WHEN 2015's tide of 'food and drink predications' began to appear at the end of last year, one cuisine seemed to feature across the board - Vietnamese.
Pho (pronounced 'fuh') is the piping-hot, aromatic noodle broth considered to be Vietnam's national dish
Manchester has, of course, had a sniff of Vietnamese over the past few years with the likes of Vnam and the excellent Saigon Lotus, while the daily swarm surrounding Arndale Market's award-winning Vietnamese street food stall, Viet Shack, has proved the cuisine to be a crowd-puller.
Still, Manchester's Vietnamese offering, for better or worse, has always been limited. Not so anymore, as Vietnamese chain bigboys, Pho, join their London-based brethren Wahaca and Vapiano in launching Northern outposts in Manchester's modernized Corn Exchange this autumn.
So what exactly is Pho - aside from the piping-hot, aromatic noodle broth considered to be Vietnam's national dish (pronounced 'fuh')?
Born in 2015 in London's Clerkenwell following an illuminative trip to Vietnam, founders Stephen (originally from Manchester) and Juliette Wall decided to open a Vietnamese street food outlet after spending hours loafing around on high stools, slurping pho bo (hot beef and noodle soup - the most popular type of pho) outside Ho Chi Minh's famous roadside diner, Pho Quynh.
Ten years later Pho are fifteen units strong, with restaurants in London, Brighton and Leeds with another on the way in Birmingham.
Pho is the national dish of Vietnam"Our menu comprises loads of delicious and authentic Vietnamese street foods: spicy salads, vermicelli noodles, curries, summer rolls, pork and lemongrass meatballs..." says Pho's Head of Marketing, Libby Andrews, "but the twelve hour bone broths will always be our speciality - we have fifteen different kinds of pho to try."
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With 240 covers spread over three floors, Pho Manchester is the chain's largest restaurant to date, and the most highly designed. Featuring distressed brick, blackened timber, pipework and polished concrete, there's a modish industrial feel to Pho, thawed out by a warm, red hue and neons.
Pho Manchester"We actually looked at the Northern Quarter when we first set up Pho ten years ago," says Stephen, "but ended up starting out in London as that's where our flat was. Still, the idea of Pho in Manchester was there from the start and recently we've just been waiting for the right opportunity."
"What's been happening in Manchester in the last few years in particular has been brilliant," continues Stephen. "It’s establishing itself as one of the hottest places in the UK so the pull to open in my hometown has got stronger and stronger.
"The Corn Exchange is such an iconic building in a great location that's been begging for redevelopment - it'll become an immediate eating and drinking destination in its own right."
Meanwhile, Pho has just completed a socially responsible recruitment drive for those interested in a career in hospitality at Harpurhey's Factory Youth Zone. The scheme, fronted by Pho's head of people Lucy Taylor, has produced nine successful candidates who'll help launch the Vietnamese food group in Manchester.
Following a soft launch period, Pho will open fully to the public on Friday 28 August - get 25% off here.
Pho Manchester, Unit 15, The Corn Exchange, 37 Hanging Ditch, Manchester, M4 3TR. 0161 464 9779.
