Essentially the first Vietnamese restaurant to hit the Yonge and Eglinton hood, Pho King Fabulous looks to leave a mark on the neighbourhood, and the GTA, in a way that supersedes even it’s innuendo-heavy name.
Owner Kevin Hoang brings a unique resume with him to his debut Toronto restaurant. Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he landed in Regina as a teenager – one of the “boat people” fleeing Vietnam after the fall of the democratic south to the communist north. He moved to Hogtown in 1985 to attend U of T and secured a degree as an industrial engineer. He then spent 25 years in the IT and marketing world where he still works part-time.
So how does a restaurant fit into the fold?
“After 25 years as an IT expert, I was tired of working for other people,” Hoang confesses. “I decided I wanted to do something for myself. I was not satisfied with the pho I got in other places in Toronto, so opening up a restaurant became the dream.”
He didn’t jump right in. Pho King Fabulous is a two-year project that’s still in its infancy, given the lofty ambitions of the first-time restaurateur. During his university days Hoang worked as a short order cook, and climbed the ranks at Dominos Pizza from delivery boy to store manager, but he needed a refresher on the biz.
Cunningly, Hoang put himself in the position of a recent immigrant in search of a job and landed a role as a part-time cook at Pho Ao Sen in Mississauga to learn as much as possible. His undercover stint gave him the working knowledge of a contemporary restaurant. He attended culinary and restaurant management courses at George Brown in tandem, while perfecting his personal recipe for the iconic soup base.
“My father in-law taught me how to make pho,” Hoang says. “I started making it several years ago every weekend for the whole family. It used to be up to my father in-law, but in his 80s, he doesn’t have the energy. So it became my weekly task.”
With his wife as his astute taste tester, it took over 50 batches of beef bone broth to perfect his recipe. That was the last step before securing a location.
Pho King Fabulous simmers beef bones for at least eight hours before adding the traditional aromatics like star anise, cinnamon sticks, cardamom, clove and coriander. The whole process takes at least 10 hours and yields a broth that exudes depth and colour that according to Hoang, separates his soup from most others in Toronto.
“Many places cut corners,” Hoang claims, by taking less time or substituting raw meat for bones in the broth.
Hoang’s marketing intuition prompted him to opt for a short, simple menu. It’s broken down into appetizers, pho, bun (vermicelli bowls), com tam (broken rice) and cac mon chay (vegetarian) and beverages with only four or five options in each category. The strategy lends itself to a higher turnover of tables and a scalable model that Hoang hopes to transfer into a multi-location, and eventually, a franchised operation spanning the GTA and beyond.
A concise menu isn’t the only difference from many Vietnamese joints around town. The design of the 60-seat space is pleasant and relatively polished. Booths line the back of the south wall, with paintings flown in from Saigon. The opposite wall has dark wood shelving with musical instruments played by local Vietnamese musician, Pham Duc Thanh. It suits the midtown crowd.
Pho King Fabulous also sources true Vietnamese coffee. Strong and rich, spiked with sweet condensed milk and poured over ice, nostalgia peaks at first sip. Take one to go along with a bubble tea or a smoothie from their coffee bar.
