Pho Stop

Named for Vietnam’s famous and globally beloved soup, but touting itself as a restaurant inspired by Vietnamese cuisine, this is an Asian eatery in the heart of Singapore’s Tanjong Pagar that goes far beyond your usual Vietnamese offering. Pho Stop specialises in pho, as you might guess, but there’s enough fusion magic happening at this chic joint down Tanjong Pagar Road to attract significant interest from Singapore’s crowded foodie scene. Plus, upstairs you can find The Bar Above, where you can wet your glib whistle before or after you soak up some pho.

Pho Stop’s chilled atmosphere, walls busily hung with Vietnamese ephemera and the whole place very much a la mode in terms of decor, makes it a popular spot along Tanjong Pagar Road for a quick coffee – Vietnamese filter-style of course – or a fresh juice. Or booze. What’s great about Vietnamese food in Singapore is the sympathetic climate that this particular Southeast Asian cuisine calls its natural home. A bowl of pho goes down just as well as a winter warmer in, say, Melbourne, Australia as it does here as a way to beat the heat – nothing like a bowl of delicately flavoured broth, laden with coriander and chilli, and packed with the right balance of thinly sliced rare beef or tender chicken and noodles to keep you on track.

Pho Stop is indeed a one stop shop for Vietnamese cuisine in Singapore, comprehensive in scope and Southeast Asian character. Besides the wonderful gift of pho, this Tanjong Pagar gem offers salads and sides (Vietnamese chicken salad and summer fresh rolls with prawn, for instance), plenty of colourful and healthy vegetarian options, Vietnamese bun and rice dishes, and exotic desserts. It’s also very important to remember, that upstairs from Pho Stop sits the understatedly named The Bar Above, a watering hole with an enviable al fresco terrace overlooking the Singapore skyline. It appears that in the end Pho Stop is a two stop shop for your culinary pleasure.