Takeout from Pho Time Authentic Vietnamese Eatery

This is not good.  We are ordering too much takeout during this pandemic!  Despite being so obedient the first month and eating exclusively home-cooked food to avoid interacting too much with the outside world, ever since we broke the seal on Easter long weekend with our first takeout meal, we’ve been going out to buy takeout more and more often.

Anyway, Pho Time Authentic Vietnamese Eatery (9255 Woodbine Ave, Unit 7A) is a brand new Vietnamese restaurant that opened in Markham at the Cachet Centre (Woodbine and 16th Avenue) two months ago –so approximately when the pandemic was announced.  I remember seeing their soft opening and was looking forward to trying them out.  Since I was feeling for some Vietnamese food and remembered just in time that Pho Time Authentic Vietnamese Eatery was so close to me, I browsed online for their menu.

I love how every container was neatly labelled!

Pho Time Authentic Vietnamese Eatery doesn’t have a website unfortunately, but I was still able to peruse their takeout menu by accessing the UberEats site which showed everything they offered.

I liked how easy it was to use the site; all of the dishes were organized into different categories with the English name, Vietnamese name, Chinese name, and price.  Some of the dishes had coloured photos next to them so you could see what it looked like.

I jotted down the dish’s number and then called them to place the order.  A lady who spoke English and Cantonese answered my call and then told me that my order would be ready within 15 minutes (loved that the wait was so short).  She repeated my order to make sure it was correct but didn’t take down my name or phone number.

My mom was on the way back home and picked up our order easily.  She said there was no one else in the restaurant when she entered to pick up the order.

We ordered a variety of items to share.  Everything was actually so delicious, and I was thoroughly impressed!  Every dish from the pho to the shrimp rolls to the beef brisket on broken rice to the pad thai was honestly a solid 8 to 9 out of 10 for me.

(I love how the staff neatly labelled each takeout container with the dish order so that you knew before opening it what it was.  I’m not sure why not more restaurants do this.  It’s not like it takes that much more time to label the containers.  It’s the little things that count. 🙂 )

T2. Shrimp Fresh Rolls. $12.95

The Shrimp Fresh Rolls were actually something I had been wanting to eat since last weekend, so I was happy to finally satisfy my craving.  These paper rolls came in two and were split into two; four pieces in total.  There was a sweet seafood sauce provided as well.  I really enjoyed the Shrimp Fresh Roll!  The vermicelli inside of the soft rice paper was firm and just slightly chewy while the lettuce was so fresh.  It hit the spot!

P1. House Special Beef Pho. $10.95
-you can see the rare beef was wrapped with plastic here

The House Special Beef Pho is such a classic thing to order whenever I’m trying a brand new Vietnamese restaurant.  Unlike most other Viet restaurants though, there was no size to choose from.  (Usually, you can choose whether you want a medium bowl or large bowl or even extra large.  Here, there was only one size.)

This rice noodle beef pho included rare beef, beef flank, beef tendon, beef tripe, and beef balls.  The rice noodles and toppings were put into one plastic container while the hot beef broth was put in a separate Styrofoam container.

Unwrapped rare beef pictured with the beef broth

On the phone when I was making the order, the lady asked whether I wanted the bean sprouts to be cooked or raw.  I said cooked.  She also asked me whether I wanted the rare beef to be cooked or rare.  I didn’t want it cooked.  The restaurant did this by wrapping the rare beef in plastic wrap so it was clearly delineated from the rest of the bowl.  I really appreciated this.  It ensured that if you like rare beef a little more smooth, you can dunk it yourself into the hot broth to cook to your liking.

On that note, the tall Styrofoam container of beef broth was so steaming hot!  I was half expecting that by the time my mom picked up the order and brought it home that the food would have cooled down a little bit, but the broth was still very hot.  It definitely cooked up the rare beef slices immediately.

Quintessential pho condiments

The hot broth also helped to separate the rice noodles which had stuck together a little bit during the commute.  However, when mixed together, the rice noodles and the broth were really good.  I still think pho is something that needs to be eaten hot and fresh right away at a restaurant, but this was actually really decent for a takeout bowl of pho.  The various beef pieces were all good and not chewy either.

The restaurant also made sure to include pho condiments like the seafood sauce, sriracha sauce, mint leaves, two quarter slices of lime, and a red pepper!

W1. Pad Thai With Chicken. $12.95

The Pad Thai With Chicken was a satisfying dish!  The restaurant accidentally gave us the chicken and shrimp version, which was nice since we got to try the shrimp out that way too.  However, I hate to think that if there was someone who ordered this who is allergic to shrimp… it would mean that they wouldn’t be able to eat their order at all.

Anyway, the Thai sauce was nicely stir fried with the rice noodles and tasted just a bit tangy.  I wish there were more chicken pieces though.

R10. Tomato Sauce Beef Brisket with Rice. $12.95

Finally, the Tomato Sauce Beef Brisket with Rice was one of the best dishes we ordered.  The broken rice with some accompanying salad was put in one container while the beef brisket with tomato sauce was put in a separate container.  The tomato sauce wasn’t really tomato-y; it was more like a beef brisket meat sauce.

The beef brisket was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth tender and went so well with the savory sauce.  This was to die for!  I mixed the saucy beef brisket with the broken rice, and it was the best combination.  The broken rice here truly was “broken rice” in the true Vietnamese fashion.  I was really impressed about this.  I would definitely order this dish again and recommend it. 😋

Best beef brisket with broken rice ever!

Now I’m no Vietnamese food expert, but I think I can say that their restaurant name really describes their authentic cooking and how great everything tasted despite being packed in a box.  I would definitely return for more and by that, I also mean ordering takeout again from them as long as this pandemic lasts.  They have so many varieties of dishes that I definitely have more on my list that I want to try.