Pho T&T: A restaurant with generous servers, amazing food, reasonable prices, but with gigantic servings.
A restaurant that always stays in my mind is this tiny Vietnamese restaurant right across the street from Seven Eleven in Port Coquitlam. Pho T&T is one of the first restaurants I visited since moving and it really stuck in my head. I have made numerous memories, from celebrating with family to eating out with friends. The atmosphere of the restaurant is a mix enthusiasm and tranquility. The moment you walk in you are greeted by the owner, who is the nicest and the most enthusiastic person. Then after, as you walk to your table, you will feel the cool vibe of the restaurant; pop music playing quietly in the background, beautiful paintings hung all over the walls with green wallpaper and tables equipped with all the utensils you will need for your delicious meal. What is more is that at first glance at the menu, you wouldn’t notice anything special. The prices aren’t too expensive nor cheap. Ten dollars for rice plates and five to seven dollars for a bowl of noodle soup and they also have many other side dishes. But, when the servers deliver your food, you will be surprised on how gigantic the servings are. The bowl of noodle soup must be twice the size of my head and you wouldn’t even be able to finish your rice plate because of how much meat and rice there is. After I finish every meal at Pho, I could barely stand on two feet and I probably wouldn’t be able to eat anything else the rest of the day.
After repeatedly visiting Pho I have now become one of their regulars. Over the summer I would eat there with my friends at least once a week. In lazy weekends with nothing to eat in the house, I would often ask my friends if they wanted to eat out at Pho. They would almost always answer with an enthusiastic “YES”. Provided that me and my friends are loud and weird people, therefore whenever we’re out in public we would cause all kinds of scenes. Considering this, whenever we would eat at Pho, I would regularly see people peeping at our table because of all the commotion we are causing. On one funny occasion, after we finished our meal. One of my friends bet another to eat a spoonful of sriracha for $5. Without hesitation, he took the spoonful of sriracha and dumped it in his mouth. For about 3 seconds, he was making a weird face and looked like he was about to puke. He won the bet, but 10 minutes later his stomach grumbled and rushed back home.
After all the memories I have made in this tiny restaurant, there was a time that I would only pass the restaurant without giving it a second thought. When I finally decided to eat there, the place was simple with a huge menu, noodles rice and variety of dishes. I decided to go with the wonton soup, regular size, which was a lot bigger than I suspected. The soup was really good, authentic and full of yummy ingredients that I don’t have any idea what it’s called but it’s good nevertheless. At that moment I was sure that I was going to be eating out there more often.
