Address: 58 Redlea Avenue (but multiple locations throughout the city)
Website: http://kimpovietnamese.com/
Type of Meal: Lunch
With seven locations across the GTA, Kim Po Vietnamese
Restaurant’s Scarborough location seems to be the most run down. Located off a
small street across from Pacific Mall, the building looks like a converted
house with minimal parking spots (but tons of street parking). Luckily, once we
made our way inside the interior was nicer having been upgraded. In reality, all
I was looking for was a hearty bowl of noodles so esthetics mean little - as long as the broth is rich and noodles not overdone I’m happy.
Having heard about their house special Fukein noodles
($6.50), we decided to order this instead of pho. The change was a nice; the
bowl contained two types of noodles (a thicker yellow “oil” variety and a thin vermicelli).
It still had plenty of hearty rich broth (Kim Po’s not overly oily and clean
tasting), thinly sliced beef & Vietnamese ham and was topped with an
oversized prawn chip complete with dried prawn in the centre.
Tackling the chip first, so that it wouldn’t get mushy
from being left in the soup, it was crisp and had a deep shrimp flavour. The duo
of noodles helped to add a texture contrast but there could have been more of it as
it seemed like with a few scoops everything was gone. Mixed into everything was
plenty of green onions, fried onions and a rigorous sprinkling of black pepper.
All in all, I don’t know if I’d replace the beloved pho with Fukein noodles but
it’s a good alternative.
The chicken in their BBQ lemongrass chicken with rice
($7.50) was nicely marinated and grilled. Tender and filled with flavour, I
would have loved to have the chicken with a bowl of pho. The rice that
accompanied the dish was one of the worse quality I’ve ever had. It was a
cheaper variety so the grains were broken into many small pieces and lacked any
fragrance. It’s a shame that such a delicious chicken was paired with the
subpar rice.
Kim Po’s deep fried spring rolls ($5.50) were on point,
with a fair amount of filling (a mixture of taro, noodles and pork)
encapsulated in a very crispy crust. Served with some extras (cold springy noodles
and vegetables) they were also great for dipping into the vinegary fish sauce.
In the end, Kim Po’s a decent Vietnamese restaurant with
some inventive offerings on the menu you may not normally find at competitors.
But, with so many choices around the area, it wasn’t my favourite and generally
found their portions a tad small. A saving grace is they are opened until 4pm;
so, if it were for a late night snack than perhaps Kim Po would be a satisfying
choice.
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Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
