SDPB Special Winnipeg Edition! Com Tam Thuan Kieu

Location: 661 Ellice Ave, Winnipeg, Manitoba (Insert crazy Canadian zipcode here)
Phone: (204)949-9081
Website: A Review from the Winnipeg Free Press

Beth:

Happy 2010 Pho Lovers! I rang in the new decade in the fair city of Winnipeg, Manitoba this year. A long way from San Diego, and quite a change in climate. But there's nothing like a delicious bowl of hot pho to warm up a cold winter day.

(O, Canada)

My special man-friend and I took the time to visit a relatively new Vietnamese restaurant in Winnipeg (there are several, FYI, if you ever make the jaunt up to Manitoba- just look it up on Yelp) called Com Tam Thuan Kieu. Apparently there are several other Vietnamese places with the same name in other places.

The restaurant is fairly subtle in terms of decor- there are some Asian elements. The menu has an amazing variety of dishes- they go way beyond pho. I would love to try the other dishes sometime.

Service was good, but our waitress was very quiet. She just kind of put her order pad down and looked at us until we figured she wanted us to order. The food also took a little longer to come than I'm used to. But it was worth the wait.

The spring rolls were very good- I think the lettuce may have been something other than leaf lettuce, as it was pretty crunchy. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The pork also seems to have had some kind of spice rub on the outsides of the slices. I thought the spice was a nice touch, but purists may not agree. The peanut sauce was great- just slightly too much hoisin, but hey, I can let that go. The cionsistency was just right- not too runny, not too thick.

The garnishes included most of the standards- basil, bean sprouts, lime- no jalapenos or culantro, though. Culantro seems to be somewhat uncommon to begin with, and I didn't mind the lack of jalapenos, since I usually use sriracha for the heat in my soup. Everything was fresh and flavorful.

The broth had pronounced spice flavors- there were notable but not overwhelming flavors of anise and cinnamon. At first it didn't have much of a beefy flavor and was slightly sweet, but the beef flavor came out more as time went on. By the time I got to the bottom of the bowl, the broth was amazing. I was full, but it was hard to stop eating.

There were a lot of noodles in the soup- I like the noodles, so I didn't mind. They were slightly more cooked than I like them.

The meat was the only thing that was slightly lacking- I got flank and rare steak in my soup. I expected there to be fat on the flank, but even the steak slices had a significant amount of fat. The meat was tender (but not the most tender I've had) and flavorful, but I really didn't need that fat on the steak.

The restaurant has Banh Mi, but I didn't get a chance to try them. But hey, I'm here for 3 more days, so there's still time.

The price of a regular-sized pho at Thuan Kieu is $ 6.95 Canadian (that's $6.62 US), so it was a little steep compared to San Diego, but it was totally worth it.

I highly recommend the Pho at Thuan Kieu- so if you ever find yourself in Winnipeg, make sure you check it out!

8.5 spoons out of 10, eh! (sorry, couldn't resist)