I'm not Vietnamese but I think I know pho fairly well. My understanding is the real, authentic kind is just beef and chicken, with the occasional vegetarian varieties found at Buddhist temples and veg restaurants. I'm seeing more and different varieties of pho in the US nowadays like fish pho, seafood pho, pho with prawns, hot chili pho, sriracha pho, pho with fish balls, grilled chicken thigh or grilled beef pho, pho with grilled pork chop, etc.
So what are al this stuff really, made-up pho? Do people just start creating whatever they want?
Yep they are made up pho, mostly due to one or any combination of the following:
- The restaurant wanting to offer something more unique that not everyone else has, or
- The restaurant wanting to keep or attract those who don't eat red meat, or
- The restaurant receiving requests from customers to do so.
When it comes down to it, many restaurants would rather just make up something so they can take more customer's money instead of telling them they don't have it and not collect anything.
grilled chicken thigh or grilled beef pho
I can't even imagine what mess they're trying create. I've had plenty of hu tieu, some of which do have various grilled and fried proteins. But that's hu tieu. This is pho we're talking about.
I know a couple of restaurant owners who added menu items based on suggestions of just one or 2 customers. When I asked, they said these were regular customers. What?!?!? Another restaurateur keeps her doors open to past 10:30PM on a weekday (traffic thins out at about 9PM) because there's always these one or two customers who come in late. Says he has preps to do anyway. Can you believe it?
Yeah so some of these weird pho may be the results of suggestions like these and owners who do just weird things. I always wonder how much of these they actually sell.
