Having been to Vietnam on a couple of occasions, I can say the cuisine focuses on preparing food with the freshest ingredients...It is also done with minimal use of oil and dairy and relies on the light, fresh flavors of herbs and vegetables. As a result, it is one of the healthiest cuisines in the world.
Always willing to try something knew, our friends Bill and Sarah Rothenberg recommended we have dinner at Pho Banh Mi restaurant, recently. Formerly, a Burger King, in the same parking lot as Home Depot, the owners did a great job of remodeling the building. The contemporary interior is clean, bright and charming. Locals waited patiently through three years of Covid before its grand opening, and by all accounts it was worth the wait. The restaurant made good use of the previous burger drive—through—window for their thriving take-out service.
They have a wide variety of food to choose from, including around eight types of their signature Banh Mi sandwiches, and delicious and comforting Pho (Pronounced “fuh”), a large bowl of steaming Vietnamese Noodle Soup with either beef, chicken, fish or vegetarian style and Tofu, and all the toppings. The best thing about pho is that it is such a restorative food. The soup is savory and rich, while clean and refreshing a the same time.
We were served water infused with cucumber. I had the Special Pho with egg noodles, steak, brisket, brisket and meatballs and everyone else had the Special Vermicelli Bowl with Chicken, fresh raw veggies, herbs and egg roll. The staff was friendly and the service was impeccable.
Postscript: When I think of Vietnamese noodle soup, I think about Barack Obama joining the late Anthony Bourdain (whom Cecile and I heard speak at D’Anza College) for a sit-down meal and a beer in Bun Huong Lien, a noodle spot loved by locals in 2016. “There’s no better place to entertain the leader of the free world in my opinion, than one of these classic funky family-run noodle shops you find all over Hanoi,” Bourdain declared.
