Eating up the Hill: Pho Fridays at the Wellington Cafeteria

I've written before about the Made to Order Bar at the swanky new Wellington Building cafeteria. It's omelettes in the morning and alternates between pasta and stir fry at lunch, and is the best thing about the new caf. On Fridays though, the rotation is broken up with made to order Pho. And on this past Friday, I finally had the chance to check it out.

I should mention I'm not a Pho connoisseur. I've long held the position that soup is not a meal, and I've not frequented a lot of Pho cuisine out in the real world -- if I'm going out to eat, I usually want something a bit more substantive. But I was game to give it a try.

Much like the stir fries and pasta, your custom Pho starts with your choice of proteins -- assuming you're not going vegetarian. Shrimp is a new addition to the Made to Order Bar this week -- I'm told there was previously an issue with someone in the office above having a seafood sensitivity but that the ventilation issues have now been resolved -- and chicken and beef were the other choices. I opted for the chicken, and into the pan it went with a some oil and a generous dollop of diced garlic.

There were more than 10 fresh veggie selections, and they're too numerous to mixed. But mushrooms, lettuce, sprouts, green onions, peppers, broccoli and onions were among those that went into my Pho. Possibly more vegetables than I usually eat in a week...kidding...a bit.

After having a chance to saute and meld together, it goes into a bowl of noodles and is topped with your choice of a vegetable or chicken broth. I naturally went with the chicken, and took the creation to a table to dig in.

The result was a flavorful bowl of deliciousness. The fresh veggies were excellent and crisp. The chicken was a bit dry, as I usually find their chicken to be -- when I do the stir fry I usually do the beef, and the pasta with sausage. The broth was tasty; the noodles didn't seem to integrate well with everything else.

It was a tasty lunch, but I left still somewhat hungry. Soup is good, but it's still not a meal.

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