Dinner at Pho Plus II (Closed)

Stevan Stanisic
Dec 15, 2016
2 min read

Pho Plus II

is a restaurant in theMetropolis Plaza in Fort Myers, FL serving

. They have been open at this location for approximately 2 months. Both my dining companion (DC) and I love Vietnamese food. Having heard good things about Pho Plus II, DC and I felt compelled to check it out.

The interior of the restaurant is simple, and seating options include tables, booths and seating at the bar. Do not let the exterior or interior of this restaurant mislead you. Unknown to DC and I at this point, we were in for a real treat.

The first thing we tried was the

Bo Tai Chanh

. This is a Vietnamese classic, and is sort of an Asian

Carpaccio.

This dish was wonderful, the rare beef used here cooked ever so slightly by marinating in lime juice and sugar. Served on a base of vegetables and cilantro, this excellent dish was finished with chili, caramelized shallot and Nuoc Cham.

The next menu item we tried was the restaurants’ version of pork

Banh Mi

. Banhmi is an ode to French influences in Vietnam as this is a sandwichservedon

Baguette Bread.

It wasvery good, the caramelized pork melding nicely with pickled daikon and carrot, onion, chili, cucumber and cilantro. The sandwich would have been perfection if the bread would have had a bit less volume. I thought it detracted from the wonderful filling inside it.

We finished up trying one of the establishments’

Hot Pot

. There are many versions of this dish in Asia whichall center around diners adding ingredients table side to a bowl of hot, boiling broth. We tried a “Mongolian” or beef hot pot. This was very good. Ingredients served table side were thinly sliced raw beef, onion, cilantro, bean sprouts, noodles and Cai Lan, a sort of Asian Broccoli. This is a very “hands on” dish and really fun to share with 2 or 3 people.

After the hot pot was brought out I wished we would have split a bowl of pho as the small version of the restaurants’ hot pot is easily enough for 3 or 4 on it’s own. At first thought, the proprietor seems very heavy handed on the heat with this dish. I’m sure that a good part of this is boiling spiced broth is just that much hotter due to volatilization of the pepper ingredients. If you are used to medium heat I would recommend doing mild to medium instead.

The food at Pho Plus II is very good to excellent, reasonably priced and highly recommended. I cannot wait to go back and try more of the establishments’ offerings, like mo’ pho!

That’s that for another post on Forks.

Pho Plus II

12951 Metro Pkwy.

Fort Myers, FL 33966

(239)768-0051

Pho Plus II- Yelp

Accepts all credit cards; Kids’ menu; Private parking; Take out available