Updated 04-02-14. 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.
- Tô Đặc Biệt Xe Lửa (pho dac biet xe lua) - special (combo) large size phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Đặc Biệt (pho dac biet) - special (combo) regular size phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Nạm, Gầu, Gân, Sách (pho Tai, Nam, Gau, Gan, Sach) - rare steak, flank, fatty brisket, tendon, tripe phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Chín, Nạm, Gầu, Gân, Sách (pho Chin, Nam, Gau, Gan, Sach) - well-done steak, flank, fatty brisket, tendon, tripe phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Chín, Gầu, Gân, Sách (pho Tai, Chin, Gau, Gan, Sach) - rare steak, well-done steak, fatty brisket, tendon, tripe phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Chín, Nạm, Gân, Sách (pho Tai, Chin, Nam, Gan, Sach) - rare steak, well-done steak, flank, tendon, tripe phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Nạm, Gân, Sách (pho Tai, Nam, Gan, Sach) - rare steak, flank, tendon, tripe phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Tái (pho Tai) - rare steak phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Chín (pho Chin) - well-done steak phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Chín (pho Tai, Chin) - rare steak, well-done steak phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Nạm, Gân (pho Tai, Nam, Gan) - rare steak, flank, tendon phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Nạm, Sách (pho Tai, Nam, Sach) - rare steak, flank, tripe phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Nạm, Vè Dòn (pho Nam, Ve Don) - flank, crunchy flank phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Chín, Nạm, Vè Dòn (pho Chin, Nam, Ve Don) - well-done steak, flank, crunchy flank phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Gầu (pho Tai, Gau) - rare steak, fatty brisket phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Nạm (pho Tai, Nam) - rare steak, flank phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Gân (pho Tai, Gan) - rare steak, tendon phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Tái, Sách (pho Tai, Sach) - rare steak, tripe phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Tô Bò Viên (Southern)/Tô Phở Bò Viên (Northern) (pho with meatballs) - Viet meatball phoClick to play
- Pronounce: Nước béo (fatty broth) - Southern/Northern similarClick to play
Hi lolsuz: Wow thanks for the accolade! I’m glad the audios helped. I love your “practically swimming in Pho restaurants” expression, that’s what we want, yeah! 😉 You are awesome yourself. Have a great bowl of pho for me the next time you’re at it.
Am I crazy (yes!) or is some of Southern Thai based (modified?) by contact with French? Some aspects of the language remind me of French…
Bear: When it comes to Thai culture, I am guilty of being ignorant, even though I do have some Thai friends. The possibility is always there. People move around fluidly with trades, cultural and other exchanges, so it’s entirely possible that your postulation is correct. For me, Southeast Asia region is a huge mixed bag of cultures, and the western influence there most likely came from the French, not the English, Spanish or Portuguese.
I really liked your article post.Much thanks again. Want more.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but i think the audio for 4 and 5 are swapped!
@Holly: Thanks for your message. The audios for 4 and 5 are actually not swapped. You may be facing some audio skipping problem with some of these audio files running in the Safari browser. They all work fine in Chrome and Firefox. We’re in the process to fix this, so thanks so much for your patience.