Looking for pho at a Fall Festival this year? You might find just that with current popularity of pho. In fact I found some great pho at the St. Barbara Parish Fall Festival in Santa Ana this past Saturday Sept. 26, 2009. There were carnival rides and games, international foods, and live entertainment, plus a raffle grand prize of $10,000. The festival ground was crowded with the young and old of various ethnicities. Not surprisingly, this is the heart of Little Saigon in Orange County CA, so the festival goers were predominantly Viet.

The festival itself actually spanned from Friday Sept 25 to Sunday evening of Sept. 27. Vendors volunteered their time, products and services as charity to the church, so it’s all for a good cause. The Quoc Viet Foods® folks also set up shop inside the main tent, serving three kinds of noodles (pho bo, pho ga and bun bo Hue,) together with their branded coffee Cafvina.

Behind the serving counters, they had 6 large 40-gallon vats brewing pho and bun bo Hue broths all day. To one side is a separate, smaller pot of boiling water for blanching pho noodle (banh pho.) Both the operation and the service were efficient, as Quoc Viet Foods® has been participating at events like this for many years.

So Vietnamese pho at a Fall Festival? Depending on what festival you go to, you can find both the traditional and unconventional kinds of food nowadays. It may be unheard of a few years back, but with the popularity of pho raging in many places in North America, pho just may become the next big festival food. It’s even cooler when you have all proceeds going to support a local church.

Here’s a short video showing pho action at the St. Barbara Parish Fall Festival. Enjoy.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYquwQJfLNo

Pho, Charity and Fall Festival -- A Match Made in Heaven is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

Editor’s note: From time to time LovingPho.com features guest posts offering various interesting views on pho. This is a guest post from a Filipino acquaintance.

Updated 09-15-09. Vietnamese pho is, without argument, the most well-known noodle dish in Vietnamese cuisine. Pho noodle has swept all across the world, making those who tasted it so enamored with the dish that they always want more. So how is Vietnamese pho doing in the Philippines, a mere 1000 or so miles east of Saigon? Are Filipinos as taken in by pho as, say, the Americans and the Australians?

Filipinos Loves Foods

No doubt, Filipinos love good food. They have an active interest in food and they will try anything at least once. And since the Philippines is the land of the infamous balut (duck embryo) and barbecued chicken intestines, among other exotic fare, you can be sure in the knowledge that Filipinos can be adventurous with their food.

This innate love for good food and the fact that the Filipinos are quick to embrace foreign cultures explain why foreign cuisine is so well represented in the Philippines. Spanish, Tex-Mex, French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian, Australian, German, Middle Eastern – you name the cuisine, and you are highly likely to find it in the Philippines. No surprise, Vietnamese cuisine is well represented in this country as well.

Vietnamese Pho in the Philippines

Admittedly, the craze for Vietnamese pho has not yet taken root in the Philippines. The presence of pho in the Philippines can be felt, and pho does have its own fan base among Filipinos, but not as strongly as might be expected. The Philippines is a melting pot of cuisines and pho is just one among many that are trying to gain the fickle taste buds of the Filipinos.

In the Philippines, pho has strong competition among both foreign and local dishes. Japanese and Chinese noodle soups are well loved by Filipinos, at least partially because they are very good and because they’ve been here much longer than pho. The notorious tom yam soup from Thailand has its own followings. In fact the Filipinos themselves have their own soups that are just as flavorful as pho.

Nonetheless, if you are in the Philippines and you want pho, just head to one of the numerous malls in the country. You will inevitably find a Vietnamese restaurant there that serves pho. Some of the more popular Vietnamese restaurant chains in the Philippines are:

• Pho Hoa. Pho Hoa belongs to a franchised chain whose parent company is based in California. Pho Hoa serves pho in the southern Vietnamese style, and diners can choose from many standard meat cuts they want in their pho.
• Pho Bac. Pho Bac (Northern Pho) is also a franchised chain in the Philippines. Contrary to its name, the place does offer a choice of southern Vietnamese style pho.
• Pho 24. Pho 24, the most successful chain of restaurants specializing in pho directly from Saigon, Vietnam, also has a presence in the Philippines. Company owner Ly Quy Trung has expanded his company worldwide through franchise agreements, and the Philippines is among those covered.
• Independent pho shops. Many Vietnamese in the Philippines patronize other independent Vietnamese restaurants and Vietnamese pho shops as well. These are general established by Viet refugees before the franchises came in, their quality are very good, and they continue to be strong competitors in the pho war.

Pho Still Has A Long Way to Go Yet

If you want pho in the Philippines, you will definitely find it inside many malls and in Vietnamese and Chinese ethnic business areas. Authenticity is generally up there, and pho in the Philippines is as good as one can get within and outside of Vietnam. It has its niche of followers, but it still has a long way to go in the Philippines.

Pho in the Philippines: Have Filipinos Taken to the Pho Phenomenon? is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

In Vietnamese pho, you are likely to find chopped cilantro blanched by the broth in your bowl. Many pho recipes that you will find either in Asian cookbooks or on the Internet also recommend using cilantro, chopping it finely and sprinkling it on the noodle-and-meat assembly before the broth is ladled over it. It is very unusually to find pho bowls in restaurants or recipes that skip on cilantro. It’s always there, giving us the flavor that we sometime take for granted.

Given all that, what is cilantro and just how important is its inclusion in Vietnamese pho?

What Is Cilantro (rau ngò)?

Cilantro actually refers to the leaves of the coriander plant. When you encounter the terms “fresh coriander” or “coriander leaves,” these terms actually refer to cilantro. It can also be called Chinese parsley or Indian parsley. Among the Vietnamese, cilantro is called ngo.

The coriander plant, which botanists call Coriandrum sativum, belongs to the parsley family. In fact, cilantro is often mistaken for Italian parsley, and these two plants are indeed related. The coriander plant is an annual-growing herb, and the plant can grow up to 20 inches in height. The shape of the leaves vary; the leaves at the base of the plant appear lobed while the ones near the top and on the flowering stems are slender and lacy. Coriander can bear white or pale pink flowers, and coriander seeds are also widely used in cooking.

It should be noted that although cilantro and coriander seeds both come from the same plant, they are not interchangeable when it comes to using them for cooking. Cilantro leaves can be very pungent, and some find it bitter to the taste. In fact, a lot of people, particularly Europeans, are not able to stand the smell of cilantro because it is akin to that of crushed bedbugs. Coriander seeds, on the other hand, are pleasant to the nose and have a warm, citrusy flavor. For North Americans, cilantro reminds many diners of Mexican foods, particularly the popular Mexican salsa for dipping.

Relation to Vietnamese Coriander and Long Coriander (Culantro)

Although cilantro is a common ingredient in Viet and other Asian dishes, people who are not familiar with the plant often mistake Vietnamese coriander and long coriander for cilantro. These three herbs are essentially different even though they are all called coriander plants.

Vietnamese coriander (rau răm) is what the westerners call the laksa plant. They also call the plant Vietnamese mint although the plant itself is not even closely related to the mint plant. While Vietnamese coriander is just as widely used as cilantro in Southeast Asian cuisine, the similarity between Vietnamese coriander and cilantro end in the fact that they have a slightly similar smell. The leaves of the Vietnamese coriander are long and broad, and it has knotted stems.

Long coriander, on the other hand, is also known as saw leaf herb or culantro (ngò gai.) It also belongs to the parsley family, just like cilantro. And just like cilantro, long coriander/culantro can be found as a garnish in pho rather than a main source of flavor during the cooking process. Long coriander has an odor similar to cilantro, but the taste is much stronger. Those who love pho are familiar with its long and thorny leaves.

The History of Cilantro

Cilantro is said to be the oldest herb to be used by man. There were evidences of coriander being cultivated during Neolithic times. Ancient Egyptians are known to grow and use coriander, and there is a reference to coriander in the Old Testament of the Bible.

The coriander plant is native to the middle-eastern regions of Asia and in Southeastern Europe. Through trading and migration, the plant made its way to China and then to Southeast Asia, where it was used in salads, rolls and soup noodle dishes like pho. The Spaniards who came to Asia brought the coriander plant to Mexico, where cilantro became a vital ingredient in salsa and other Mexican dishes. From Mexico, the use of cilantro spread to the western and southwestern areas of the United States.

The Role of Cilantro in Pho

There are two major influences in Asian cuisine, and they are those of India and China. China’s influence has strongly marked Viet cuisine (Vietnam was under Chinese rule for a thousand years,) and among the Chinese cooking principles adopted by the Vietnamese is the principle of balance. This principle states that all the five tastes – salty, sour, spicy, sweet and bitter – should be present and existing in perfect harmony with each other in every dish.

Cilantro is known for its somewhat bitter taste. Some people have even gone to the extent to describe the taste of cilantro as soapy and have made a point of avoiding eating it. But it can nonetheless be said that cilantro provides the bitter element in a bowl of pho. For me and many Viet, cilantro gives a very nice, pleasant fragrance.

The one thing about cilantro is that it is best eaten fresh. When it is cooked or when it is left exposed for a long time, it loses its flavor. Thus, when preparing a bowl of pho, chopped cilantro is usually the last ingredient to be put in the bowl assembly, sprinkled over the noodles and the meat. The hot broth is then poured over it, and the bowl is served immediately.

The Health Benefits of Cilantro

For all its bitterness, cilantro is actually a very healthy herb to eat. It is rich in vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, namely: iron, potassium, calcium, folate, lutein, beta-carotene and vitamins A, B6, B12, C, E and K.

Cilantro also has a number of desirable medicinal qualities. It is quite well-known for helping to stimulate the appetite and to secrete gastric fluids that digest food. The herb can also aid in lowering bad cholesterol levels as well as blood sugar levels in the body. It also has the ability to cleanse the blood and to fight infection.

You are very likely to find cilantro in the majority of Viet dishes. Whatever you order at a restaurant, you’ll probably have cilantro with it.

Growing and Harvesting Coriander

The coriander plant is an annual herb, meaning it can grow and flourish any time of the year. It can also grow indoors and outdoors as long as it is not exposed directly to sunlight, especially during the hottest hours of the day. The plant also grows quickly and has to be replanted every six weeks for a steady supply of these herbs in the kitchen.

In order to plant coriander, its seeds must first be prepared. The husks are cracked slightly and the seeds are soaked in water for 48 hours. The seeds are then planted in a pot or in a bed at around three to four inches apart from each other and covered with a layer of soil about a quarter of an inch thick. If the coriander seeds are planted indoors before transplanting to a garden outdoors, the transplanting must be done when the plant has grown two inches tall. Once the transplanting is completed, the watering must be done constantly.

When the coriander plant begins to bolt, meaning to produce flowers and seeds, its leaves cannot be eaten anymore. Cilantro, the leaves, must be harvested once every week to make the plant last longer and to prevent bolting temporarily.

When harvesting cilantro, a few leaves must be left on the stem of the plant so that the plant can continue feeding itself. Only clean and sharp planting scissors must be used to harvest cilantro. Once the coriander plant has bolted, the seeds can be gathered for replanting.

There you have it. The lowly cilantro in fact has a long history of its own. Cilantro never takes the center stage, but you can’t have pho without it.

Cilantro – Man’s Oldest Herb a Must-Have Ingredient in Vietnamese Pho is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

The popularity of pho is rapidly spreading, and here in the Philippines, the pho-nomenon is currently on the rise. Although it is not extremely popular, the pho industry here in the Philippines thrives on certain market niches such as health conscious eaters, diet watchers, food lovers, and the huge Chinese and the growing Korean population.

The first few restaurants made their way to the area not because of high demand but to take advantage of franchise and expansion opportunities. In fact, when the first pho restaurants opened, several people were not familiar with the dish and the types of food served. Most were unsure how the word “pho” should be read. But when the pho restaurants came, they conquered, and eventually, pho became a cultural favorite among families and friends, especially those who love to try culinary varieties and for those who like to experience different culture, with pho being a representative of the Vietnamese, and partly of the Asian, culture.

Pho Hoa Franchise

The most popular pho restaurant in the country today is Pho Hoa, which is part of Pho Hoa franchise headquartered in Northern California. Pho Hoa now has eleven branches scattered across metropolitan Manila and Quezon City, the main branch being the Tomas Morato location in Quezon City. Aside from that, Pho Hoa can also be found in Makati, Greenhills, Libis, and other much farther locations such as Alabang and Pampanga. Some of the locations can be found in malls, enjoying a regular and constant stream of casual diners and mall visitors.

As for the other branches, these are the testimonies of the popularity of pho in the Philippines since customers actually go out of their way to visit these locations. Pho Hoa is currently the leading pho restaurant in the country, serving authentic and enticing pho dishes and other Vietnamese culinary treats. The food offered are truly Vietnamese and when you eat there, you can smell and feel the flavor of exotic pho in the air, completing your Vietnamese culinary experience. read more about Pho Hoa franchise.

Pho Bac

Pho Bac Metro Manila. Photo courtesy RonnieR, skyscrapercity.com.

Following not far behind in terms of popularity is Pho Bac. Pho Bac has often been compared with Pho Hoa. Even if a lot of customers still prefer Pho Hoa, Pho Bac has its own unique offers.

Noticeably, the Pho Bac restaurant interior feels a little homier than most Pho Hoa branches. Pho Hoa has a casual air, while Pho Bac feels cozier. A lot of pho lovers seem to prefer the casual atmosphere for eating pho because it livens up the experience, but the Pho Bac locations have their own appeal.

Comments about Pho Bac vary; some find that it lacks the authentic Vietnamese touch and the food is not as good as those served in Pho Hoa. On the other hand, for those who want to be able to enjoy Vietnamese food for the taste and not as a food expert or a culinary critic will definitely find the Pho Bac menu tempting and comfortable at the same time.

Pho 24

Aside from Pho Hoa and Pho Bac, Pho 24 is also gaining popularity among Filipino and Filipino-Chinese eaters. Pho 24, like Pho Hoa, is another popular international pho franchise brand headquartered in Saigon, Vietnam. It has a branch in Makati, with the restaurant brightly lit and decorated in Southeast Asian theme to stay true to Vietnam’s culture.

The food is great and authentic, though in terms of popularity, it has not yet reached Pho Hoa’s level since the latter came to the country earlier. Pho 24′s mall-based location, however, helps it bring in a steady flow of customers looking for Asian food, noodles, or simply something different. Read more about Pho 24 franchise.

Now, gone were the days when the people in the Philippines were baffled at the exotic-looking restaurants with the unusual names. The pho scene in the Philippines is on a continuous growth spurt. The niches are also starting to break, as more and more people become acquainted with pho and definitely hooked to it. The battle for pho supremacy in the Philippines may have already started.

Pho in the Philippines – Battle for Pho Supremacy is Heating Up is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

Updated 09-24-09. I started this poll about a month ago (April 23 to be exact) just out of my personal curiosity, and I’m floored by the result so far. As of today, May 26 2009, the running count is as shown to the right.

According to the numbers, a whopping 45% of pho slurpers invited themselves to their first bowl of pho! That’s absolutely amazing!

Only 40% were dragged in by their friends and acquaintances.

I labeled it “Bravery & curiosity” to be a little funny about it, as I thought to myself: “can’t imagine who would do this?” except for a few individuals who’ll just try anything. But, man, was I wrong!

For whatever reason that a person got the urge to go and order a bowl of pho for the first time himself or herself, I’m totally impressed. True bravery & curiosity. I wish there’s another way to understand this sort of mass movement, but unfortunately not from the same data collected. Maybe we’ll get people to leave comments about why they do this?

I’m sure over time the result may change, but at this rate I’m not so sure. Anyway the poll will continue. If you haven’t dropped your vote I hope you do so. And thanks to all who voted, and to those who are about to.

Pho Eaters Are a Bunch of Brave Souls – Who’d Have Thought? is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

Hello and thanks for visiting lovingpho.com’s Pho Polls page.

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Leave your opinion and feedback by taking the following poll. Have a suggestion? We’ll gladly take it in the reply below. Have a great pho day!
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Past and Present Pho Polls

Pho Polls is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

Updated 04-10-09. Chef Didier Corlou is one of the well-known Pho authorities that you will likely come across around the web. Chef Corlou is the former executive chef of Hanoi’s Sofitel Metropole Hotel. He served at the hotel for more than ten years, during which he established his presence as a French chef with an innate love for Vietnamese cuisine, especially the pho soup noodle. Currently, the 5-star Diamond Awardee French chef runs his own business: the Verticale restaurant, also in Hanoi.

In 2003, Chef Didier Corlou published a booklet regarding a seminar series specifically on the famous Vietnamese cuisine staple, the pho soup noodle. The seminar series was organized by Chef Corlou himself with the cooperation of the European Commission to Vietnam. The seminar series, being specifically centered on the pho dish, is a testimony of the growing popularity of the famous Vietnamese dish, and Chef Corlou’s direct and spearheading involvement in the series is proof that the chef is a well-known, highly credible, and well-recognized authority when it comes to Vietnamese pho.

In the booklet, Chef Didier Corlou wrote a feature entitled “Pho’s Art,” in which he explains the most important and sometimes neglected and taken for granted parts of preparing pho. In the feature, the chef sought to communicate that preparing pho is not like preparing any other meal; in fact, Chef Corlou, with the title alone, considers the act of making pho an art.

The preparation process is also not the only work of art in the matter, as “Pho’s Art” further implies. Chef Corlou writes that the mere experience of eating pho in a packed pho shop, mixing in the various ingredients and garnishes, stirring the soup, and finally taking your first spoonful of the broth an art or a “ritual,” as he called it. Furthermore, the pho-loving chef advises not to leave fresh pho noodles for more than 5 minutes without eating them. According to him, the pho noodles easily lose texture within 5 minutes.

Chef Corlou also further establishes his knowledge and credibility regarding the subject by explaining how the pho dish made its way into the Vietnam mainstream. The feature explained how pho went from being a breakfast dish to an all-day meal that can be eaten even at lunch and dinner. There is also a summary of pho’s history. It is clear from the feature that Chef Didier Corlou, who also dubs pho as the best soup noodle in the world, has informed himself thoroughly on the matter and has immersed himself completely into the world of pho, so who better to trust when it comes to pho recipes?

The booklet also contains the chef’s own pho recipe, the one that Chef Didier Corlou himself authored, and also the same one that he serves in his Hanoi-based restaurant. The recipe can serve approximately ten persons. Some of the ingredients are pho noodles, beef bone, beef rump, beef fillet, shallot, old ginger, star anise, cinnamon stick, cardamom, lime, spring onion, fresh herbs such as coriander and mint, as well as fresh chilli, salt, and pepper for taste. The procedures have been kept short and simple, making them very easy to follow. Chef Didier Corlou also adds a note for when you prefer to use rare beef or add spuncules or sea worm for added taste. His recipe is probably one of the best-tasting pho recipes you will find on the web.

For a look at Chef Didier Corlou’s pho recipe, visit Andrea Nguyen’s blog article titled “Pho by Chef Didier Corlou.” There are some interesting discussions on pho there, and the recipe can be found toward the end of the page.

Chef Corlou’s Vietnamese Cuisine (or Ma Cuisine du Vietnam in French) is a food-lover’s collection item and is sold exclusively at the Sofitel Hanoi. Another book, Corlou’s Vietnamese Home Cooking, is more widely available. Both books pay homage to the Vietnamese culinary art that Chef Didier Corlou is obviously very fond of that his passion shines right through.

So you can’t buy Ma Cuisine du Vietnam unless you go to Hanoi, but you can definitely purchase Didier Corlou’s Vietnamese Cooking (Cooking (Periplus)) at Amazon.com. Visit didiercorlou.com.

All photos courtesy VietNamNet.net, which has lots more images showing Chef Didier Corlou in action.

Chef Didier Corlou, A Passion for Pho and Vietnamese Cuisine is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

Having just moved to the Berkeley Area I was eager to get my first Pho fix. There is Vietnamese food on every other corner around here, although many of them don’t have Pho, or if they do it’s not what they are known for.  So I fired up Yelp and looked for a place nearby that had Pho in the name and decent reviews, I found a place up in Richmond on the infamous San Pablo Ave, Pho Hoa Thai.

A bit of a rough area I approached this place with a little caution not wanting to draw too much attention to myself; however being a 6’4” long haired bearded white guy it is hard not to stick out like a sore thumb.  My wife and I strolled in on a Sunday afternoon, I expected it would be crowded but there were only about 3 other parties in there, uh-oh I thought that’s not a good sign, but oh well we were here and there was no turning back at this  point.

Once we were inside it was all standard Pho style restaurant, a little dingy and funky, but that adds to the charm right? We both ordered the Pho Tai, and usually I get a small as does the wife, occasionally she will order the large like she did this time, and being in a new place with some tough looking wait staff I couldn’t dare order the small if she was ordering the large, so 2 large Pho Tai’s please.

OMG, that is the biggest bowl of Pho I have ever seen! The garnishes were plentiful and possibly the freshest I’ve seen, I usually don’t add the sprouts as they don’t always seem to be crisp and clean, these however almost looked fake they were so fresh. Everything tasted great the only thing was something was a bit off with the noodles themselves, couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but they just didn’t taste quite right, maybe they were just a different style than I’m used to, or maybe they were overcooked, not really sure.

Anyway all in all a pretty good place for Pho, and with a lot of the Vietnamese places in the Bay Area they also serve a selection of Thai cuisine, hence their name Pho Hoa Thai, not sure why they do. I probably won’t make a special trip to go back to this place, but if I’m in the area and need a Pho fix I’d have no problem to go again.

• Pho noodle: (2/5)
• Soup stock: (4/5)
• Meats: (3/5)
• Garnishes* freshness: (5/5)
• Price: Baseline ($6-7), no extra points or deductions
• Extra Points: 0
• Total Points: 14

* No points for expected garnishes of sprouts, Thai basil, lime and chiles.

Pho Hoa Thai
12860 San Pablo Ave.
Richmond CA, 94805
(510) 235-1223

Pho Hoa Thai: Bay Area Pho is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

Updated 07-22-10. You need only read a few of my posts on this site and you’ll understand my passion for pho. I take my pho seriously. And personally, I’m not one to make fun at my favorite, beloved and respected chow. Certainly not in substance, not in name, and definitely not in pronunciation.

Fuh? foe? FO? Fu-uuuuuhh? PhuUUH? What the P…? Well, you will find no funny stuff here. On the other hand, pronouncing “pho” can be challenging if you don’t have the correct pho pronunciation to go by.

Use your favorite search engine and you’ll find various ways that people suggest how to pronounce pho. If you care and search long enough you’ll discover one or two ways to say “pho” getting propagated by many people. Well guess what, regardless of how widely spread and popular these Internet versions are, and how well-intentioned the individuals may be, these “pho” versions are incorrect pronunciation.

Since my goal aims to stop further proliferation of such ‘slanderous’ treatment of my favorite noodle dish called pho, I won’t mention them here to further the butchering of the word. Instead I’ll offer the following for your reading (and listening) enlightenment.

First let’s set the record straight. I’m not a hard-liner. I believe in freedom and capitalism as the next sensible person. But I think we can all do better with pho pronunciation. It’s not difficult, and with minimal effort, proper guidance/demonstration and practice, you’ll impress a Vietnamese-speaking person or enjoy watching him/her in shock with such unexpected fluency and command of the language and your knowledge of the dish. Yes, no more “f…” or “ph…”, or whatever. So here goes.

Wikipedia correctly makes a distinction between Vietnamese and English versions of written and pronunciation of pho. That is not to say that it is necessarily acceptable or there is nothing more to it. Granted, written words and their pronunciations in other languages have been “Americanized” before (read ‘butchered’,) so this is nothing new. But in this global economy it’s probably a good thing to try saying non-English words as correctly as possible. Hey anything to help foster international friendship and understanding, right? And when it involves “pho“, it’s even more important to pho lovers and newbies alike.

So, using the International Phonetic Alphabet, the Wiki explains that Phở is pronounced phonetically as [fə̃ː] which sounds like this:

“Pho” pronunciation from Wikipedia.

Below are my own versions. There are differences which will be explained below. Both wiki’s and my versions are correct pronunciation.

Normal speech.  

Slower speech.  

Note: the Wikipedia pronunciation is from a Southern Vietnamese speaker, whereas my pronunciation has both Southern and Northern accents, with probably a 40-60% (South-North) influence. Also I deliberately accentuate to demonstrate the different sounds that exist in the word. Both are phonetically correct and legitimate pronunciation of the word phở.

Sometime a single sound doesn’t really do justice. So below are a few additional phrases with proper pronunciation of “pho” in conversational usage so you get a better sense of the word “pho” and its inflections. You should be able to identify “pho” with no trouble. But more importantly you can now identify “pho” even when spoken in Vietnamese. Try numbers 3 and 4 below.

1. “Let’s go have some pho today.”
2. “I had pho with a friend this past weekend.”
3. “Let’s meet for pho at about 8 tonight” in Vietnamese.
4. “How is your beef pho?” in Vietnamese, to lady friend.

There. It’s pretty easy isn’t it?

Well there is another challenge. North, Central or South Vietnamese accents. Encountering one when you’re familiar with another can throw you off, but that’s for another post. I can tell you one thing, of the two Vietnamese phrases above, one is Northern and the other, Southern accent. Can you tell which is which? If you promise not to cheat, take this poll below, and the answer is at the end of this article.

I hope that if you enjoy eating pho and care about this noodle dish (and who doesn’t after the first bowl?), please pass on the proper pronunciation, or maybe gently correct a friend who has been misled. Better yet point them to this post so they can experience the recordings above themselves.

So what variety of pho pronunciation have you encountered? Share your views with us with a comment below.

By the way if you need help with Vietnamese pronunciation or would like some guidance or even request help, head on over to read my post on “Pronunciation of Pho and Other Vietnamese Words and Phrases,” and leave a request.

#3: Southern Vietnamese accent
#4: Northern Vietnamese accent

Pho Pronunciation: You Can Say It, Pronounce Pho, Say: Phở… is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

A good bowl of Vietnamese Pho can always stand on its own merit. Pho itself is so good that for many, both the restaurant and home cooked varieties, there is no need for all the elaborate condiments and garnishes you’d get at a pho restaurant. However, Vietnamese dishes are meals typically served with lots of greens, herbs, vegetables and various other accompaniments such as dipping sauces, hot and spicy pastes, and flavor enhancements such as a squeeze of lime or lemon. Well Pho is no exception.

Garnishes for Pho is so important to the total pho experience that our rating system treats garnishes freshness and quantity as separate point earners. Here’s LovingPho.com’s rating system based on points on scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being best:

• Pho noodle: scale 1-5.
• Soup stock: scale 1-5.
• Meats: scale 1-5.
• Garnishes*: freshness, scale 1-5.
• Garnishes: extra points for fresh ngo gai (scale 1-5). The fresher and more in quantity, the higher the points!
• Price: scale -5 to +5 based on baseline of $5-$6 per bowl (California price) being 0 point. Lower than baseline price gets extra points, while higher prices can earn negative points!
• Extra points: scale 1-5 for general ambience of the location, including clean dining area, airy and light ambience, good reliable service, totally authentic Vietnamese ambience, etc.

* No points for expected garnishes of sprouts, Thai basil, lime and chiles.

So as you can see garnish can really take the total points up a notch or down a level. Garnishes have a strong impact on the total experience of enjoying a bowl of pho, and we’re serious about it. Here’s what I mean:

1. Expected garnishes. We consider bean sprouts, basil, lime or lemon, and freshly sliced chiles to be must have items, and only rate them on levels of freshness from 1 to 5. Of note is the chiles or peppers. Most U.S. pho places serve sliced Mexican jalapeño in place of the smaller hot pepper varieties in Vietnam, usually served whole (unsliced). This in our view is an acceptable arrangement, and places with authentic offerings will get more points.
2. We consider ngo gai (culantro) important enough to the total pho eating experience that it has its own rating. Many restaurants skipped ngo gai altogether and will get low or no points. In our view there is no excuse for not having it, and those offering lots of ngo gai will get points galore.

Now after all of this, there is an exception. When it comes to Phở Bắc, the northern style (Bắc means north) that came south with Northern refugees in the 1940′s, purity is heaven. If you’re having Pho Bac, then you’re not supposed to need any garnish. It’s good as is. As Andrea Nguyen wrote in her Viet World Kitchen article: “Even today, what many Americans identify as the requisite pho garnish plate is hard to find in Hanoi. For purists like my northern-born mom, only “pho bac” (northern pho) will do.” For Pho Bac, our rating system will have to be adjusted and applied properly.

If you’re going to garnish your pho, only culantro, basil, sprouts, with a touch of lemon/lime will do. I’m sure the combination of taste was not developed overnight, but I’m glad someone did it, and the rest of us went for it. In the end, from the texture of the noodle and meat pieces, to the taste and heat of the soup broth, to the fresh green garnishes, with a touch of lime and heat of chile pepper, and finally the sweet and spicy touch of hoisin sauce and red hot sauce, everything just comes together nicely.

So what do you prefer when it comes to garnishing your pho? Chances are unless the restaurant you’re in identifies itself as having Pho Bac or offering Pho Bac on the menu specifically, each and every pho place you eat at will be the regular southern variety with garnishes. Share your pho garnish experience with us.

The Importance of Garnishes for Pho is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles