The onset of cold weather brings about a number of changes. We swap sandals for boots, sunglasses for scarves and in the case of what to have for lunch, salad for soup.
It was a quintessential autumn day in Melbourne, sunny and bright but with a distinct chill in the air and The Beloved and I were hungry. No surprise there, we are frequently hungry. These hunger pains fortunately coincided with lunchtime so, after deciding that the fridge held nothing of interest for us, we jumped in the car and headed to Victoria Street, Richmond in search of a big bowl of noodle soup. Victoria Street is also known as ‘Little Saigon’ and is a bustling shopping strip where there is no shortage of Vietnamese produce or restaurants. It is my go-to place for Asian ingredients and good cheap food. The only challenge is deciding where to eat or shop.
Minh Minh, at 94 Victoria St, has long been a favourite destination, but it’s not renowned for its soup (if you go do try their whole steamed fish with ginger and shallots – seriously good). So we ignored it for once and wandered along the strip. We looked at a few but weren’t convinced, then came to Thanh Ha 2 and, based on nothing other than it was busy (always a good sign) and the menu had loads of soups, we went in.
Thanh Ha 2 is a typical Vietnamese restaurant: laminate tables, chopsticks tightly wrapped in small napkins, tables packed together and super fast but still friendly and efficient service.
Despite the fact that we were there for soup, The Beloved insisted we have Vietnamese Spring Rolls too. We got the combination spring rolls which were $9 for 9 of them. There was an assortment of prawn, pork and vegetable.
Vietnamese spring rolls
They were hot and crispy and served with crunchy iceberg lettuce, vietnamese mint and a fairly good nuoc cham (dipping sauce), which we used with gusto to wrap these moreish treats.
Loads of texture taste and crunch
With those quickly demolished it was on to the soups. The soups came with a plate piled with beanshoots, wedges of lemon and a dish of fresh chilli. The table was set with dried chilli and soy.
I had the egg noodle wonton soup ($9). It was a soup I would come back for. The broth had a good but not overpowering flavour, there were about 8 pork wontons, lots of sliced barbecue pork, pork mince, celery, spring onions and what I am pretty sure was a quail egg. All atop thin egg noodles. I added a few beanshoots, fresh chilli and vietnamese mint and got stuck in.
Egg noodle soup with wontons
The Beloved wanted Pho and then got a bit confused because there were three on the menu and he couldn’t choose which one to have. In the end he went for the Pho with ‘sliced beef’ ($8.50). It too, was not lacking in the ingredient or flavour stakes. Lots of thinly sliced beef, thick rice noodles and a very satisfying broth.
Pho with sliced beef
It is not the kind of restaurant to linger at, none of them on Victoria Street really are, but it was the perfect destination for a quick and tasty soup. We left satisfied.
Thanh Ha 2
120 Victoria Street Richmond VIC 3121
03 9421 6219
A nice bowl of PHO in winter is one of the simple pleasures in life
I’ve been on the hunt for good Pho in Melbourne so this was a timely post – thanks!
I really like how the spring rolls are served with lettuce. I’m a serial lettuce/greens adder, and will stick them in everything if you don’t keep an eye on me.
Great to know they have good broth! I normally go to the normal Thanh Ha, which has now been named something else, but it’s hard to know the good ones because there’s so many and most of them are crowded! Well, maybe they’re all good then and its a matter of finding your own favourite!
I want Wonton soup now!!! Yum! Nice one Joey xx
What a wonderfully hearty soup!!! A perfect cool weather lunch really
Hey, great pics here!
I love Thanh Ha (1 & 2) – especially their vegie Vietnamese Pancake, rice paper rolls and the Vietnamese Coleslaw with chicken – yum.
Check it out!
Clance
For me when I went there with a party of three the the food was good but the service was very poor and descended into rudeness. They didn’t like us sitting up the back and then told us to move as ‘our table is for six’ – they wanted us to move to another table of six?! It was also not packed – about half full. When we requested the waitress wipe the table she did about a 1/3 of it! We later asked a waiter for more tea but he ignored our request and when we went to pay they said the price for one dish had gone up $1.50 but the menu ‘hadn’t been changed yet’! We won’t be back as the staff attitude left a ‘bad taste’ which is a shame as food is excellent.
Hi Roger. Thanks for stopping by Second Helping. It is always a shame when good food is let down by poor service – your experience sounds very disappointing.