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The purist's guide to phở in Hanoi
- e40 6mo agoDisappointing that there was not a single picture in the post. And, wow, it’s long!
- theoriginaldave 6mo agoHe did speak a little distainfully of taking pictures of your pho or having your phone handy while eating. I think the lack of pictures emphasizes focusing in the moment and enjoying the experience and then remembering it fondly later.
- kakacik 6mo ago.. or skipping reading the article if you look at it during some short break
- jihadjihad 6mo agoThe purest phở is the one that exists only in your imagination.
- vogon_laureate 6mo agoReal phở has never been tried.
- stevenwoo 6mo agoThere’s a small mention of beef bones having been customarily thrown away and I have doubts that that could be true at all levels of society - unless there was some Vietnamese cultural thing against it that no longer exists.
- jrimbault 6mo agoCheekily, might not the "purist" want a "pot-au-feu" ? (i have a sincere dislike of purity talk, especially in cookery) The article mentions it, but doesn't disprove it.
- pazimzadeh 6mo agoyeah purity seems overrated for almost anything except making drugs
- doubletwoyou 6mo agoAnd semiconductors and air quality perhaps
- pazimzadeh 6mo agoI was just in Hanoi. I stool in line for pho at "michelin rated" shops and had it in tiny stalls manned by a grandma or old couple. always go for the grandma..the michelin ones seem more dilute and cost more. For example, Pho 10 Ly Quoc Su vs. the stall right next to it.
- throwup238 6mo agoIf you can, always ask a local where to go. Most locals don’t want to wait in line unless it’s a special occasion and they know the best underrated and mom and pop restaurants. The ones with lines are usually tourist or internet hype traps and their food gets enshittified quickly. I learned this the hard way during Marti Gras.
- pazimzadeh 6mo agoYeah. Some locals assume you’ll only like the touristy stuff though
- MisterTea 6mo agoI have a friend who loves Vietnam and was just visiting. His advice is ALWAYS go out of the tourist areas. To paraphrase his words "The more the locals look at you funny, the more authentic it's going to be." And by funny, not in a bad way but more of "uh, you lost there buddy?"
- ValentineC 6mo agoHanoi was where I had one of the best chicken pho ever — their menu allows one to select the parts of the chicken they wanted. I've never had the back meat of chicken in a pho before, and it was phenomenal. And I found out about it from a random cafe barista. Sometimes it pays off just to ask someone where they'd eat nearby.
- alex_c 6mo ago>How, the novice may ask, does one discover which version is the correct one for oneself? >There is nothing else to it – you must eat a few hundred bowls of phở and find out. If this requires moving to Hanoi, so be it. Not the worst life plan, to be honest! A little bit sad that my own "death bed pho" - chicken pho from that one stall near the market in old quarter - gets just a passing mention as the only acceptable variation to traditional beef pho. This also brings back memories of our "mystery pho man" - who had three tiny stools and one large pot outside his house every morning, looked like a character straight out of an 80's movie, and was usually sold out by 8am. Vietnamese food has got significantly better in Toronto in the past 5-10 years - but still haven't found anything that comes even close to Hanoi chicken pho.
- __mharrison__ 6mo agoMy wife, who doesn't eat beef, once asked for chicken pho, and got an extreme talking to. She was sad because she had good chicken pho in the past.
- ksaj 6mo agoMy partner is Vietnamese, and also a chef. I've had every variation of pho one can think of. There is a group of snobs who think they authoritatively own the opinion and can only think of a single acceptable recipe (or chef, for that matter). But let them be so limited on their own. This isn't a religion. It's a big world out there, and there are a gazillion awesome phos in it.
- vogon_laureate 6mo agoI've yet to visit Vietnam, but a phở my daughter and I had in Reykjavík was properly life-changing. I get the obsession.
- mi_lk 6mo agorestaurant name if you want to share?
- vogon_laureate 6mo agoMama Kitchen. Just super chill lowkey place with incredible food. https://mamakitchen.is/ https://mamakitchen.is/
- fuzzythinker 6mo agoClick on Mama Kitchen 1 and it shows google map of it in Iceland! Was totally expecting it in the US (as 2 is) or in Vietnam
- sailorganymede 6mo agoI believe I had the same one? I remember travelling Europe and going to the same place like 3 times while I was in Iceland!
- vogon_laureate 6mo agoWas it Mama Kitchen? https://mamakitchen.is/ https://mamakitchen.is/
- CarVac 6mo agoI've never been to Vietnam but there's a Hanoi-style pho place by me and it is head and shoulders better than any other pho I've ever had in the US. Apparently most pho in the US is southern Vietnamese style?
- windward 6mo agoBecause most Vietnamese people in the US are southern Vietnamese. People who fled during what we'd call the Vietnam War*, and their descendants. *Not the most recent war in Vietnam
- reducesuffering 6mo agoAgree, I happened upon one in SF and was amused at the insistence there will be none of the bean sprouts, basil, etc. in South Vietnamese style. Although I do love those toppings, I agree this was the best I've had.
- __patchbit__ 6mo agoIs consomme the reference precursor implementation?
- anonymouscaller 6mo agoFor us Americans who can’t make it out to Vietnam, I’ve found the best Pho in the US is in Orange County, CA and Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood!
- datlife 6mo agoYou are missing out on San Jose. It has the largest population Vietnamese diaspora.
- neilfrndes 6mo agoCould you please share a list of your favorites in San Jose/Bay Area? In San Francisco I love having pho in Chinatown. Golden Star Vietnamese Restaurant, Sai's Vietnamese, and Golden Flower are the ones I like the most.
- eitally 6mo agoThere are so many Vietnamese restaurants in San Jose it's really more similar to the Hanoi recommendation: you just have to experiment until you find the ones that resonate with your personal tastes. I recommend searching reddit for "best pho in San Jose" -- you'll find a number of threads, many of which feature similar sets of restaurants.
- uxp100 6mo agoI think that used to be true, but it has been overtaken by Houston. Either way, yes, good place to eat Vietnamese food.
- tonymet 6mo agoFor those that do visit Vietnam admit that it’s better in the USA, too.
- Aboutplants 6mo agoPhiladelphia also has some incredible Pho shops, most in South Philly.
- 6mo ago
- FlyingSnake 6mo agoI've traveled to Hanoi and absolutely loved the phở there. One perk of living in Berlin is the exceptional Phở we get here. Thanks to the large Vietnamese community we have great phở, Bahn mí (esp at the Dong Xuan center). The phở we get here is top tier too, as confirmed by my Vietnamese friends.
- pretense9393 6mo ago[flagged]
- breakfastduck 6mo agoThere's a Bahn mí place in Manchester, UK that does my fav one ever
- dhosek 6mo agoBack when I lived in Orange County (and didn’t know how to pronounce phở), I used to joke about creating a restaurant that served phở made with Italian noodles and calling it Faux Phở.
- dessimus 6mo agoCould go Greek-Vietnamese fusion with lamb and call it: "φ Faux Phở"
- l5870uoo9y 6mo agoPho is delicious, but Thai boat noodles soup (guay tiew ruea) is godly; dark, robust, and full of diverse flavors and nuances.
- palidanx 6mo agoIn Orange County, CA there is another variant of pho ga kho, which literally translates to dried chicken pho. The rice noodles and chicken are stir fried, and served with a side of pho ga broth, and a sweet soy sauce. Pho Dakao, 16171 Brookhurst St, Fountain Valley, CA 92708, United States Also I got a recipe for pho ga from my aunt which is: * 6 chicken legs, and 2 bone in breasts (or debone a whole chicken) * Bring a pot of water to boil * Parboil all pieces for 2 minutes, throw away the broth * Char onion and ginger (in an air fryer or on a gas stove - air fryer is easier) * Toast coriander seeds and star anise * Add all ingredients back, bring to boil, then drop to a low simmer, and salt * After 30 minutes remove the pieces, let it cool and debone * Add the chicken bones back, cook for additional 30 minutes, season with salt and msg * Optionally serve with a side of nuoc cham, but this variation has no fish sauce in the stock How well this turns out depends on the quality of the chicken you buy. At the Asian markets, there are different breeds of chicken which have less meat, but are more flavorful.
- jzer0cool 6mo agoAny know how to make the pho tai broth?
- palidanx 6mo agoso pho tai refers to just the raw cut out of beef, you make a traditional beef broth. Here is a short cut way with an instant pot. * Beef bones (neck or shin, the type of bones you get depend on how intense it will be) * 1 chicken carcass * Parboil for 10 minutes, throw away broth, rinse bones * Parboil chicken carcass for 2 minutes * Char onion and ginger * Toast coriander, star anise, cardamom * Add chicken carcass, bones in an instant pot, covered with water, and some salt and onion and ginger * High pressure for 15 minutes (depends on quantity) * Natural release * Add spices, high pressure for 3 minutes (and if you are added brisket - nam, parboil that first and add it here) * Season with salt to taste, mushroom seasoning (bot nem), or msg. * Refrigerate overnight For tai, you want to cut a some raw meat and just make sure your stock is very hot so it cooks
- 6mo ago
- jandrewrogers 6mo agoThe phở in the US is from southern Viet Nam, not Hanoi. It is significantly different than traditional Hanoi-style phở. Even in Hanoi the southern style is common, most people seem to prefer it.
- blt 6mo agoI knew that adding sriracha and hoisin was considered somewhat gauche / insulting to the chef. But I was surprised to see no mention of Basil, since every pho shop in the USA provides it. Is that also nontraditional? I really like it...
- contingencies 6mo agoAussie with ~20 years in Asia, periodic trips to Cabramatta and California (lived there awhile). I'm a massive fan of the Laos versions which have huge amounts of fresh greenery. The biggest problem with foreign derivatives is generally they skimp on the greenery, use packet stock or use non-fresh noodles. None of these are acceptable. There's some tomato-in-soupified beef ones with differently shaped rice noodles in Xishuangbanna (sipsongpanna) near the Chinese border with Laos, they're excellent also. The Cantonese origin myth seems bogus: I've never had Cantonese food that celebrated subtlety like a pho, nor would I expect to find it. Lived in Guangdong a few years and visited at least 10 cities + HK + Macao so my opinion is somewhat informed.
- vishalontheline 6mo agoNo pho spots are revealed.