After craving for vietnamese pho for so long after my trip back from vietnam, I've been meaning to go to one place that could match up to the standards there. Sadly, I have yet to find one that's as good as the one there!
The opening of SO PHO @ JEM was a delight to me as it is relatively near my house and most of the vietnamese food are pretty far away.
Decided to try it when the queue wasn't as long during the lunch/dinner hours.

I think most of the staff there were very new and hence they seemed a little clueless about the menu. My server had to flip the pages when he was repeating the orders back to me. Forgivable as i believe it is a new establishment and they were mostly newly employed hence the unfamiliarity. I ordered the Beef Brisket and Beef Balls Noodle Soup which cost $9.80. I think it was quite worth it as the amount of beef given was very generous. I wanted to ask them to cook the beansprouts for one first but I was afraid they won't know what to do and would tell me that the vietnamese style was to eat it kind of raw. haha! Beef Ball was springy and nice to chew and the beef were all pretty big portion. The noodles they gave was also very slow and was a nice complement to the beef. The soup itself was really good! But I felt that it was a little too sweet, maybe there were too much beef goodness inside. haha!

I think that this dish is not too bad but I wouldn't say that it reminds me of vietnam. Maybe with a better touch to the environment, the owner could boost the ambience of the place? There are also other similar dishes such as beef brisket itself/beef balls itself if i'm not wrong and it's a little cheaper than the combination of both? Perhaps those who are not that hungry could opt for those dishes instead!

With the close proximity to my house, I will definitely go back and try the other dishes!

I decided to try the chicken rice from this stall as I was scouting around for food that I wanted to eat for dinner before heading back home. The store owner beckon me towards the store and I was attracted by the name of the store. It reminds me of a show that my father was watching and I thought that the owner must really like kungfu to name the store after a clan. Haha! I ordered the Hainanese chicken rice (roasted chicken) even though the more popular dish seems to be the mushroom minced meat. ($2.50)
The verdict:
The rice was still piping hot when I got home and I could smell the fragrant of the rice as I made my way home! I felt that the chicken was soft and fresh and tasted really good! I didn't like that the chicken had the blood stains on it but I guess it's to show that it's a very fresh chicken? (not too sure about this fact!). The store owner gave me some pieces with the bones and I didn't really like that. Note to self to order the breast meat!

Overall, I think this chicken rice is not too bad, although not extremely fantastic. It is enough to satisfy a chicken rice craving but I don't think I would especially go back to visit the store. Might try the mushroom noodles next time if I'm in the area though!

(Read a recent report that the uncle gives free extra top-up of rice/meat to NSF personnel, so sweet!)

My friends and I wanted to try this Thai Food place along coronation road the other day, but unfortunately, it was closed ): We begin walking towards Island Creamery which was further down the road but chanced upon this Thai food place which serves western food as well. The aroma that was wafting out of the eatery beckoned us towards it like a bear to honey. The friendly lady owner waved us in with a menu, very prepared to serve us! Upon knowledge that we were students, she quickly presented us with the student menu where dishes were a few dollars cheaper than the normal price.

The eatery has 2 levels, the top floor is a tiny space which can sit roughly 15-20 people while the bottom level housed a much bigger space. As we were complaining about the scorching heat, the owner informed us that the top level has air-conditioning! Yay! The tiny space was quite dark (hence the bad lighting of the photo) but pictures of Thailand was plastered on the walls which created an unnatural "Thai environment".

The food came fairly quickly after we placed our orders. I must say I was a little skeptical about the taste of the food as the food came almost instantly. I ordered the Seafood Phad Thai ($6.50) and I must say I'm truly impressed! The noodles are cooked to a perfect texture. They aren't mushy and too soft but a perfect consistency that gives just the right amount of resistance when bitten into.The chef uses just the right amount of tamarind, fish sauce, and other spices to flavor the phad thai. I did not add the lime as I prefer the original taste of the noodles and I particularly did not like sour foods. The sauce was not too sweet nor spicy (chilli flakes were provided to add a stronger spicy flavour!). The dish also had a generous amount of bean sprouts, squid, peanuts and tofu. A miss for me was that the prawn was not the crunchy type that I like. However, the overall taste of the dish was really excellent!

All in all, the place is extremely easy to locate (right behind a bus stop before coronation plaza, next to a bicycle shop) and the food is really awesome! It is right to say that the phrase "never judge a book by its cover" is highly applicable to this eatery. I will definitely want to go back to try the other dishes!

Note: There was no GST and service charge! Do note that customers need to pay first before eating.

Pizza Hut is definitely one of my favourite joints to go to to satisfy my pizza cravings! As promised, I came back to pizza hut to try the student lunch special the next day! Talk about loyalty. Haha! The server brought me to a window seat this time and I must say that the seat location added to the relaxing ambience of the non-peak lunchtimes. It was a really nice feeling to watch the world go by with the recent light pop songs playing on the music player overhead as I dug into my pizza!

I ordered the BBQ chicken supreme pizza this time. I love how the crust is soft yet crispy. The pizza was dotted with pineapple chucks, green and red capsicums and topped with chicken chunks, ending up with a generous pour of tangy BBQ sauce. The melty cheese on it added to the sweetness of the dish. (I enjoyed my pizza with a large amount of cheese flakes placed in a bottle on the table). My student meal also came with the garlic bread. The core of the bread was soft and smooth while the outer part was crispy. It was also pipping hot when it came. I left 1 as my dessert and surprisingly, it remained crispy even after awhile! I decided to go with the traditional coke choice this time. As i've mentioned before, I prefer plain water to soft drinks so I don't really have a preference for types of soft drink. It was good that it was free flow though! The pizza set meal is cheaper than the pasta at a price of $6.90. With such affordable price and impeccable service, topped off with the great location of the restaurant, I truly look forward to my next visit to Pizza hut!

Headed over to Pizza Hut to try the cheap lunch deals as I always see people queuing up at dinnertime! I went there around 2-3pm and the lunch crowd was probably gone already as there were only 3-4 tables occupied. The service was impeccably fast and staff were very friendly and courteous. As the restaurant was relatively empty, the service was very fast and they were always hovering around, ready to serve the customers.

I ordered the Student Lunch Special which came with 1 free flow soft drink and a side dish of your choice. For the main dish, I chose the Chicken Pomodoro. This lunch costs me $7.90++ ($9.20 w GST and service charge).

The soup of the day was Cream of Mushroom Soup. The simmering soup let out a delightful aroma of scents. I like the consistency of the soup and plus point to it was that there were visible cubes of mushroom in the soup! I was so tempted to order another bowl of soup but luckily, my drink came. On hindsight, I think I would've been too full after the pasta. I chose the Miranda Orange as my drink. I think it was generous of them to serve the drink as free flow. But sadly, it was a waste to me as I prefer plain water instead of soft drinks. Lastly, the Chicken Pomodoro! The tangy smell of tomato sauce combined with the earthy scent of basil, topped off with garnishes of olives and peas drums up thoughts of a garden in spring. The pasta was cooked al dante which was really nice. Although the garnishes added to the lovely image of the food, I unfortunately did not like olives and peas, hence I did not eat them in the end. There were many pieces of chicken in this dish as well! What's more, they are skinless, the way I like them.

Overall, I like that Pizza Hut has student meals at such an affordable price to attract us. The serving sizes were not compromised and they do maintain their standards even though consumers paid a lesser price. I will definitely be back to try the other dishes on the student lunch specials menu!