{Cheap Date} January: Pho

Welcome to my newest series, Cheap Date! Cheap date came to be last night, as Nick and I were intently devouring our pho, and he broke the silence with, “We should do this as dates more often,” crediting the delicious meal for such a reasonable price ($7 for a medium- aka small serving bowl size). The wheels started spinning, and Cheap Date, the blog series was born.

You see, Nick and I like to go out to eat. A little too much. It started with our Saturdays at the St. Lawrence market. Nick would grab a falafel wrap and I would buy a big salad from Cruda café. We’d spend the day browsing the market, shopping or running errands and before we knew it, it would be dinner time. We would be starving and exhausted, so we’d go out to eat. This started happening more frequently, until we were barely eating at home on the weekends.

We always enjoyed the food, but often it was more out of convenience. Not great for our wallets or our waistlines- even as many times as we ate at Fresh- let’s be real. This January, I’ve decided to put a stop to the abundance of expensive restaurant runs. After all, my new year’s goal (resolution, I guess you could call it) is to get organized. This includes our meals and our finances. So eating out three times a week? Not on the list. We’re saving our expensive nights out for special occasions, only.

The objective of this blog feature is to embrace the amazing, cheap and varied ethnic food our city has to offer; one-two nights a month. The other 28-30 nights? It’s eat in, or go hungry.

What are the qualifications for a cheap date?

• Close to home. Within reason, that is. If it takes longer than 30 minutes to get to, it’s too far.
• Less than $30, including tip. For the two of us- this includes, drinks, appetizer, etc.
• Different than the last date. This keeps us from going to the same place for $7 pho every single week, changing it up and trying something new/different.

So where did we go on our first Cheap Date?

I wasn’t feeling so great yesterday, so I proclaimed to Nick that I needed pho. That’s right, needed. This Vietnamese rice noodle is my personal cure-all, and the sole thing I crave the moment I start feeling sick. So we made our way to Pho House, on 5230 Dundas West.

We knew going in we wanted the same thing: a big bowl of pho. They have a large selection of Vietnamese and Thai entrees, but nothing beats their pho.

We started with a pot of Jasmine tea  ($2).

Then we ordered our pho. I got the mix of rare/well done beef, and Nick got rare. (Mediums, $7 a piece) It came with a heaping plate of sprouts, thai basil and lime juice, as well as a squirt bottle of hot sauce (I use about half the bottle) and the “secret sauce”- which I’m pretty sure is pure MSG (I stay away).

I managed to eat about 80% of my meal, and I was sincerely disappointed I couldn’t finish, and admitted defeat. Nick, on the other hand… dominated.

So what was the damage? $18.08. Plus a $4 tip put us just over $22.00. Had we not gotten tea or went for smalls, it would have been even less than $20. How is that for a cheap date?

What was the last cheap date you went on?

xo

Tagged as: budget, budget eating, Cheap Date, eating on a budget, finances, pho, restaurants on a budget, vietnamese food