Mekong Rocks!

Pho Bo Ga Mekong
241 Swanston Street, Melbourne
9663 3288
Open 7 days a week, 9am - 10pm
Mains $6.50 - $8.00
BYO, corkage $1 per person
No bookings and no cards: cash only

What Bill Clinton has to do with good pho is anyone’s guess. But the sign on the door says he ate two bowls of the stuff. After frequent visits to this place, we can only conclude he’s a man of good taste, and a big appetite!

There is no doubt about it. Pho Bo Ga Mekong, a traditional and family-run Vietnamese restaurant slap bang in the middle of the CBD, serves one of the best value meals around. Situated on the busy Swanston Street strip between Little Bourke and Lonsdale, this simple shop front is anything but glamorous. Obviously the inner-city stylists are yet to drop by. Laminated posters of family prints are stuck with blu-tac, slightly skewed, on the walls. A TV mounted from the ceiling runs continuously with Chinese language programs; muted, thank heavens! (For us, good food and bad TV just don't belong together.) The place is basically furnished, scruffy lino on the floors and too many laminex tables squeezed in with barely an inch to spare, but it's always full. Mekong's been here for ten years now. And judging from the crowds, its take on simple Vietnamese fare is not about to change.

As soon as you sit down a thermos of hot tea is whisked to your table and before you know where you are the waiter is standing there ready to take your order. We have to admit, the folks here are not memorable for their friendliness or patience, but the service is certainly prompt. The menu is simple and straightforward: one side of the laminated card is in English and the other Vietnamese. We can’t say much about many of the items listed, ‘cause we always get the same thing. We begin with the rice paper rolls and sometimes, if we're feeling especially rich, the spring rolls, but the main event is what this place is known for. It’s the pho, a traditional Vietnamese soup with rice noodles, herbs and whatever meat or fish you choose. We almost always order the chicken breast. Along with the soup comes plate loads of fresh Vietnamese basil, chillies, lemon and bean shoots. Toss it all together and slurp away. It’s a feast: always fresh and uncomplicated tastes. The pho comes in three sizes, but the smallest bowl for just $6.50 is ample. And you leave feeling full, satisfied, but never stuffed!

You’d think a simple thing like pho would be hard to get wrong, but not so. We’ve had our fair share of tasteless variations. What Mekong does, it does well. And our family of four has never left spending anything more than around $26. We love it, and so does Bill. So how could you go wrong?