Vietnamese Pho NoodlesPho Noodle for the Pho Lovers
Tips on Ordering Pho Your Way: Just Tell Them What You Want
Updated 06-23-09
. Ordering a bowl of Vietnamese pho is as easy as eating it. The one rule to remember is to just order what you want. If you didn’t grow up eating pho, or even if you’ve ordered pho yourself before, here are a few tips to enhance your pho eating experience and order pho like a pho expert.
- Ordering by the number is for… the novice. Actually, you don’t need to look at the menu if you’re going to have pho. Don’t worry about the seemingly endless choices of pho on the menu, and certainly don’t order by the numbers. As soon as you sit down at your table, you’re ready to order.
- Pho menu. If you must look at the menu then the following can help. There can be up to 20+ items for pho, but there are really 4 varieties you’d care about.
- By far the largest group (first 15 or so) is for pho bo (beef pho) which you can order in any combination and permutation of meat cuts (see 6 and 7 below). The first and second are almost always reserved for Pho Dac Biet Xe Lua (locomotive size combo-everything including the kitchen sink) and Pho Dac Biet (large size combo). The rest are just various combinations of available meat types. If you want something not on the menu, just say it. For example, if you want pho bo with absolutely no meat, then they’ll make it for you. Parents order these for kids all the time.
- The next group is pho ga. There are not that many ways to do pho ga, so you may have 1 or 2 items here.
- Pho chay or vegetarian pho. For restaurants offering real pho chay (absolutely no meat, using separate preparation and cooking utensils), a few will show up at the end of the pho group on the menu or in a specialty section. If pho chay is not on the menu and you still want some, then just ask them. It’s a good chance that they have them.
- Easy choices: pho bo or pho ga. There really are 2 types of pho, beef and chicken. You want to decide which pho you want. The default is always pho bo.
- Bowl size. Most pho places will have regular and large sizes, with kid size if you really want it (or just order a larger size with an extra bowl to share with the young one). Pho Dac Biet Xe Lua mentioned above is really the combo in large size, while the Pho Dac Biet is just a combo regular size. If you’re lucky you will find a restaurant that will go out of its way to give you more food than you want. Check out my friend Mason’s post on “Pho Hoa Thai: Bay Area Pho” or my own “Biggest Bowl of Pho I Ever Had: North York, Toronto.” A side note: Some years back you could even find “Pho hang knong mau ham” which translates to aircraft-carrier-size pho, the mother of all pho!
- Ordering pho ga. If you want pho ga, you’ll have one of 2 scenarios:
- White meat chicken pieces already in the bowl when served, or
- White or dark chicken meat (bones on) on the side with a side ginger fish sauce for dipping. Run-of-the-mill restaurants will only serve the first choice mentioned above, but good pho shops will offer chicken on the side. Rarely will a restaurant do both; there’s no reason to do the former when you’re already offering the latter. And if they have free-range chicken: extra goodness!
- Ordering pho bo. If you want pho bo, it’s still pretty simple. Here’s what you need to know:
- You can mix and match any of the available meat cuts and types.
- Available 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).
- You can order bo vien and bo tai as side dishes. Bo tai slices are raw to be dipped in the hot broth at the table by the pho consumer.
- Other options. You’d never guess but there are ways to further customize your pho. This is what the pho connoisseurs do. Depending on your preferences, and if you have a good restaurant that knows how to serve pho, just ask for any of the following:
- Nuoc trong (non-fat broth, this is what everyone gets by default),
- Nuoc beo (fatty broth, with extra fat, yum…),
- Tai song (very rare meat),
- It banh (less noodle, “banh” refers to “banh pho” which is of course the pho noodle itself),
- Nhieu banh (more noodle),
- It thit (less meat)
- Nuoc beo hanh tran (fatty broth with blanched onions on the side),
- Gia chin (side order of steamed bean sprouts),
- Khong hanh (no scallions),
- Khong hanh ngo (no scallions/cilantro),
- Khong hanh tay (no onions),
- Hanh giam (vinegar onions on the side)
You’re now ready for some real serious pho adventures. For most people a regular size bowl of pho bo is totally sufficient. But for a few, getting pho exactly right can only be achieved by ordering pho their own way. If a restaurant doesn’t serve as described in these tips, then their pho quality may be questionable.
So have fun on your next pho outing. And let us know how you make out.
Related pho posts
Posted by Cuong Huynh. Cuong is a marketing consultant dedicated to helping people and companies work on the Internet (MarketingAutopsyBlog), achieve higher mpg in their cars (CleanCarTalk), and enjoy Vietnamese pho.
Follow Cuong on Twitter: @LovingPho, @CuongHuynh, @CleanCarTalk, @BlockbusterFilm, @SoccerUSA.
Posted on Apr 2nd, 2009 and filed under 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
Posted on Apr 2nd, 2009 and filed under 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
[...] Nuoc Beo is the fat that congeals on the top of the boiling broth. I found this out today. Vietnamese people want it, but in America they skim it off. It makes it tasty, or as my buddy Van says, “testy”. I thought he was talking about testes at first, and I’d never heard of testicle Pho. [...]
[...] And yet another reason that has contributed to the appeal of pho to American tastes is the fact that pho is healthy to eat, very much more desirable than the burgers and the other calorie-rich foods that make up typical American fare. Pho is rich in protein, vitamins and minerals. Health buffs that are unaware of how pho is made may be scared away by the idea of grease and fat that comes from creating broth from beef marrow. But all that grease and excess fat are scooped and strained away from the broth, making it friendlier for health-conscious people. But if you’re a hard-core pho fan, don’t miss my articles on “Understanding the Pho Menu,” and ”Tips on Ordering Pho Your Way.” [...]
[...] * The meats and tendon is optional, or you can also substitute/add tripe, meatballs, etc. depending on your preference, just as you would order in a restaurant. See my “Tips on Ordering Pho Your Way.” [...]
[...] Why is banh pho so important in a bowl of pho? One can say that pho is not pho without the correct banh pho rice noodles in it. You can eliminate the garnishing, but you cannot take banh pho noodles out of a proper bowl of pho. And you can’t have just few strands of banh pho floating in the broth, you have to have a whole lot of them. In fact in a restaurant, it’s totally an acceptable option to order more banh pho in your bowl than normally served (see the article on “Tips on Ordering Pho Your Way.”) [...]
OK, now we know what we like in our pho, but we really can only pronounce pho itself. How can we order all those variations without sounding like fools? Any chance you’d create recordings showing the variations (not all possible combinations of course, just the basics and we can combine whichever parts we’d need). Which do you think is worse: ordering by the numbers, ordering in English, or ordering in mangled Vietnamese?
Thanks.
@Barb Carter. Hi Barb, thanks for the excellent thoughts. I’ve been pondering the idea and your post just pushed me over. It’s not much trouble so I’ll do something and will post them.
I think ordering by numbers is easiest but it’s the worst case. It shows nobody cares about anything, with laziness being the common thread between the customer and the order taker. Time’s changed and we can all do better.
Next is ordering in English. It may be easier for the customer (non-Viet speaker) but makes it much harder for the restaurant; it will slow everyone in the service chain, from the order taker to preparer in the back to the server to the cashier. Plus it doesn’t sound quite right in my opinion.
So we’re left with mangled Vietnamese, but I think it’s the best scenario because we can do so much with it. I admire those who make the effort because it shows the will is already there. The only thing left is a little technique and coaching. From the restaurant’s viewpoint, it’s the normal way their largest group of clientele (Vietnamese) orders anyway. Plus it makes for a fun atmosphere.
[...] reading the article on Pho Pronunciation still leaves you confused? And “Tips on Ordering Pho” still gives you pause? Well a few readers felt the same way. In fact some indicated to me [...]
[...] = ‘lovingpho’; Per a request from Barb Carter over at the “Tips on Ordering Pho” post, below are audio files to help with your next [...]
@Barb Carter. I’ve just posted a new post showing pronunciation of typical pho permutation and combination that one usually finds on a pho menu. It’s called “How to Order Pho in Vietnamese.” Thanks for your suggestion and enjoy.
[...] So now you are armed with the basics of pho menu with some knowledge on how to order pho. For ”advanced” pho ordering, read my article on “Tips on Ordering Pho Your Way: Just Tell Them What You Want.” [...]
[...] “Tips on Ordering Pho Your Way: Just Tell Them What You Want,” [...]
[...] If you are familiar with bean sprouts at all, you know that it can be eaten raw or cooked, or somewhere in between. In many Vietnamese dishes, and clearly in pho, bean sprouts can be enjoyed at any of the cooked state just mentioned. If you want fresh raw sprouts in almost every bite, then add them in the bowl a few at a time. If you like them somewhat cooked, then add more at the beginning so they are cooked while you eat. Finally, if you like cooked sprouts, add them all in when the broth is still boiling hot; you’ll then enjoy fully cooked sprouts as you proceed eating your pho. Alternatively, many also order blanched or steamed bean sprouts on the side. See more in the article “Tips on Ordering Pho.” [...]