Pho Bang

Before I left for Peru, a friend asked me for a quick education into Vietnamese food.  I’m no expert on Vietnamese food, but I do know what I like, and what I like is Pho Bang.  Especially on either a very hot day when you barely want to eat, or on a very cold day when you want to eat something that warms you to your core.  (I keep forgetting to take pictures when I go during the winter… so here’s another summer Vietnamese post!)

Per usual, start off with an order of summer rolls.  No, they’re not fried, but instead encased in a crystal rice wrapper, slightly chewy, and filled with vermicelli noodles, a bit of lettuce, sliced shrimp, a bit of pork, and mint leaves.  Dip liberally in the supplied peanut sauce and enjoy to its fullest… so good!  Refreshing and light, I love these (my brother swears by the spring rolls, which are fried, but I just can’t eat that much fried food – ok, that’s a lie – I just don’t prefer them). 

I decided to order the bun (cold vermicelli noodles over a base of shredded lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, like a noodle salad) with rolled up beef – inside each roll is a bite of onion.  They bring you your bowl with a small dish of ‘fish sauce’ (don’t Google how this is made, if you want to eat it with an open mind), which you pour on top, then toss everything together.  It’s so refreshing on a hot day – the almost vinegary fish sauce with all the light, bright veggies, and the meat is tender, juicy, delicious.  NOM! 

So that my dining companion could get a good sense of what might be what, I suggested the bun topped with a combination of pork chop and spring rolls.  The spring rolls were a hit, as was the overall idea of bun, but I think the very thin pork slices that were grilled within an inch of their lives might have been less appreciated.  Nonetheless, education was given and received!  “This is what I love about Vietnamese restaurants on hot summer days: the delicious cold dishes that totally cool you down!”

Yvo says: Still one of my favorite places, no, really, it is THE favorite place to go for Vietnamese food.  I love their bun, never unintentionally spicy (going to other places, sometimes I find they put red pepper flakes in the fish sauce which can really ruin my meal if it’s too much), and always refreshing.  I love their pho, which I will eventually post about, I swear! – which is incredibly deep in flavor, satisfying, and warms you right up on a cold winter day. 
highly recommended