Neon Asian Street Food

I've been in Dublin for 5 months now, and I am really starting to miss the ethnically diverse spectrum of quality restaurants from around the world that I had become accustomed to in Vancouver.  My latest craving is phở bò (Vietnamese beef noodle soup), so I set out to the internets to see what people had to say about phở in Dublin.
Much to my chagrin, it seems the phở phenomenon hasn't reached Dublin yet.  By all accounts the only phở restaurant worth its weight in salt, Ho Sen (6 Cope Street, Temple Bar, D2), closed almost 3 years ago.

Others referred me other restaurants such as Saba (26-28 Clarendon Street, D2) and Neon (17 Camden Street Lower, D2).  

I investigated the options, first with Saba.  Saba introduces itself as a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant offering traditional dishes and good value and excellent service for customers seeking authentic Vietnamese and Thai cuisine without blurring the lines of traditional cooking like so many other fusion restaurants have.  I had a look through their menu, and while intrigued at all the choices I quickly flipped through looking for what I wanted: phở bò.  Going through the dinner menu, I found it listed under the Noodle Soups section (menu)at a whopping €13.50.  I couldn't believe my eyes at first, I thought surely that this had to be a mistake or at least the volume price for a trough full.  That pretty much ended my cursory overview of Saba, however I'm sure I'll get back to them later.

Next, on to Neon Asian Street Food located on Camden Street Lower close to St. Stephen's Green and Iveagh Gardens.  Going through reviews of Neon and people's experiences with their food, most people had raving reviews of their food, the decor, ambience, and value.  All except for one thing, their phở.  Christine @ An American Girl in Dublin pretty much sums it up correctly, "It was like a bowl of pad thai in soup."

After consulting with a fellow Canadian ex-pat who recently moved to Dublin, I decided I would give it a shot anyways given all the raving reviews of their other foodstuffs.

So, I hit the bus up to Camden Street, I get off and I see this very bright and vibrant, very busy communal-table based restaurant.  I don't know why, but I was surprised to see it ... I was thinking a dingey hole in the wall, instead was this really nice looking restaurant.  It reminded me a lot of The Noodle Box in Vancouver, if not by decor, type of food, and the style of patrons, then by the service model of the restaurant (pay at the counter, it gets delivered by name).

After briefly perusing the menu, I decide on the duck spring rolls w/ hoisin sauce (€5.50), and the (now renamed) Thai Beef Noodle Soup (€5.50).  It seems after all the flack they received over their "Pho," they decided that it'd be better named something more fitting. I go up to the counter, order my dishes, and wait about 5'ish minutes until a little bento-style box is delivered with take-out containers containing my spring rolls and soup:

As you can see, the beef noodle soup is in an enormous container; there must be at least a litre of soup there!  The soup consists of a fairly strong, dark beef stock, lots of sliced pieces of beef, wide rice noodles (about 1cm wide), julienne carrots, a few pieces of thinly sliced bok choy/sui choy, spring onion, and about a whole red serrano pepper cut on the diagonal.  Overall, I'd give the soup about a 2.5 out of 5.  The fillings in the soup were quite enjoyable, it was plentiful, but the broth/stock itself was quite tragic.  I had this overbearing sense that the soup was re-constituted from a powder ... the way it left a sort of powdery ring around the bowl, the fact it was as thin as water but dark and cloudy, didn't have any consistency, and the fact there was no fat/oil anywhere to be found.  I would be shocked to find out the soup doesn't originate from a packet.  It was also overbearing and strong, almost like a new row mian (Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup) broth but not as good.

The duck spring rolls were a bit expensive considering they were €5.50, the same price as the soup.  I got 4 spring rolls, each chock-full of meaty goodness.  They were quite good, and I would definitely order them again regardless of the price.

All in all, I think Neon is a very good restaurant on all fronts ... except their soup ;)  They also have Tom Yum Gai (spicy Thai lemongrass chicken noodle soup) but I'm almost scared to try it.  That being said, I will definitely be back to try some of their other items, like their massaman curry, their fried rice, and some other items that caught my eye and got good reviews from others!

If you have any recommendations for places to try, please let me know.  I would love to try them.