Pho Yen

Tucked into 617 Dominion Road in Balmoral, Pho Yen serves Vietnamese food to locals and visitors in Balmoral, Auckland. From the Auckland city centre it is roughly 4.4 km away – a short drive, bus or bike ride.

Expect the flavours of Vietnam: at Vietnamese food venues like this, favourites such as goi cuon and ca phe sua da are usually on the menu. With 79 Vietnamese options across Auckland, this corner of the local food scene is well covered. The menu also crosses into Chinese territory.

Pho Yen opens 4 days a week and is closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The earliest start is 11 am on Thursdays, and the latest finish is 10:30 pm on Thursdays. Late-night diners are catered for on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Like many traditional restaurants, it closes between lunch and dinner service on several days, so check the times before heading over mid-afternoon. In total it trades for about 34 hours each week.

For budgeting, Vietnamese restaurants of this kind in New Zealand typically cost around $20–$40 per person (Moderate). It is surrounded by other eateries: we count 10 more venues within about 1 km, which makes this part of Balmoral easy to explore on foot.