Pho...
 

Have you ever had it, and what do you think about it. What kind did you order? I am going to a Pho restaurant tomorrow with some friends from Vietnam, and really need your opinion.
Thanks!!

Haha I am of no help to you at all. I usually stay within my "comfort zone" when it comes to food. Just ask Lisa. Good luck. Maybe someone can give you some info!

YUM!!! Pho is one of my favorites!

I was a vegan for years so I always ordered the vegetable/vegetable broth one.

I still get that, but if they have chicken broth and no vegetable broth, I won't turn it away. :)

It's really good, especially on a cold or rainy day. You have to put the condiments to suit your taste.

I love pho! btw it's pronounced "fuh" like you are going to say F you to someone. LOL There's a place that's called Pho King. :sidesplt: Bf is is viet, so I know a lot about pho and viet food in general.

If you don't like too much fat on your meat, get the pho tai (rare steak). It comes out raw, but it's so thinly sliced that the hot broth cooks it almost instantly. I actually don't care for tai bc it's TOO lean. I prefer brisket and flank bc I like fat. Also I love tendon. When it's done right, it's so soft and just melts in your mouth.

If you want to be on the safe side you can also get bo vien (meat balls) although many places have meatballs with bits of tendon in it fyi, or pho ga (chicken pho), but real pho is made with beef. If the place has ox tail pho then it's real legit. But ox tail again is fatty.

See also if the place has banh kot, which are little roundish coconut milk pancakes (not really pancakes but more like golf balls) with a shrimp either inside or on top. These should be crisp on the outside and smooth and creamy on the inside. I love those.

And banh mi is viet sandwich. I've been bugging Lisa to try and find one in FL for years now. Usually they are very cheap, about $3. It's on an 8-10" long French baguette filled with viet meats, pickled daikon/carrots, with pate and viet mayo (more like butter) and jalapeno and cilantro sprig.

Another thing to get is bo kho (beef stew). If it's done right, the big chunks of beef are super tender. This is served with either egg noodles or french baguette. Also can be oily.

If you don't want soup, you can get bun (pronounced boon) it's rice noodles with no soup and whatever toppings you want. Usually people get grilled pork or beef with an egg roll on the side.

Did you gone to Vung Tau yet?????

And I didn't know there were places that made vegetarian pho broth! Like when my vegetarian friend asks ramen places outside of LA if they have veggie broth, they look at her like she's crazy.

Thanks for all of the info!!! I plan to print this thread and take it with me, just in case. The "Pho King" had me laughing...I hope they don't have that on tee-shirts!;)

We're going Thursday!! :D

About 90% of all noodle houses here make vegetarian broth. Especially in recent years.

Yes they do! :eek:

Yay! I wish I could beam myself back there. I hope I haven't over hyped it, but I really really liked that place.

I don't think many places in Orange county serve veggie broth. Not as many vegetarians here as in LA or Bay area for sure.

It's not quite pronounced "fuh", is it? I thought it was more like "fu-uh". You have to say it like you're flaming gay to get the pronunciation close. At least according to my Vietnamese friends from back in undergrad. Vietnamese anything is awesome when it comes to food. I especially love the sandwiches. I have no idea what any of the sandwiches I got were, because I can't read Vietnamese and just went with what my Vietnamese friends suggested (plus we were always drunk when we got them, lol, so I never asked questions).

I actually prefer the non-traditional Pho restaurants. I went to one authentic Vietnamese and order Pho special chicken and they gave me all the inside of the chicken and they left all the skin on the boil chicken.

If you stick with white meat you will be good. I love the spicy seafood pho also. I did not like the pho tai at the place I had it at. Maybe I'll try it at a different place later.

No not really. MIL speaks mostly just viet and that's pretty much how you pronounce it. But I guess you could say the "U" is a bit more stretched out, but it's def not two syllables.

Now I want Vietnamese . . .lol

That is too funnny. I would wear it lol ;)

"My friend went out for Vietnamese food and all I got was this Pho King t-shirt"

::sidesplt: :eyetearss :sidesplt: