Phơ Thanh Long ^[1] is a Vietnamese restaurant on the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Bullion between Saint-Laurent and Berri metros. And the letter ơ in “Phơ” is pronounced “euh”.

Since last September (that would be in 2005), I stopped bringing my lunch to school. Instead, I went to Pho Thanh Long every week. As a student, how could I afford going to a restaurant all the time? My schedule was/is such that I only spend half a day at school. Only one or two days a week do I spend a full day at school. Besides, I get a better meal than if I packed my own lunch.

I would often bring the food back to school and fellow students would ask me about it, so a number of friends now go there as well. They told me they used to go Pho 2000 ^[2], another Vietnamese restaurant on Sainte-Catherine, not so far from Pgo Thanh-Long. Those who went there told me they had a stomache.

I had never known Vietnamese to give stomache whether it was was excellent or disgusting, so I went to Pho 2000 to check it out myself. I ordered the biggest soup they had and walked out there fine. In fact, I haven’t been sick since I ate there. Next time, I will try another dish.

There’s another Vietnamese restaurant called Ong Ca Can ^[3] right next to Les Foufounes Electriques. It’s more expensive, but also more fancy. I can tell you that it’s a good place to take a date.

There seems to be a difference of opinion between Vietnamese and other people regarding those three restaurants. Vietnamese hate Pho Thanh Long while other peope like it a lot. Pho 2000 is like a wildcard and everybody seems to agree that Ong Ca Can is the best, though it’s more expensive than the others.

A Vietnamese can’t be judge by anything else but the quality of it’s Tonkinese soup or “Pho”. Strangely enough, Ong Ca Can doesn’t have any. Instead, it has something called “Bo 7 mon” which is the 7 course of beef. It’s for two people and the last time I checked it was $34 for the meal. You are served seven times with beef and some other food. And basically, you make your own meal and eat any way you want. It’s very much fun, but it’s definitely not for people who want a quick meal. It’s only available in the evening and you can easily be sitting there for a few hours, instead of less than an hour.