I love that in Asia you have a proliferation of places that serve one thing and one thing only, if they're good they get a lot of practice, the locals vote with their bellies. If you want duck rice you go to the duck rice place, if you want steamed buns you go to the steamed bun lady and if you want pho you go to pho.
On a street lined with very funky art galleries, shops selling American war (it's a different point of view from here) propaganda posters and a super cool ageing french?? cathedral
there lies a restaurant so proud of it's product it's the restaurants name. As usual we used the old howmanylocalsareeatingthere o'meter, the results came back good so in we went.
There's a menu, it says you can have pho, well no surprise there, but there is a good dozen types of protein combinations to choose from. From raw beef fillet and braised brisket to tendons and tripe (I love the tendons but really have to be feeling like tripe). There's a small kitchen encased in glass so you can watch your meal from go to pho, the whole process taking about 4 minutes, practiced hands slicing, tearing and ladling in a blur of speed.
The pho is great, I could be biased to our first pho actually eaten in Vietnam but it really is good, the broth deep and rich with spice, the beef tasty and tender and a good size with out being so big you can't finish it, on the table you have limes, pickled garlic, some mind blowing chilli's that seriously dented my ego and a big pile of the freshest herbs, each adding layer upon layer on to what was already amazing to start.
We immediately started debating about what we could miss out on eating as a result of returning here a couple of times............ oh the torture. I wish I could speak enough Vietnamese or they enough English so i could tell them how good it was but big smiles and and a two thumbs up is going to have to do.
Pho
Ly Quoc Su
Hanoi
Open Breakfast till gone
P.s across the road is an amazing cafe serving bahn mi with any part pf the pig you can imagine as well as an astounding array of pates and terrines. needless to say we felt well in need of a little afternoon lie down after this little gastroventure.
2 comments:
Hi Guys, its me again :-)
We went for breakfast here 2 weeks ago, it was solid soup, but we missed the plate of greneries than always came in Saigon style Pho, in this place herbs are already inside the bowl and only served with lemon wedges and chillies, still good solid pho though. We try the dough stick (called cakwe in Indonesia) to eat with the soup, we don't find it compatible :-). In Indonesia (and some Asian countries) we eat Dough Stick as is (sometimes w chilli sauce) or sliced in Congee
Cheers
Arie Parikesit
PS: did see the banh mi soup across the street but didn't try it, i think the name is Banh Mi Parisien ?
Yes, we did miss the abundance of fresh herbs on the table but still really enjoyed the soup. Didn't try any of the bread sticks, but I do know the ones you mean - just love them with congee.
Banh Mi Parisien was indeed the shop, we thoroughly enjoyed our rolls with meat and pate from there.
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