Traditional, authentic soup—that’s what I’ve been on the hunt for to warm up with on cooler days—and I think I found my new go-to spot.
A sister restaurant to SEA, Roc Pho Shop started as an idea to branch off from traditional dishes and create more playful meals. It’s the same cuisine but with a twist. Head chef Nalee Phommachanh had the vision alongside owner (and sister-in-law) Vilay Sysavath. The family- run business offers a diverse and authentic Southeast Asian menu, a quarterly rotating chef specials menu with paired rotating drinks, and a full-service bar with specialty Soju-based cocktails and other Asian-fusion beverages.
I tried many different dishes (we’ll get to them), but it only feels right to start off with what drew me to the restaurant in the first place—pho. Many refer to it as a Vietnamese noodle soup. It’s traditionally made with beef, but Roc Pho Shop offers chicken, seafood, and vegetable variations as well.
“It’s the broth that really makes the pho,” Phommachanh says. “All our broths are housemade—our pot is almost three fourths the size of my body; it’s massive. It makes twenty quarts, and we have it going every day. There’s cinnamon, cardamom, rock sugar in it … and it simmers for almost twenty-four hours. You have your choice of protein, which is cooked inside the broth with other things—there are a lot of layers. Everyone has their own rendition, but it has a rich flavor with a little bit of sweetness.”
I went for a bowl of seafood pho with chicken broth (Phommachanh recommended the richer flavor of the chicken broth versus the vegetable broth option). Incredible. Absolutely incredible.
Onions and scallions top the noodles—it’s a savory blend but with a splash of sweetness. The little kick of cilantro might be my favorite flavor . . . but even if you don’t like cilantro, I don’t think it would be too overpowering. Phommachanh explains how the noodles get softer the longer they sit, but checking back in after a day in the fridge, it still tasted phenomenal. I also want to mention the portion size—40 ounces. That’s more than your typical sized soup carryout container. Disclaimer: This was my first time trying pho, but I genuinely was very impressed.
The rest of the menu was vast; I tried a couple of Roc Pho Shop’s most popular dishes that aren’t offered at SEA.
Up first was the fried combo. Fried shrimp and squid tossed with bell pepper, jalapeno, and scallions served on a bed of lettuce. The spicy kick to this was fantastic. So flavorful, a crunchy exterior, soft inside, doesn’t need a dipping sauce . . . I didn’t think much of the lettuce bed at first, but when I tried it, it added a soft cooling effect to my palate—effortlessly quintessential. I think this was my favorite dish.
“It’s our most popular appetizer, but we have a lot of vegetarian and vegan customers, so we created a fried tofu version of the dish as well; it’s been a great hit. We try to take the data of what we see customers wanting and make modifications to our menu to match those desires,” Phommachanh says.
The shrimp ceviche and rice paper chips is worth it—get this as a side, no matter what. Tomato, mango, bell pepper, shallots, and cilantro tossed in lime juice, chili, garlic, and other seasonings . . . did I say mango? Crunching a rice paper chip with this felt like eating nachos if they were a delicacy. I just loved it. It tasted healthy, too.
“With shrimp ceviche, some people say it has a Peruvian flavor, and we wanted to give it more of an Asian twist. So, instead of serving it with tortilla chips, we take spring roll rice paper and fry it to get our chip. It keeps the concept the same but pushes it into Asian flavor,” Phommachanh says.
I also tried both the charbroiled lemongrass plate with chicken and the angel wings. Both were great. The rice plate was straightforward, but in a good way. I liked all of it—the jasmine rice, side salad, broth, and house sauce. The angel wings were unique; I had never heard of stuffing a chicken wing before. They’re baked, fried, and stuffed with onions, glass noodles, lemongrass, and chicken marinated in herbs and flavors, all without tearing the skin of the wing.
“It’s this really strong, powerful Southeast Asian flavor of chicken with a little bit of spice—little bit of tang—and I often tell customers to pair it with a kind of salad,” Phommachanh says. “And serving something like that makes us different. I believe we’re the only place in the Rochester area that sells stuffed wings. It’s also something that maybe every once in a while at a Laotian party there will be this one aunt that’ll make the chicken wings, but it’s not this casual Tuesday night, ‘oh you want stuffed chicken wings’ kind of meal. Same with pho—it takes a lot of time to make—I’m glad we’ve been able to create a space that makes it accessible whenever it might be wanted.
Last, but certainly not least, I tried a couple drinks. The Vietnamese “espresso” martini was fabulous—and I know a good one. Made with Vietnamese coffee and condensed milk, I recommend this if you love a cold, caffeinated, alcoholic beverage as much as I do.
The second drink was a Thai iced tea, and oh, how fun it was. I have a sweet tooth for sure, and this drink fixed it. The flavor reminded me a little of vanilla ice cream but nowhere near as sweet as that. I highly recommend this for anyone—milky, funky to look at, sip, and enjoy.
“We really try to take our time coming up with recipes and offerings. Vilay and I will talk and bounce memories back and forth about meals we’d have when we were kids—things that we didn’t have all the time, meals that weren’t always there—we try to make those kinds of meals for our customers,” Phommachanh says.
Roc Pho Shop is located at 339 Jefferson Road, close to Rochester Institute of Technology campus. The menu and more information can be found online at toasttab.com or on social media at @rocphoshop.
Roc Pho Shop
339 Jefferson Rd.
287-6007
IG: @rocphoshop
This article originally appeared in the November/December 2025 issue of (585).
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