Jason D. wrote: >I just tried pho (tom ga(?)-chicken) for the first time this weekend, albeit >not from a "fancy" restaurant but from a comparatively pedestrian style >place in San Carlos. I probably went in with some preconceptions but was >a bit dissatisfied with the meal. I wasn't really looking for ersatz >chicken noodle soup but it seemed to me that there was a far too high >proportion of noodles (and chicken bits) to broth. Is this typical? It >was also a bit sweet for my taste. Is fish sauce used in pho? If so, >does that impart the sweetness? > >I admit to being a great fan of thai food and the circus of tastes and >heat soups like tom ka gai (coconut/chicken soup) provide. I've only had >vietnamese food a couple of times but it has seemed to be much blander >than thai. Is this what I should expect? OK, in order, and I may be wrong - I love pho' but I am not an expert. No, it is not ersatz chicken noodle soup - you are supposed to eat the meat, noodles, and the (added at table by you) veggies, leaving the remaining broth unless you are hungry/thirsty enough to finnish that, too. Took my grandmother for pho' once, and she had the same comments as you, because she ate it as it arrives on the table. What you normally do is: Add lots of bean sprouts, sliced chilies, basil and cilantro leaves from the huge platter that normally comes with it. Squeeze the lemor or lime wedges into the soup. Add the brown (hoisin, maybe?) sweet sauce and/or the red (HOT!) thai hot sauce to taste. Then start eating. The veggies are still crisp, the soup is as hot/spicy/savoury as you like it, and the broth functions more like a thin sauce anything else. Also, I believe that beef in a myriad of different cuts is the traditional meat - chicken is OK, but a little blander/less interesting than the beef combos. When I first had pho', plain, I thought it rather bland. Eat it the proper way and I can't guarantee you'll like it, but I rather doubt if you'd call it "ersatz chicken noodle soup"!
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Pho
There's a place called Pho 909 in Milpitas. It's located in a small shopping center on the corner of Calaveras Blvd. and Park Victoria Blvd. The pho is always fresh and delicious. There's also a menu of good Chinese and Vietnamese dishes.
Jason D. wrote: >I just tried pho (tom ga(?)-chicken) for the first time this weekend, albeit >not from a "fancy" restaurant but from a comparatively pedestrian style >place in San Carlos. I probably went in with some preconceptions but was >a bit dissatisfied with the meal. I wasn't really looking for ersatz >chicken noodle soup but it seemed to me that there was a far too high >proportion of noodles (and chicken bits) to broth. Is this typical? It >was also a bit sweet for my taste. Is fish sauce used in pho? If so, >does that impart the sweetness? > >I admit to being a great fan of thai food and the circus of tastes and >heat soups like tom ka gai (coconut/chicken soup) provide. I've only had >vietnamese food a couple of times but it has seemed to be much blander >than thai. Is this what I should expect? I don't know about that place in San Carlos, but you can get really good pho at Pho To Chau on Villa near Castro in Mt View. I think it is the best VN noodle house in the area: not necessarily the widest selection (they added chicken a few months ago) but the best broth and the cleanest conditions. At Pho Xe Lua, on Castro Street, although the room is nicer, I've found indifferent service and, on occasion, some questionable (green) meat in my bowl. If you're not familiar with pho, chicken is not the way to go. It's supposed to be a beautiful, fragrant beef broth with noodles and your choice of which cuts of boiled beef you want included, plus plenty of raw bean sprouts and fresh aromatic herbs plus green chiles to dump in the bowl at your discretion. I think I'll go get some now. For spiciness, there should be at least a bottle of VN red chile sauce and plum sauce on the table. Some places also offer fish sauce, soy sauce, hot oil, vinegar, maybe marinated chiles. VN and Thai are completely different cuisines: comparing them won't do you (or anybody) any good. In any case, there are at least three VN cuisines. Pho is typical of the region around Hanoi, whereas the Saigon-style places tend to have more Chinese and, especially, French influences. There's a pretty good family-style VN restaurant, Thanh's, on Middlefield near 5th at the northern end of Redwood City, too, and lots of good places in San Jose. Avoid the VN place in Menlo Park.
Mark T. wrote: In article , [email removed] (Gary Sloane) wrote: > If you're not familiar with pho, chicken is not the way > to go. It's supposed to be a beautiful, fragrant beef > broth with noodles and your choice of which cuts of boiled > beef you want included, plus plenty of raw bean sprouts and > fresh aromatic herbs plus green chiles to dump in the bowl > at your discretion. I think I'll go get some now. > > For spiciness, there should be at least a bottle of VN > red chile sauce and plum sauce on the table. Some places > also offer fish sauce, soy sauce, hot oil, vinegar, maybe > marinated chiles. Okay, here's a stupid question. How the heck do I eat it? I've seen people using chopsticks to lift a few strands to the mouth for a slurp-fest; I've seen others piling a heap on the spoon. I usually give in and twirl it up on a fork. And how do you add the chile sauce? To the broth, or dip a pile of noodles into it or something? Eagerly awaiting replies, Mark The traditional approach is to (in any order) a) squeeze about a teaspoonful of plum sauce and a bit of chili sauce onto the food b) a little lemon juice c) add on bean sprouts, cilantro or other green provided d) Mix the bowl up and eat You should not need to add fish sauce at all. Sometimes I skip steps a and b to taste get the simpler flavor. Eat it the way you would eat any bowl of noodle soup, using fork/chopstick and spoon combination. I don't know about Pho restaurants, because I cannot think of a distinctly good one, but I feel the best overall Vietnamese restaurant in San Jose area is Nha Trang (name of a city). It's in the Lion Plaza on Tully Road near 101. In that mall, you will also find 2 Pho restaurants, Pho Hoa and Pho 54. The latter is better.