From the Kitchen
80% of Restaurants Close in 5 Years. One Bowl Kept Our Family Open for 13.
We are a Korean family making Vietnamese pho inside Westgate Shopping Centre. Most places like ours do not make it past five years.
One bowl is the reason we are still open, the one dish we almost left off the menu. Here is the story, and what is actually in it.
Our regulars come back twice a week.
Traditional Korean jjambbong is too heavy for that. Pork-bone broth, rich oil, intense. You eat it once a week. We started with Vietnamese pho ga instead. Lighter. Comes home more often.
What You Taste, In Order
- Vietnamese cinnamon upfront. Warm and sweet.
- Black pepper rising under it. In our pot since 2013.
- Chili warmth, wok-fired in at the end. Chili powder in hot oil, layered into the broth instead of poured on top. Warming, not burning.
- Seafood depth: mussel, crab, squid, prawn. Four types in one bowl.
Four distinct stages. One bowl.
The Korean Side of the Bowl
If you are Korean, you already know the traditional jjambbong, sometimes written jjamppong. Spicy seafood noodles. Wok char, deep chili heat, rich broth. So beloved in Korea it inspired the instant ramyeon versions, the kind of spicy noodles you see in Netflix shows like KPop Demon Hunters.
The dish itself is a migration story. Chinese immigrant cooks brought a noodle soup to Korea in the late 1800s. Korea added gochugaru and seafood. The same root produced Nagasaki chanpon in Japan and 짬뽕 (jjambbong) in Korea.
Most Koreans eat jjambbong regularly. In Korea it is comfort food with fire. Ours keeps the comfort and turns the fire into warmth.
Our version adds one more migration. Korean hands cooking it in a Vietnamese kitchen at Westgate, Auckland. The pho ga technique came through Alphonse's mother. She brought the broth method from Korea: Vietnamese soup base, Korean instinct for layered warmth.
Why Ours Is Lighter
Korean jjambbong starts heavy. Pork and chicken bones simmered for hours. Thick with oil. Rich and intense.
We use Vietnamese pho technique for the base instead.
Vietnamese foundation:
- Clear chicken broth base, pho ga method
- Vietnamese cinnamon and Korean black pepper, layered in
Korean warmth on top:
- Wok-fired on high heat with vegetables and seafood
- Chili powder for the warmth, more depth than fire
- Wok char throughout, finished with bean sprouts and crispy fried shallots
Cinnamon and pepper share natural flavor compounds, per food scientist Dr Stuart Farrimond's The Science of Spice. They do not compete on the palate. They layer.
Warming, not burning. Lighter Vietnamese base. The bowl you can eat twice a week.
The Honest Answer to “Is It Authentic Vietnamese?”
No. It is Korean-Vietnamese.
That is the trade. We are not making traditional Vietnamese pho. We are not making traditional Korean jjambbong. We are making the dish that came out of two cuisines sharing one kitchen for 13 years. 370+ Google reviews say it works.
Where To Find Us
Westgate Shopping Centre, next to Texas Chicken. 19 Maki Street, Auckland 0814.
Open 7 days. Monday and Tuesday 11am to 8:30pm. Wednesday through Sunday 11am to 9pm.
Walk in. Order P15 Jjambbong Pho. $23. Add the Jumbo upsell for $2 if you are hungry.
Try Our Jjambbong Pho
Korean wok-fired seafood chili on a Vietnamese pho ga base. Four types of seafood. Our #1 seller. $23.
Pho Heaven · 19 Maki Street, Westgate Shopping Centre, Auckland 0814
Questions people ask about this bowl
Is Jjambbong Pho spicy?
There is chilli in it, but it is warming rather than burning. The chilli powder is wok-fired into the broth instead of poured on top, so the heat is layered in rather than sitting on the surface. More depth than fire.
What is in the Jjambbong Pho?
A Vietnamese chicken and seafood broth built with cinnamon and black pepper, then wok-fired with vegetables and four kinds of seafood: mussel, crab, squid and prawn. It is $23, with a jumbo size for $2 more.
Is it authentic Vietnamese pho?
No. It is Korean-Vietnamese, and it is not classic Korean jjambbong either. It is the dish that came out of two cuisines sharing one kitchen for thirteen years.
Where do I get it?
Pho Heaven, 19 Maki Street, inside Westgate Shopping Centre, next to Texas Chicken. Open 7 days from 11am, until 8:30pm on Monday and Tuesday and until 9pm Wednesday through Sunday. Free parking at the Westgate carpark.