Hai Phong Vietnamese Restaurant (North Shore City, New Zealand)
For quite some time now when we crave for some Vietnamese noodles soup our only resort was Hansan or Pho Bien but last weekend we found a third solution when we have our cravings also located in North Shore and it is Hai Phong in Northcote. We passed by this place one weekend after buying some stuff in the area, it was way past lunch time so instead of driving somewhere and decide where to eat we saw this corner restaurant and gave it a shot.
The place itself is not as equipped like Hansan and I felt like it was like a clean carinderia back home but that does not bother me as long as it is clean, we are here for the food anyways. Like the Vietnamese restaurants here in New Zealand the first thing you will see on their menu is the noodle soup dishes and appetizers but this place offers more, in fact they have stir fries on rice. While they look tasty, we were up for some noodles that’s why we tried this place on the first place.
We ordered two different types of noodles first was Beef Brisket Noodle soup (NZ$13.00) and Grilled Pork Noodle Soup (NZ$13.00), both very affordable especially when you see the serving size, it was enormous and can serve one really hungry fella!
Let’s start dissecting each dish starting with the Beef Brisket Noodle soup. First of all let’s set the premise on this dish, let me tell you now I am very picky specifically with this one because I can honestly make a really good bowl of this ———– and since I moved here I had a trouble finding something that can compete with what I can prepare at home, and until now there is still nothing that holds that space.
The Beef Brisket Noodles soup here however was one of the best ones that I tried in New Zealand so far, not as good as mine but it was good that I will come back here just for this. It was very tasty and meaty, what was lacking though compared to the ones I prepare is the two layers of flavour, while they most probably have cooked it similarly the second sauce that accompanies the beef and intensifies the beef broth is lacking some oomph as they had emphasized the flavour on the main broth which was already full of flavour. Meat was not as tender as expected, chewy on some parts but like I said it was good enough. Noodles and the greens that was served were perfectly cooked.
Next noodle was the Grilled Pork Noodle Soup, this is their take on Hansan’s P09. It came with a clear broth, it’s so clear you would think it was tasteless until you drink it. It was quite tasty and I love the addition of soaked pork cracklings, the noodles and greens were cooked perfectly. As with the pork, it was well thicker than the other Vietnamese noodle joints and they use the normal pork chop cut, it was less tasty but still good.
One thing to take note though the default noodle type here would be rice noodles, you will have to request for egg noodles if that is your choice at no extra cost. This was not indicated on their menu, or we might have missed it out but luckily was asked. Service here was great, our food was served really fast, and the place is clean, definitely one of the good Pho places here in Auckland.
Hai Phong 海坊中越美食坊
Address: Northcote Town Centre, 29 Pearn Crescent, Northcote, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: +649 419 0099
