Me Oi, Strathfield

Me Oi. It means "hey Mum" in Vietnamese, most often used in an affectionate plea by kids to their mother. That's the promise behind Me Oi, a place where you'll be fed good food cooked with love. When the pho comes out, you know that Mum means serious business. Not only is she cooking with love, she's cooking like you haven't eaten in six weeks.


Pho bo dac biet $13 regular
Special combination with cooked beef, rare beef and beef balls

Me Oi's regular pho noodle soup is sized to sumo proportions. It's hard to tell from the photo but the regular size would be classed as jumbo in most other pho noodle houses. Let's not even talk about the large bowl at Me Oi, a bowl the size of a soup tureen that could double as a baby bath.

They pride themselves on their pho here, so much so that their tagline is "No. 1 Vietnamese pho". There's a hearty beefiness to the stock with oomph from aniseed and a mellow sweetness that underlies each slurp.

The mountain of noodles in this bowl could feed a whole family in Vietnam. There's no end to the slippery strands of fresh rice noodles. The special gives you everything: a jumble of beef balls, tendon, tripe, cooked beef and thin slices of raw beef that cook gently in the steaming broth.

It's always worth taking a sip of the broth before you go nuts with the bean sprouts, Thai basil leaves, fresh lemon wedges, chilli and hoisin sauce. And unless you really haven't eaten all day, I reckon the small bowl for $11 would satiate most appetites.


Booth seating at Mẹ Ơi

Me Oi is still a relative newcomer to Strathfield, opening mid-last year on the former Bagan site. It's hugely popular at nights and weekends with a queue of young and hungry patrons regularly queueing out the door.


Wooden chairs and scenic prints

The decor is one of the most striking things you'll notice about the place. It's bright and modern with photographic prints on the walls and a coordinated colour scheme that's calming and pleasing to the eye. Staff are young, polite and eager to help.


Bun thit nuong cha do $13
Vermicelli with bbq pork and spring rolls

There's a strong focus on pho with a choice of seven different variations including chicken and seafood. It's not all pho though. They do fresh summer rolls, spring rolls and salt and pepper prawns or calamari for entrees. Vermicelli noodle salads are perfect for those last fleeting days of summer.


Spring rolls, barbecue pork and crushed peanuts

Pick between barbecue pork or pork spring rolls or go the full hog and get both. Drench everything with your supply of nuoc mam fish sauce dressing and relish the wild ride of cold vermicelli noodles, sweet pork and crunchy spring rolls against the refreshing salad of cucumber, lettuce and pickled carrots. The sauteed shallots and sprinkle of crushed peanuts across the top make everything better. Vegetable spring rolls are also available for vegetarians. This one is also monster-sized.


Com suon $13
Tomato rice with pork chop

The classic tomato rice with pork chop will defeat most people too. It arrives with not one pork chop but two, marinated and then grilled so the meat retains its juiciness.


Pork chop

Splash your saucer of nuoc cham everywhere so it gets into all the cracks and crevices of the pork chop. And make sure you use your fingers to clean every skerrick of meat off the bone. The pork chop here is impressively tender.


Tomato rice

Props go out to the tomato rice too, not overly lurid or sweet with tomato sauce but seasoned just enough to give an umami kick.

All the kids are hanging out at Mum's house. Whatever you do, make sure you turn up with an empty stomach.






Me Oi
4/41 The Boulevard, Strathfield, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9746 9026

Opening hours:
Open 7 days 10am - 10pm


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