Tau Bay Restaurant - Pho of Flavor and Surprises

Entertaining fish tank with faux fish

I'll have to admit that my female human and I have never been a great lover of Pho. This might have to do with our shared dislike of plain broth or broth like soups, which I personally find can too often be overly salty, greasy, or just plain bland. I usually do everything in my power to avoid broth like anything, which means I lean towards ordering creamier type soups or hearty stews. I would even prefer French onion soup as the broth is often soaked up by the bread within. So the idea of eating meat and noodles swimming in broth doesn't excite me (not to mention that the meat is often feeb, so not bovine friendly).

Pho

However, I convinced the female human to set this dislike aside so that I could accompany my lovely laydee companions, @thepolishviking and @andrealauder, to Tau Bay Restaurant.

In the depths of Chinatown, like many other restaurants there, you have to try not to judge it by it's hard to read sign, lack of decor, the random pop music radio channel they have playing, or by the hilariously entertaining fish tank full of faux fish bobbing about within.

Egg Yolks in Milkshake Glass

Their menu is pretty simple, Pho, Pho, and nothing but Pho... and a page of drinks. We did our best to order different dishes, but knowing very little about Pho, they all appeared to be variations of the same thing with different cuts of feeb (ie. tendon, tripe, steak, flank, and brisket). Unfortunately their meatballs and chicken were unavailable that evening.

The Pho arrived almost immediately after ordering, allowing this ravenous group to dig in immediately. My dining companions said that the various cuts of feeb were extremely soft and tender. The broth itself was flavorful without over powering all the items within the bowl, and not at all salty or greasy. The noodles were soft and bountiful, soaking up the broth, while still providing some texture to the dish. The addition of the mildly spicy chili paste added a nice kick of heat without overwhelming anything.

Bubbly iced egg yolk drink with soda

The drinks were the surprise adventure and highlight of our evening. Although I played it safe with a french style condensed milk iced coffee. @andrealauder ordered a salty plum drink that was regretable as it tasted like it sounded, salty. It's likely that one single sip provided the drinker with their daily sodium intake. After some goading, she even tried eating a piece of the plum floating at the bottom of the glass, which she said tasted even saltier than the beverage itself.

We had all cringed at the idea of ordering the iced egg yolk with soda drink and agreed that it looked equally unappealing when presented to us. It was essentially a three part drink, a milkshake glass with a raw egg yolk within, a can of soda and a separate glass filled with ice. When we added the soda to the egg yolk it became a bubbly, frothy concoction. When it finally settled down, we stirred it and poured it into the glass with ice. It tasted surprisingly good, reminiscint of a malted milk, with a creamy texture.  

Overall, we enjoyed our experience at Tau Bay and would return for both Pho and the iced egg yolk with soda drink!

More photos at PhotoBucket!

Pho Bay Restaurant
10660 98 St NW
Edmonton, AB T5H 2N7
780-421-0807