BBL has had a facelift since the previous review in 2011, but its presentation continues to suggest an inoffensive but unimpressive suburban cafe offering focacias and plastic wrapped muffins. Turns out this is actually a Vietnamese cafe serving pho, rice paper rolls and banh mi. Its an enticing offering in a village that is surprisingly lacking in good asian fare considering two of Melbourne's Chinese cultural hubs exist only a few kilometres away.
I tried a takeaway beef pho for $12 instead. It was still steaming hot back at the office, with good bite from the fresh chilli, crunch from the bean-shoots, and full of flavour from the fresh herbs and nicely seasoned stock. The biggest drawback was the mess on my desk, but that was from my clumsy combining of soup, noodles, herbs and bean shoots. The service was efficient and friendly, with easy payment by paypass.
If there's a drawback to this place, it is their highly ineffective and misleading decor and signage. Even inside, it took a couple of minutes to locate the pho menu which is not referenced on the main menu board and with no other signs of pho being on offer.
So they've got the important things right. All that's needed is an update to the signage, a new name (try 'Dark MoPho' or 'Best Pho Forever'), and a 'Springroll September' give-away, and I reckon they'll be on the way to doubling the turnover by summer. read more