From time to time, I have to head South to the US Embassy for embassy things. This trip brought me to Pho Hung, part of a chain of restaurants that has locations here in Ho Chi Minh City, and throughout Portland, Oregon and in Texas.
Having eaten at all of their locations in Portland, many times (probably over 100 individual visits), I was excited to hit their Saigon/HCMC location and see how it compared. Considering this location is 7500 miles away from their Portland location that I visited a month ago, I was astonished at how consistent the broth was between the two places.
The restaurant has long family style tables, fans blowing cooling air on every one, the atmosphere is very much about the eating of pho, no chandeliers or other foofa.
On the table is a huge bowl of basil and other herbs meant for your soup, a smaller place has plenty of cut up limes and chilies ready for your bowl.
Pho has been reviewed many times by many places, thinly cut beef (or meatballs, tendon and tripe if you are adventurous) in a nice beef broth laced with anise and slow cooked until dark and rich, the noodles are flat rice noodles, sliced green onion is the only veg that adorns the bowl before you do you work with the basil etc.. Each bowl is going to be unique depending on how much of which goodies you add. The broth can be light and clear, or in this case, rich and savory.
Given the opportunity in Portland, I always choose Pho Hung, and in HCMC, I will now do the same. Great soup, good service, a slight premium in price, at d58,000 it comes in a bit above $2, but compared to the $9.50 bowl in Portland, it is a stunning deal considering what you get is the same if not a bit better. The menu in HCMC has a great deal of other items, including all kinds of fresh juices and shakes.
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