After picking up some more kitchen cabinetry from Ikea Sunday (but that's a story for a different series of posts!), E and I stopped out our new favorite (okay only) Renton eatery, Lemon Leaf. We were drawn there on a previous Ikea trip by the attractive signage (really, nice design; and it's a preview of the beautifully designed interior) and the nearly constant craving for Vietnamese food we've had since our trip there. The place is fairly new and the inside looks like they just unwrapped it. The first time we were there it was almost empty, but this time it had a decent amount of traffic for lunch, so it may be catching on. Lemon Leaf isn't really a pho joint -- it's a full-on Vietnamese restaurant with a varied and tempting menu. But for now I stuck firm to my pho quest (though we did share some of their egg rolls -- really, the traditional Hanoi-style fried spring roll; they were very good, though their nuoc cham seemed a little watered down).

They don't have an extensive menu of pho options, but I got the standard steak pho. The broth was pretty good. It had a lot of flavor and was very interesting up front, but not a whole lot of depth afterwards. otherwise, the pho was fairly standard, maybe a little skimpy on the noodles and accompanying herbs (more basil please!). I wouldn't knock Lemon Leaf -- we've had other good stuff there -- and the pho was fine, but I'd go there for other foods, and have my pho elsewhere.