Restaurant Reco: This cozy Mississauga restaurant serves amazing Vietnamese pho

It’s getting colder, the days are getting shorter, and we’ve seen our first bit of snow surprisingly early. During times like this, nothing soothes the soul quite like a hot bowl of delicious pho, and Mississauga fortunately has a bunch of great options for where to get it.

Pho (pronounced like fuh, not phō) is a popular Vietnamese rice noodle soup that is eaten at any time of day in certain regions of Vietnam. It typically consists of a savory beef broth infused with herbs and spices, served with slim cuts of beef (including steak, fatty flank, lean flank or brisket) and rice noodles — but naturally, there’s a lot of room for customization.

If you’re looking for some good pho on the city’s west side, Pho Mi 289 (located at Meadowvale Town Centre) is worth a try. This unassuming restaurant combines delicious Vietnamese cuisine with an ambience that can only be described as being nice and cozy.

Unlike most other restaurants where you tell your server what you want, Pho Mi 289 provides a sheet of paper and a pencil for everyone at the table to write down their order’s menu number, which is a unique but fun take on the ordering process. The menu here is massive, featuring a variety of different rice noodle soups, stir-fry noodles, rice dishes, fried rice, fish, cold drinks, and desserts.

THE DISH:

For this review I tried one of the restaurant’s top picks, the Medium Rare Beef Rice Noodle Soup: Made with herbs, spices, and a rich beef broth with rice noodles, garnished with onion and scallion. The dish is served with basil, bean sprout, and lime.

This is one of those dishes where no ingredient feels superfluous — each individual ingredient’s taste and texture combines to make a truly delicious bowl of pho. The hearty broth is perfectly flavourful and just the right amount of salty, housing well-seasoned slices of beef and a generous amount of soft noodles. The dish is made even more flavourful with the basil and crunchy onions and bean sprouts.

Overall, this is a big bowl of pho that satisfies both in terms of quantity and quality, and there’s a ton of other delicious looking pho on the menu. If you’re more of a rice lover, the restaurant has a ton of great rice dishes as well (the chicken fried rice would be my recommendation).

THE UNIQUE:

Pho Mi 289 exudes a kind of comfort and atmosphere that pairs perfectly with enjoying a nice bowl of noodles and broth. The service is fast and the super friendly staff are always willing to cater to your needs. Unlike most other restaurants where you tell your server what you want, Pho Mi 289 provides a sheet of paper and a pencil for everyone at the table to write down their order’s menu number, which is a unique but fun take on the ordering process.

THE VERDICT:

Those on the hunt for some delicious pho in Mississauga definitely shouldn’t skip out on Pho Mi 289, which — combined with its delicious menu and excellent service — was good enough to find a spot on our Top 5 Vietnamese Pho list. If you find yourself staring at the huge menu and not sure what to try, I would definitely recommend the Medium Rare Beef Rice Noodle Soup as a starting point.

1. Pho Mi 289