Pho Hien Saigon, 3/284 Hampshire Rd, Sunshine. Phone: 9311 9532

Pho Hien Saigon has long been a great place.

A great place that delivers great food with service that is efficient and consistently prompt yet always friendly.

Unfortunately it’s because of the above factors that getting a seat or table here has often been tricky, especially during any of the joint’s many peak hours.

So it’s really neat to discover that these days there’s a whole lot more room – double, in fact, with the restaurant expanding to take in the adjoining property.

So now it’s double-fronted instead of single-fronted.

And all of it worthy of a quickie write-up.

As previously noted, I usually visit this fine eatery to eat just a single dish.

For today’s impromptu, early, post-footy lunch, I mix it up by ordering a medium $9 bowl of pho.

It’s excellent in every way.

The broth is strong and flavoursome.

The sliced beef is far from raw and already pretty much cooked by the time my bowl is placed upon my table, yet it retains an overall pinkness I’ve never before seen in pho.

The  equal measure of brisket is fat-free – something also unusual in pho.

The herbiage, sprouts and fresh red chillis are all just right, too.

Queen’s Rose The Sun, 229 Hampshire Rd, Sunshine. Phone: 9310 2887

In our pursuit of lunch in Sunshine, we’ve run into dead ends as a couple of likely prospects failed to eventuate.

We’re loitering on Hamsphire Rd in a “what to do, what to do …” mood when Bennie says: “What I really feel like is fried chicken!”

What he specifically means, I know, are those chicken rib thingies, and – more specifically yet – those to be had from a nearby Chinese eating establishment of which we are fond.

But as we are standing right outside Queen’s Rose The Sun, I say to my offsider: “I know a place that does terrific fried chicken ribs!”

So in we go …

It’s been at least a year since I have visited this lovely Vietnamese joint.

So I’m a little disappointed to see the wonderful old-fashioned decor has given way to a more contemporary version of old-school – standard Viet eatery, including a garish neon sign above the entrance to the kitchen that seems to have about a 1000 different way of unveiling the restaurant’s name.

Bennie and I try counting them, but fail …

The walls are wonderfully festooned with food photos that seem to include quite a few that do not feature on the longish menu and some that also seem quite exotic.

But we’re not in an adventurous mood today – comfort food is the go.

So I choose – by pointing at one of the be-walled photos – “chicken free range noodle soup” ($9.50).

I am expecting a hu tieu dish.

So I am bemused to find that what I am provided is pure-bred pho – pungent broth, rice noodles, coriander and green onion garnish, chilli ‘n’ lemon and sprouts and basil on the side.

Not that I’m complaining – it’s all good.

As for the free range chook, well … the chicken meat really does seem to be more flavoursome and meaty than might ordinarily be the case with such a dish in such a restaurant.

But – purely by happenstance, I’m sure – my chicken pieces have all come from the most boney part of a bird, and eating them is a fiddly business.

For the second time in a week, Bennie has aced his dad in the ordering stakes.

His “tomato rice with spare rib chicken five spice sauce” ($9.50) is wonderful, and the handful of crispy fried ribs among the biggest I have ever seen.

He happily makes use of the seasoned salt, although I step in before he gets too carried away and spoils his lunch.

He hoovers it all up – rice, soup he describes as good and unsweet, and the spicy, tangy jumble of onion and capsicum that accompanies the ribs.

It’s easy to overlook Queen’s Rose The Sun, situated as it is in the narrow end of Hampshire Rd and thus away from the wider part of the thoroughfare and its congregation of Vietnamese eateries.

But if we lived in the immediate neighbourhood, it’d be our go-to place for sure.

See Ms Baklover’s story at Footscray Food Blog here.