Pho York Vietnamese restaurant to open in Low Petergate

Pho is a chain which already has an outlet at Trinity Kitchen in Leeds and was set up by Stephen and Juliette Wall in June 2005 after they travelled to Vietnam and fell in love with the food.

They are set to open soon - date to be confirmed - at 75, Low Petergate in the old Solita burger restaurant.

Work has been underway for weeks now at the site, which used to be The Old House. That opened on February 6 2020, just before the start of the corona virus pandemic.

At that time the historic building -which is timber framed - had undergone a £80,000 refurbishment thanks to independently owned Hull-based restaurant chain Shoot the Bull.

There was a new bar area with a canopy at the back of the building which can be accessed from Swinegate Court East on Swinegate or through the main restaurant itself.

Flashback to 2020 and The Old House restaurant manager, Beckie O’Connor. Picture: Frank Dwyer

At the time, Shoot the Bull director, Chris Harrison, who had previously worked as a chef at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant, said: “We have tried to take the best from that environment and make it a more accessible experience.

“There’s less pretence, but it doesn’t mean the food has to suffer.

“We have also brought the building to life, it’s just full of character. The main expense has been revealing the character.”

As previously reported in The Press, The Wagyu Bar and Grill, which opened in Low Petergate in March 2019, shut before Christmas the same year.

The Wagyu Bar and Grill was run by the team from Warrendale Farm near Pocklington and before they took it on the building laid empty for about 15 months after the closure of the Strada Italian restaurant.

Inside The Old House in 2020

The York restaurant has room for about 100 diners and includes a courtyard at the rear as well as a private dining room on the first floor.

Pho is small group of restaurants dotted around the country, serving great value, healthy Vietnamese food that's cooked fresh in each kitchen daily.

Elsewhere Pho has sites across London as well as in Birmingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh, among others.