it. The reviews on CityWeekend seemed promising, though have apparently been taken down due to review spamming when I checked the link whilst writing today. Anyway, I went to Pho 88 on a weekday during lunch. Pho 88 is located right above Tanya Mantabei in its former second floor space. Upon entering during peak lunch hours, the restaurant was completely empty and not one other patron came into the restaurant during my leisurely stay.

I went for the Pho Deluxe Course, suitable for one person, which is one bowl of pho dac biet and cha gio or one house special pho with rare steak, tripe, well-done flank, brisket, tendon, and beef meatballs plus one deep-fried spring roll for 48RMB. Or, for basically 10RMB more, you get a single fried spring roll, which came with a weak serving of greens to add to the pho. Off the menu, simpler versions of pho with a smaller meat variety go for 29RMB.

The first taste of the broth showed promise. The flavor was rich and not oily or salty, but something was missing. The broth could have benefitted from a few more hours of stewing or adding more or better quality bones to enhance the depth of its flavor. Too bad there were not more typical leafy greens to throw in the soup to try to compesate for its flavor short-comings. The noodles were not overcooked and were pentiful. There was also a good amount of meat in the large bowl, probably from all the variety it is supposed to have. Though, the quality of the meat was average, though the rare steak was the only decent piece in the bowl. The meatballs were flavorless and reminiscent of a frozen, store-bought variety.

Pho 88 should benefit better from putting more effort into its broth and quality of meat than marketing tactics reeking of review pumping.


Pho 88. 2nd Floor, 581 Fuxing Zhong Lu (by Ruijin Yi Lu), Shanghai, China