Vietnamese Pho NoodlesPho Noodle for the Pho Lovers
Pho Pronunciation – How to Order Pho in Vietnamese
Per a request from Barb Carter over at the “Tips on Ordering Pho” post, here are audio files to help with your pho ordering in Vietnamese language. The selection is based on a typical pho menu one may find at many Viet restaurants. So drop me a note in the comment if I missed anything and I’ll add it.
First a few words about convention. In Vietnamese, the word “tô” means “bowl.” When ordering a bowl of pho tai, for example, a Viet would call a “tô phở tái” or just “tô tái.” If you’re already in a pho restaurant, then saying “phở” is redundant and is really not necessary (but optionally okay.) If you’re in a Viet restaurant that also serves pho, then ordering a ”tô phở tái’ would be more appropriate to make it clear that you want pho and not another dish. So for those who find saying pho a little challenging, “tô” will solve your problem!
Note: The “t” in “tô” pronounces as a hard t like in French (e.g., Tour de France) or in Spanish (e.g., Latino,) and not like a soft t in English (i.e., tow truck.)
For pho bo or beef pho, as noted in “Tips on Ordering Pho,” the seemingly endless pho options on the menu are really permutation and combination of the available meat cuts and types that you can mix and match. The most common options are:
- bo chin (sliced well-done steak),
- bo tai (sliced rare steak),
- nam (flank),
- ve don (crunchy flank),
- gau (fatty brisket),
- gan (tendon),
- sach (tripe) and
- bo vien (beef meatballs, normally with tendon).
So without further ado, here is the audio pho menu. As always each has the Southern Viet accent followed by Northern Viet accent.
- Pronounce: Tô Đặc Biệt Xe Lửa (pho dac biet xe lua) – special (combo) large
size pho - Pronounce: Tô Đặc Biệt (pho dac biet) – special (combo) regular size pho
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Nạm, Gầu, Gân, Sách (pho Tai, Nam, Gau, Gan, Sach) -
rare steak, flank, fatty brisket, tendon, tripe pho - Pronounce: Tô Chín, Nạm, Gầu, Gân, Sách (pho Chin, Nam, Gau, Gan, Sach)
- well-done steak, flank, fatty brisket, tendon, tripe pho - Pronounce: Tô Tái, Chín, Gầu, Gân, Sách (pho Tai, Chin, Gau, Gan, Sach)
- rare steak, well-done steak, fatty brisket, tendon, tripe pho - Pronounce: Tô Tái, Chín, Nạm, Gân, Sách (pho Tai, Chin, Nam, Gan, Sach)
- rare steak, well-done steak, flank, tendon, tripe pho - Pronounce: Tô Tái, Nạm, Gân, Sách (pho Tai, Nam, Gan, Sach) – rare steak,
flank, tendon, tripe pho - Pronounce: Tô Tái (pho Tai) – rare steak pho
- Pronounce: Tô Chín (pho Chin) – well-done steak pho
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Chín (pho Tai, Chin) – rare steak, well-done steak pho
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Nạm, Gân (pho Tai, Nam, Gan) – rare steak, flank, tendon
pho - Pronounce: Tô Tái, Nạm, Sách (pho Tai, Nam, Sach) – rare steak, flank,
tripe pho - Pronounce: Tô Nạm, Vè Dòn (pho Nam, Ve Don) – flank, crunchy flank pho
- Pronounce: Tô Chín, Nạm, Vè Dòn (pho Chin, Nam, Ve Don) – well-done steak,
flank, crunchy flank pho - Pronounce: Tô Tái, Gầu (pho Tai, Gau) – rare steak, fatty brisket pho
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Nạm (pho Tai, Nam) – rare steak, flank pho
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Gân (pho Tai, Gan) – rare steak, tendon pho
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Sách (pho Tai, Sach) – rare steak, tripe pho
- Pronounce: Tô Bò Viên (Southern)/Tô Phở Bò Viên (Northern) (pho with meatballs) – Viet meatball pho
Related pho posts
Posted on Jun 23rd, 2009 and filed under Pho Corner: Everything Pho, Pho Op-Ed, Pho Pronunciation, Menu & Ordering. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site
Hi there: was trying to send you an email though the contact box but kept getting an error message. I’m a food writer in Orange County and would love to talk to you more about your post on why pho restaurants have numbers in their names. What a great topic!
Please let me know if you’re interested. Thanks!
Good topic
. I typically just order a Pho Dac Biet, (or Xe Lua if my eyes are bigger then my stomach is) but I might try ordering some of the ingrediants I prefer individually. The Vietnamese have warmed up to me a bit since I’ve been coming in once or twice a week (and ordering the pho with extra gan 
), so I might be able to get away with it.
Good post though, I swear Pho is one of the very few foods that I actually physically start CRAVING if I don’t have it for a while!
Aaron: You’re definitely a pho hero! Xe Lua is always my favorite size, though I only order tai, chin, sach in my bowl. I don’t mind the other ingredients, but I’m fine with not having them so I can concentrate on those 3, plus lots of basil and culantro lol.
By the way if you haven’t read “Tips on Ordering Pho” then I highly recommend it. Because once you know about them, I think you’ll love ordering those side dishes.
My husband has noticed that on a many, many vietnamese menus that the #16 is always the same. Pho with sliced well done steak. Is this some rule?
eddie: Wow that is a strange coincidence. AFAIK, there shouldn’t be any rule regarding which pho goes where. I’m looking at a menu in my hand right now and #16 is definitely not well done steak:) He’s just lucky is my guess, though 16 is one of my own lucky numbers lol.
Love this site, and the articles. I am a recent pho addict, and I love the stuff. i have now moved on to trying all the other dishes, having become adventurous by trying som bun bo hue. I can not hear the audio recordings at work, but will check them out at home to see how to say the different dishes.
Lots of great stuff here, thanks for the work.
Inthewater: Haha I hope by “I can not hear the audio recordings at work” you mean you don’t want to get in trouble at work, and not because of a problem with the recordings
Anyway, Thanks for the nice words, and don’t be afraid of the pork blood in bun bo Hue!
[...] “How to Order Pho in Vietnamese,” [...]