The Bowl Fine Asian Cuisine

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hu tieu bo kho / uhh pho

Close to Ryerson and has pho bo kho? This was another place I had to try. Located on yonge, south of dundas, right across from the eaton centre is the Fine Asian Bowl and one of their three locations in Toronto. First impressions stepping inside went something like this...hmm pretty clean...and looks nice in here...and served by a white person...wait...what? I guess I'm just used to eating pho on dirty tables, with a pot of tea, and surly asian waiters/tresses but something wasn't sitting right. Fearing I walked into some sort of Spring Rolls-watered down-fusion-trap, I was thiiis close to getting up and leaving but decided to stick it out and try it.

So onto the bo kho, or as they nicely put it on the menu, hu tieu bo kho (S $7.50/ L $8.75 + tax/tip). Way too expensive for a bowl of pho so I played it safe went with the small not knowing how it would turn out. I was honestly expecting it to be terrible, like a tomato in a bowl of regular pho, but actually turned out being pleasantly surprised with a pretty decent bowl of pho bo kho. Carrots, beef brisket, delicious delicious broth. Maybe just slightly less flavourful than what I'm used to but otherwise still very close. My only gripe would be the noodles which were more like the chinese flat thick rice noodles. Also pictured is some sort of pho lunch combo ($9.00? + tax/tip) which is a L sized bowl of pho and came with a drink. This was actually decent as well...not terrible but not great...and according to my friend could use more MSG? lol Also the size of this large is probably comparable to a medium at most other pho places so there's not much value going on here.

So I guess you get what you pay for, location, service, decor...but if it's up to me, I'll be walking over to chinatown for my pho.

The Bowl Fine Asian Cuisine
271 Yonge St.
Toronto, ON
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