Plan B: Vietnamese Food @ Pho Gia Dinh (Mong Kok, Hong Kong)

I have been searching for days to find a good Peking duck restaurant in Hong Kong. But to my disappointment, I was unsuccessful at finding one. I tried to book Mott 32 in Central, but their Peking duck was sold out. I tried several other restaurants and got the same response. To my disappointment, after searching all day, I turned to Plan B.
We went to a small Vietnamese joint in our area to try Vietnamese food. We came late, and the joint was about to close, but the young couple owners were nice enough and stayed open to serve us as their last customers. We ordered several dishes to try, including a spring roll, lemongrass chicken skewers, and two bowls of pho.
The spring rolls came out first and were nicely presented. I had a taste. The skin was crispy, but the filling was a bit soggy and didn’t have much flavour. Next were the lemongrass skewers. The chicken was tender, and I could taste a hint of lemongrass. However, the skewer was overpowered by the essence of turmeric, which gave the skewer its yellow-gold colour. The flavour was different and reminded me of the satays in Malaysia. Lastly, the noodles were brought out fresh and piping hot. The presentation was nice. The texture of the noodle was good. The meat was nice and tender. The broth had a different flavour than the ones I’m used to. How would I describe this? The broth was missing the pho essence or umami and needed more cloves, star anise, and black cardamom to bump up the flavor. I couldn’t really taste any of that pho flavour in the soup.
Overall, if you want a quick bite without any fuss, I would come by to try the food for a change of scenery. Because after a week of eating Chinese food three meals a day, I found it overwhelming. I enjoy variety in my food, and that includes different cuisines as well. I hope everyone had a wonderful day, and keep watching for more upcoming videos.