Pho Empire, a pho noodle restaurant and franchise, is located in Arlington and Irving, Texas. Pho Empire offers the pho noodle that people have come to love, with other regular Viet fare, such as various rice meals, rice vermicelli and other noodle dishes, and vegetarian selections. While franchising can be profitable, having to many selections may hinder management and growth, even survival, of the franchise.
For whatever reason that a person got the urge himself or herself to go and order a bowl of pho, I’m totally impressed. I wish there’s another way to understand this mass movement, but unfortunately not from the same data collected. Only 40% were dragged in by their friends and acquaintances. The poll continues.
Australians love their pho just as much as the Vietnamese or Americans do, and the presence of pho in Australia is almost as prominent as it is in the United States. Concentration of pho shops can be found in many Australian cities including Sydney in New South Wales, Melbourne in Victoria, Adelaide in South Australia, and Brisbane in Queensland. Here’s an overview of pho in Australia.
Nowadays you can’t order pho without the plate of garnishing, which invariably include bean sprouts. Fans of Vietnamese pho have come to expect bean sprouts with their pho. Some even think that pho looks quite forlorn and incomplete without it. Pho and bean sprouts may look like an odd couple, but many pho eaters add them purely out of habits because it’s just natural to eat them together.
Pho 24 is an up and rising noodle restaurant chain serving exquisite pho rice noodle dishes. Pho 24 now has store locations in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sydney, aside from its many locations within Vietnam. What’s with the number in the name? Another pho restaurant name with numbers? It’s actually not what you think.
You may be wondering about the name Pho Bolsa. Or maybe Pho 79. Or Pho 86, Pho 54, Pho 75, Pho 88, Pho 90. While there are plenty of pho restaurants with ‘normal’ Vietnamese names, these mentioned above certainly give old and new clientele (and Viet and non-Viet) a little pause of curious ponder. Well here’s an attempt to put some of these mysterious Vietnamese pho names and numbers to rest.
Pho Bolsa, Little Saigon has pho ga with side order of free-range chicken, intestines and unborn eggs.
Pho Bolsa has been at the same spot forever and has one of the best pho ga anywhere. My wife ordered her favorite pho ga with white meat, heart, gizzard, and liver. There were unborn eggs as well. I had my trusty pho tai, chin, sach (beef: rare, well-done brisket, tripe). Both were good as expected, but the garnishes were on the wilted side.
Vegetarian pho, or pho chay, can be found served at Buddhist temples on holiday occasions and at vegetarian restaurants. The true pho chay found in Buddhist temples is conservatively vegetarian, owing to the strict vegetarian cuisine followed by Buddhist practitioners. While there are vegetarian pho found at commercial restaurants, ask some questions to ensure your pho chay is actually vegetarian, or non-meat.