AN Restaurant

Overview

Located in the multicultural mecca of Bankstown, AN Restaurant is a family-owned business established way back in 1987. The Phan family set out to create and traditional Saigon style Vietnamese eatery in Sydney, specialising in a slow cooked bone broth pho, using only quality ingredients and custom sauces. Its longevity can be attributed to the quality of the pho, while its casual dining atmosphere keeps the venue feeling authentically Vietnamese.

The beef pho is served in a steaming beef bone broth with rice noodles, topped with bean sprouts and fresh herbs. Order either a medium or large (the price difference in minimal so we suggest the large), and choose either rare beef, cooked beef, beef brisket, flank, tendon, cartilage, peppered beef roll, tripe or a combination to flesh out your meal.

The chicken phos are made with a chicken broth and served with rice noodles, fresh herbs, bean sprouts and again your choice of protein. Options include chicken, eggs, offal or a combination.

You can customise your pho by adding extras such as additional meats, extra noodles, beef tea, saw leaf coriander and white onions soaked in vinegar. You'll struggle to find a Sydney pho shop with more options.

The dessert menu includes a three-colour bean sweet with shaved ice or a ching poo luong — that consists of dried longans, lotus seeds, dried dates, jelly, almonds and lily bulbs. It's pretty damn unique.

You can certainly dine at AN Restaurant and only feast on familiar dishes (being very happy with just that), but these chefs create some of the best Vietnamese eats we bet you've never tried. We highly recommend going off piste, challenging your palate with unfamiliar flavour combos and ingredients. You're unlikely to regret it.