Cafe Locomotive Contemporary Vietnamese

Café Locomotive pays homage to the infamous large bowl of phở affectionately known as «Xe Lua» which is the head of the locomotive train (火車頭). It is the ultimate bowl of phở (before there were phở challenges) in which size alone would be sufficient nourishment at a time when food availability was a sore spot in Vietnam. Café Locomotive shoots for a more «contemporary» approach with the food, but in spite of its efforts it still falls short.
The place is beautiful. As a whole, Café Locomotive is clean and the contemporary theme is evident throughout the décor. It’s not big, but it’s aesthetically pleasing enough for passerbys to do a double take. It would remind me of something further out west, but this is Tai Hang, which is all the more impressive.
Phở, in all its glory is still at the mercy of its broth. The soup here was somewhat cloudier than I would have liked and there was something annoyingly salty about it. On a fixins front, there are plenty of noodles to beef ratio, even if the portion is still more HK than it is truly Xe Lua. A little douse of sriracha and hoisin might be necessary. At $ 88 for their Signature Locomotive Phở (火車頭招牌湯河), it is about on par with the rest of the bougie phở in this city.
The other parts of the menu are worth exploring beyond phở, such as the Sliced Fish in Sour Soup (魚酸湯 — $ 188). I can get down with their Cha Gio Spring Rolls ($ 48) but they’re so mini that I tend to wonder why I order them in the first place. There are a significant number of seafood staples throughout the menu, which are unsurprisingly the most pricey but not as tasty as other dedicated Viet haisen (海鮮), I’ve experienced in the past.
For the wait staff, they’re expectedly nicer than some of the other HK style cafes (as they should be), but they’re less inclined to provide recs for the house specialties over the pricier options on the menu. Thankfully Café Locomotive accepts credit cards and is group friendly to merit a solid experience, but far from an ideal one.

Nice décor, lovely story, but so-​so food quality…
You may read about the origin of phở, which was first sold from a food cart at the Vietnam train station. People were attracted by the lovely beef soup smell and the line up for the phở while waiting for the next train. This was where «locomotive» phở came from.
As for the locomotive phở here, it is not too impressive besides the portion. The soup is okay but not especially good. The beef slices are not particularly juicy /​tender but very so-​so. Compare to other phở places, this is quite expensive here. If you dun have much expectation, can come to try.

There are so many fine restaurants in Tai Hang I am sad to say that I am not a fan of Café Locomotive. The restaurant is stylish but the food was only average. Maybe the long queue at the door set an unrealistic expectation for me? Maybe they just had a bad night? I am just not having a lot of luck with Vietnamese food in Hong Kong in general though.

Do I sound like an idiot if I say I had never been to Tai Hang until now? (Hopefully not but who knows?) If so, I am pretty glad to say that Tai Hang is such a quaint area that shares a lot of similarities with Soho or Central to my surprise!
There is one restaurant that captures my heart, which is called Café Locomotive. Vietnamese food has got to be my favorite cuisine during summer in Hong Kong. Its simplicity and fresh ingredient with tasty and refreshing sauce has definitely swept me off my feet. Its décor is not super fancy, which seems to be a common motif for Vietnamese restaurant and yet very stylish and practical. I highly recommend Vietnamese noodles with raw beef (or Phở Dai in Vietnamese), it costs less than HKD$ 40 which is insanely delicious! If you are looking for something that picks up the spices — try the Curry beef brisket, which is tender together with the curry sauce. The other thing that is a must try has got to be the Chicken Wings, freshly fried in a myriad amount of oil, one would expect how crispy they are.
Anyways, this place given its quality is a popular hangout place for all so please expect lines of diners outside this place. If you do not wish to wait for a long time, try booking a table beforehand. As for me, I will definitely come back once I have visited all nice places in Tai Hang!