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Pay What You Want (e.g. $0, $6 etc.) for Pho @ Pho Real (Melbourne CBD)

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Pho Real, a Vietnamese hawker-style pop-up restaurant located at 11 Liverpool Street, Melbourne is offering pay what you want for your pho.

If you check out the ordering sheet it specifically says to write in how much you want to pay. They also reiterate it in the Broadsheet article and on their Facebook page. I'd probably be reluctant to give $0 personally but gold coins seem reasonable. :)

According to the article:

The permanent CBD spot is scheduled to open in September, and this is a chance to trial its kitchen, its recipes, and even its prices.

So beta testing the Pho in perfect Melbourne Pho weather.

PHO's Available:

  • Chicken
  • Beef
  • Chicken & Beef (Combination)
  • Vegetarian (g)

11 Liverpool St. Melbourne. 3000

Lunch Trading : 11- 3pm
Dinner Trading: 5pm - late

Related Stores

Pho Real Pop Up Shop
Pho Real Pop Up Shop

closed Comments

  • +1

    Just down the road. Brilliant!

  • +17

    Thanks pho this neil. Will give it a try :)

    • +3

      This comment is quite photastic…

  • +2

    What is up with restaurants and pun names?

    • +4

      I know rights, it's Phonomenal… :p

    • So it sticks in your head.
      I'm sure you will remember Pho real rather than Pho 123
      there are heaps in the State, Pho King Way, Pho Shizzle, Friend or Pho, Pho Ghettable,

      • Once you can stop laughing at names like 'Pho King', the taste of the pho is what sticks in your head.

    • +2

      just like thai resturants.

      Thai me up

      etc etc

  • +10

    Is this pho real???

  • I would add a buck just for the name alone

    • +1

      I would pay 15000 dong - is that more than it costs in vietnam?

      • +1

        I can tell you that with 15000VND, you can only get the soup without noodle nor beef.
        It has to be at least 30000VND for a decent bow in VN.

      • That's a lot of dongs!

  • +1

    Pho real? Pho sure….

  • Working in the city is finally paying off

  • +1

    Anyone going there please comment back. Cheers

    • +1

      Great food, awesome urban street atmosphere, and a bargain compared with anything else in the city these days.

    • +1

      It's very good, the owners & chef is from Keysborough. We went there last night. My friend did a post on it curiousxcharlie.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/are-you-pho-real-pho-pop-up-at-saigon.html

  • It is better to pay after you have tested it, pay what you think it deserved.

  • I have Pho money. Great deal

  • +1

    Hrmm pay what you want.. probably not the most ideal place to advertise :P

  • -3

    FWIW, it's pronounced more like fuh.

    • -2

      it's pronounced foo

      • it was sarcasm

        • +3

          Sorry bro too late, your comment is now on the circle jerking train down to oblivion.

  • How much does Pho normally cost for a bowl? $7??

    • $9 - $14 in Sydney.

      • the one in Bankstown is over $14

        • Ahhhh…price's gone up again. how much to ask for just an empty bowl there nowadays - $5??! Try Homebush West Flemington shops in Sydney. $9, first one on the one way lane way. Hoang something.

        • +1

          @eatwell365: Adding up rental, labour, electricity, water, gas and food cost, it's a charity to sell for $5. I used to help my neighbour calculate the least amount she can charge for her bowl of pasta where her profit margin was only less than $1/bowl after deducting all expenses. Although she didn't care much about profit but wanted to do it as a leisure, but I now understand why we pay >$10 for a bowl of pasta.

          The pho which most people queue up for at Flemington is Toan Thang.

        • @supaderp: Bankstown charges $5 for an empty bowl so customer would rather order a bowl of pho each instead of sharing.

        • @supaderp: give Hoang Gia a try next time : )

      • Best is PHD in Marrickville. So PIMP, they opened another store 30 metres down the road.

    • +1

      $10 for a large on Victoria St, Richmond

    • +1

      Almost always $10 on average in Melbourne

    • +1

      Springvale - $8 regular, $9 large and $10 extra large

  • Can you offer them a negative amount?

    • You can check the box… None of the Pho' kin above.. and write your own amount :)

    • +1

      If you like spit pho you could try it.

  • +1

    I should have taken a picture of the order form.

    $6 if you think its Pho' kin shit
    $8 if you think its Pho' kin good

    etc….

    Heads up the bowls are small, so don't expect to walk away satisfied unless you order more then 1 thing or eat that lunch sitting in the work fridge.

  • +1

    I don't like writing how much I am going to pay in advanced, I feel like if it's not high enough I risk the chef putting something a little extra to let me know what he thinks of my offer.

    • +6

      You write the amount after you have eaten and take the order form to the counter to pay.

    • +1

      I don't think this would be a good marketing strategy if they end up giving people food poisoning by some "additions" for the cheapskates.

  • +4

    Went the other day. Service is a bit frantic, but that's to be expected given they've just opened and probably aren't fully staffed yet.

    Found the broth lacked body and not enough meat flavour. I gave them the feedback and hopefully they'll tweak and perfect it. My usual favourites are Hung Vuong in Footscray or Hung Vuong 2 in Richmond. I think these guys should get take away pho from some of the better known vietnamese places like hung vuong and chu the, take it to the kitchen and taste it side by side with their own broth to develop it.

    Would have liked to get some chilli oil/ớt satế on the table and pickled onions as a condiment.

    Prawn spring rolls were nice, though i would have preferred vietnamese mint to peppermint as a condiment.

    Pork skewers were very thin and finely minced. They were also lukewarm - my suspicion was they are reheated rather than chargrilled to order.

    I heard one of the owners used to run the Banh mi place at tivoli arcade, which was better than most of the other banh mi joints in the city. So my hope is this beta-testing exercise will work for them. It'd be great to have a really good pho place in the cbd.

    • +2

      well when you have a name like this - it just screams hispter than doesnt know what they're doing.

      all the great pho places would have some grandma in the back who has probably had a recipe passed down from generations.

      • Heard Pho shop in Vietnam put "dope" in the soup to make its pho king delicious. Is that true?

    • +3

      +1 for pho hung vuong 2

    • -1

      Hung Vuong is kinda suck in my opinion as I eat Pho everyday. So does Chu the. Chu the used to be very good until recently. I like "I love Pho" in North richmond, they're fast service and never disappoint me ever. and it gives me the feel of clean food which Hung Vuong can't.

      • +3

        I love Pho is where caucasian hipsters eat

  • Do they do takeaway?

  • It's pronounced 'Fur?' as though you're asking a question. Pho real.

  • Does this come with delivery to perth

  • +3

    Just came back from it. The service was frantic, place looks cool. The food was unfortunately bland, I paid $8 for the pho, normal price for the other dishes.

    Then I walked over to lil Collins and walked into n.Lee bakery for an awesome $6.50 pork roll!

    Nothing worse than being full but unsatisfied!

    • +5

      $8! You're not doing it right.

      • Guilt payment lol.

        I have yet to develop the ozbargain skin to look the person in the eye and tell them your hard work is worth less! =)

      • +3

        I'll bet most people won't pay $6. Who wants to buy something that's Pho' kin shit ?

        • But it really was pho'kin shit =(
          I actually wrote on my feedback that I'm going to have to go buy another lunch after this.

          My friend was the kind one that channelled Master Chef and wrote "it really wasn't flavoursome, but good effort and the drawing on the wall looks nice!"

        • +2

          @wing32:

          should have said it wasnt to your palette

        • @SBOB:

          Bwhahahahaha!!!

  • I like Pho Dzung City Noodle Shop, opposite the Queen Vic in Russel St. Good tasty broth and great noodles. You guys are making me hungry. Hmmm Pho.

  • Anyone had the balls to pay $0? What percentage of the broth was spit?

  • +1

    This is ingenius. When you're anonymous online, it isn't so hard to gie $0 to the Humble Indie Bundle. But it takes serious balls to ask for a free pho in person. Even more balls if you ask for free seconds.

    • +2

      If you didn't know too, is that Pho is actually quite cheap to make. Apart from the long time to make the broth and select the right amount and types of ingredients, the profit margin is quite high.

      (same with most Vietnamese food)

      Source: I'm Vietnamese, and hate paying $12 for a bowl of vermicelli and beef.

      • As are the games in the humble indie bundle. But you don't dare pay nothing for fear of looking like an ass.

    • +7

      Just wear an OzBargain t-shirt. No explanation needed. ;)

      • ^^^ I +1'd your vote, only wish I could +1 again! =)

  • +1

    if i write -$5…does that mean they have to pay me to eat their pho?

  • +2

    i like how vietnamese food is finally in the australian gastro mainstream. welcome to my life since 1990. i'll never choose to eat out for vietnamese food though, mum's cooking is always the best.

  • +3

    Shawty had them apple bottom jeans (jeans)
    Boots with the pho (with the pho).

  • Is $0 actually an option? Because the menu prices others have taken pics of don't show it.

  • On the subject of pho broth: isn't the best broth something that sits on the stove for years and gets added to each day? I'd imagine if a restaurant has just started that the broth is a bit young.

    And regarding pronunciation: I believe the derivation is French, pot-au-feu.

  • Went there at 2:45pm, it's not really Pay What You Want, a bit misleading… and the pho is not good

    they got 6 options

    $6 PHO'KING SH*T
    $8 PHO'GOOD
    $10 PHO'SHIZZLE
    $12 PHO'LICIOUS
    $14 PHO'NOMENON

    and in the far right corner(separated, very hard to notice)

    NONE OF THE ABOVE(PLEASE WRITE)

    As $6 already = SH*T… I don't think you can write anything lower than that

    • What did you ended up paying then?

  • +1

    Went there last Friday, I ordered the Pho Beef. Don't think they put too much MSG as I didn't get so thirsty afterward. So it's good
    I chose:
    ❏ NONE OF THE ABOVE(PLEASE WRITE)
    "Soup was good, staff were friendly, the meat;some of it were hard to chew. But I'm paying what I want!! $5"
    Then the guy shown unhappy face when I gave him the paper and $5 note :P

    • Thank you for the update. Since then…
      $0 to $5 PHO'YOU

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