A short walk down Midway from Hamline is the vibrant new Vietnamese restaurant Pho Pasteur VN. Though it was raining when we went, the five-minute walk wasn’t horrible, and the warmth of the restaurant allowed for the darkness of outside to be forgotten. The old establishment that used to be there had a personally that looked like a front, but the warm colors of Pho Pasteur allows for a calming and welcoming atmosphere.
The smells of the comfort food that wafted inside dragged me into the door to be met by a smiling staff. Many of the tables were full, considering it was the lunch crowd. I don’t think I’ve ever passed by this restaurant without there being plenty of people enjoying the atmosphere. Sitting down, well-rounded menus was placed down in front of my roommate and me. As a person who finds Pho to smell like feet, I went with the Pad Thai. Plenty of people including my roommate ordered Pho. The large steaming bowls came out with plenty of toppings to go with.
Along with Pho and other soups and noodles, there was also a whole section of rice bowls. The large bowls of rice smelled so good from the table next to us. The chicken and egg roll on top creating a mound that could have definitely been enough for two meals.
I also ordered a strawberry bubble tea with my meal. There were about ten choices of bubble tea on the menu to choose from. The texture of the tea was very thick, smoothie like, instead of the thinner kind I usually see. My roommate had a hard time with the thickness, the bubbles getting stuck in her straw. I had no problem though and found that I enjoyed these bubble teas more than the thinner ones.
When my Pad Thai came out in a very speedy time, I found the red pepper flakes in it very enjoyable. It was very filling and had enough chicken to onion to noodle ratio to satisfy my needs. The crushed-up peanuts that you see a lot of times on top were not there, but there were enough whole peanuts mixed in to get the crunchy peanut-ness that I love about Pad Thai.
My roommate who loves Pho had steak in hers. I probed her taste of it, since I knew she has a good experience with that type of food. She stated that it wasn’t the best she ever had because the meat in it was not the best, but still ranked it up in the top five enjoyable Pho she has had around Minneapolis. She also said the meat wasn’t well done as she had requested and that there was a bit of chewing in it, but it was medium well enough that it wasn’t terrible. The broth was good, and the rest of the fixings were nice.
I’d have to say that as far as restaurants within walking distance from Hamline go, Mirror of Korea is still probably my favorite food-wise, but I would rank Pho Pasteur VN above Black Sea. The prices of Pho Pasteur are reasonable. I paid about $11 for my Pad Thai and all Pho options were $10. They did have lunch specials that were around $6 for those wishing to go for lower priced options.
For a night at home, Pho does take out. There were about three different people in the hour that we were sitting there that came in to pick up food.
I have to say we did wait a bit, wondering if we needed to go to the counter to pay or wait at the table. After watching a couple people pay, we did realize we had to go to the counter.
Overall, we both agreed that we would definitely go back and probably try the rice bowls and other things on the menu. The atmosphere and their delicious food makes me hope that this new edition to Midway stays a long while.