Mylys Restaurant

Mylys Restaurant

738 Jarry East

●●●●●●●●○○

8 out of 10

Vietnamese

In search of Pho', I went to Mylys. I'm immediately interested in any Vietnamese restaurant that calls itself "healthy" because it means that maybe, just maybe, they don't use MSG. Their sign also said they had sushi, though, which doesn't bode well for an authentic Vietnamese restaurant, in my opinion. It's "bring your own wine", though, so that's definitely healthy, right? Can you bring just one glass of red? Who would even ask that? Certainly not a Quebecer.

I've been going all over the city in search of the best beef broth for pho' with Pho Lien the winner so far. After a meal here, I was impressed, but I still give the crown to Pho Lien.

Here the broth was rich without being greasy. The colour was good, so it was properly strained, and I could taste the star anise. My only real complaint is that I asked for raw meat and by the time the bowl got to me it was all cooked. It came really fast and the distance between the kitchen and my table was not that great (plus the restaurant wasn't really busy), but the previously raw meat had all shriveled up a bit by the time it hit my table. I did have the mixed bowl of well-done meat and raw, so you see the unfurled well-done stuff on top in the picture above. When the quality check came from the server ("How is everything?) I said it was good but explained that I really liked raw beef. He was very apologetic and said I should ask for it on the side so I could add it myself. What a novel concept. I don't know how I feel about it, though, because if the broth isn't piping hot I'd be worried about contamination. And then if you only add a bit of meat to the bowl at a time, by the time you get to the end your broth will definitely be cooler (not hot enough to kill off any bacteria on the meat). So basically you can never have an entire bowl of soup without being very concerned about contamination.

Hmm...well, takeout is 10% off from Monday-Saturday 4pm-10pm. If only I didn't live a good 50 minutes from this restaurant...

Oh, the spring rolls ($3 for 2) were disappointing. The peanut sauce was pretty much just processed peanuts (no pieces), which is better than adding a lot of fake things with ingredients you can't pronounce (aka preservatives/additives), but it wasn't very complex or rich. Just thick and oily. The crab stick in them was a bit weird and the shrimp was tasteless.

One added bonus of this place is you can get a mini-Pho' soup for $1.75, or if you can never decide if you want the pho' combo or the bun combo, or another combo, you can get the mini-Pho' as part of the ridiculously well-priced $12.50 lunch or dinner deal that comes with 2 imperial rolls, two grilled chicken (I assume skewers?), 1 beef (skewer, again?), rice or vermicellli and a cookie and tea. That's basically bun without the fish sauce to pour over it all. Or maybe it comes with that too? Anyway, you'll be VERY full. The best deals are the pho', though. A large for $6.75 was huge. $7.75 for the extra-large just seems like overkill. $8.95 for raw and well-done flank beef, and the well-done was pretty okay taste-wise, if you like chewy things.

Expect To Pay: $7.50-$15 to be completely stuffed
Hours: Mon-Sat 11am-10pm
514-279-1111