It’s been 2.5 weeks since my surgery and I’ve been recuperating at home, building up my strength with lovingly cooked food and walking laps around the perimeter of my parents house like a nutter. Nutty or not, the exercise and the food have both helped in my recovery and I’m getting stronger every day.
Yesterday, we decided it was time I ventured a little further. My parents love this restaurant in West End – a casual little Vietnamese joint called Trang – and so off we went for pho! YUMMERZ.
West End is one of those crazy little areas where if you lived here long enough, you see its evolution; a transformation from down and out warehouse district to the eclectic and trendy urban zone that it is today. It’s one of those transformations that you can’t exactly pin point, but somewhere over the course of the last decade, West End unfurled itself from its cocoon and today is a totally happening suburb, thriving once again despite being inundated during the Brisbane floods.
How cool that my parents hang out there!
Except. They don’t know that it’s cool, they just go for the good food.
Which is fine by me.
Anyway, along Hardgrave Road is a small cluster of shops – a bakery, a cafe and for some bizarre reason, like maybe four Vietnamese restaurants. Go figure. There’s one that’s always crowded though and that’s where we went for lunch. I’m still eating fairly soft foods – lots of soups, soft meats, congee and noodles – so you know, pho!
The pho at Trang is spectacular. Although I’ve never been a die hard pho fan (I prefer the bun thit heo nuong cha gio – vermicelli with grilled pork), I instinctively know a good broth because… it tastes fracking awesome. The sweetness of the beef stock and whatever else they put it in is so intensely satisfying that I don’t even add any chilli or hoi sin sauce. It honestly doesn’t need any! And the beef – thinly sliced and super tender. OMG YUM.
We shared the pho and my parents also ordered a plate of sliced grilled pork and bits and pieces to roll their own fresh spring rolls.
The pork is super fragrant and delicious. I don’t really get the rolling your own spring roll thing though. I’d just as much rather chuck it all in a bowl and eat it with chopsticks. But y’know, the parents like it so…
And lastly, seeing as it was Friday and all… and the furthest I’d ventured… and because um, I wanted to… I also had me a dried longan drink.
And who said my blog would suffer just cos I can’t eat normally
Trang Restaurant
59 Hardgrave Road
West End, 4101
07 3255 1610
