The tasty Vietnamese beef rice noodle soup comprising of an array of different cuts of beef in a clear broth that has been cooked for hours.
I've seen people add the sweet dark hoi sin sauce to the bowl along with the sirracha chilli sauce and not in a side dish to dip the meat
I've seen people add so much chilli in the bowl that you couldn't possibly taste anything.
I've seen people add extra lard to their bowl.
How do you eat your pho?
love this guy. I feel blessed because he replied to my comment on insta ahaha
I usually add Thai basil ( a few leaves, say 5-8), rice paddy herb (what a weird translation, add 3-5 pinches of 3-4cm), and a bit of culantro (3-5 pieces of 2-3cm. No lime unless it's too sweat and no beansprout if the broth is "light" in taste.
I used to put hoisin sauce on the noodles as a kid but not so often now.
I heard they don't put anything aside chili and maybe lime in the North, but I never tried pho there.
Just enjoy the Pho. Experiment. Less talk and more slurping. Each capital city will have a Vietnamese enclave, so go tasting. Victoria St Richmand and Market Square in Brisbane are great. Hue and Hoi An are great, but little better than our good spots.
To each his own. Best fun. My deathbed request is a steaming bowl of Pho. Feel free to slurp directly from bowl and don't forget to NOT wear your favourite t-shirt.
Amen on the tshirt. I end up spotted down the front.
I can't believe this bears thinking about. You just swallow that down and bask in it's glory!
(I don't use the dipping sauces at all I'm too busy inhaling it).
Equal first with Hainanese chicken rice for comfort food for me (yes I am aware they are from different countries).
Recently I’ve been asking for my beef on the side and then dunking it in the soup afterwards - makes sure the beef is rare/medium rare!
Is it me or the price of Pho getting out of control? $17 for a bowl at the local but it's always packed!
I always eat with just a squeeze of lemon, fresh basil and fresh chillis. I can't stand it when others squeeze enough sriracha sauce to drown the flavour of the broth
Sounds like your're eating at the 'hipster' pho places. Traditional restaurants charge $10 to $13 depending on bowl size. I live near Vic Gardens. Permanenf Hot n spicy KFC and all the pho i want =)
Most of the traditional Pho places are around $14-15 for Large Dac Biet. I think the cheapest I've seen is just under $13 and probably most expensive is around $19 (rip off joints). Usually only do the "Established" places and none of the hipster new-aged franchised Viet crap (yeah, Roll'd, Miss Chu etc). Unfortunately if it isn't a Vietnamese cook, then it's most likely not gonna be good (I believe had same discussions over Japanese ramen before too)..
Lemon juice (the more the merrier!), fresh cut chillies as hot as I can handle, and the mint leaves, I eat the mint leaves with the meat.
We cook Pho at home sometimes, delicious!
Thai basil and bean sprouts. The sauces are for dipping you barbarians!
Ah pho. So pho so good
Pho-king pho-real
Fresh chilli, and fresh lemon/lime, little fish sauce
chuck every sauce on until the soup is dark brown
then i enjoy when i get all that chilli soup splash back straight into my eye, which i then proceed to rub with my chilli covered fingers
Just don't scratch that itch down below.
Vegemite
Lemon, chilli, mint and basil.
Usually through my mouth, but I'm open to experimentation.
What kind of ozbargain post is this?
Now can someone please recommend me decent pho in Brisbane? I haven’t been able to find any good ones for the last 10 years!
Take out the all the uncooked onions
Tear in all the basil leaves
Chuck in all the bean sprouts
Squeeze in all the lemons
Mix all together
Then eat
Squirt some chilli sauce in the small dish and some hoisin sauce - I use this to drip the beef
After I finish eating, I always chuck in the rest of my left over sauce in my left over soup, this way I hope it goes to the trash rather than back into the soup pot
Have you tried Rice Paper in Eight Mile Plains?
District 1 in the Valley
Lemme tell you the pro way:
Hoisin + chilli sauce for dipping
First half enjoy it without fresh chillies in soup so you can have pure beef flavour
Second half add cut fresh chillies for extra kick and change of flavour dynamics
Finish off with thick proper Vietnamese iced coffee
Take the afternoon off from work
It's a process.
You break the leaves off the basil put it in, you put bean sprouts in
You put some hoi sin and chilli to your liking in the bowl
Squeeze lemon and mix
Ask for fresh chillis and put half in bowl
On the side with other half of chilli add fish sauce, chilli and hoi sin sauce to dip your meeat
Also go for adventurous flavors like combination beef and chicken and not just breast chicken which is really boring
Good ones are always in Vietnamese suburbs like Footscray, St Albans, Richmond (VIC), Cabramatta, Bankstown, etc (NSW)
Enjoy
Add bean sprouts, Vietnamese basil to your bowl as you wish. For dipping sauce, ask for a side plate of sate to which you add your hoi sin and chillies then a squeeze of lime. Wouldn't recommend to add hoisin and chilli directly to your bowl.
Please avoid putting the hoisin sauce into the broth… Unfortunately, I see this from some and it’s lost on me?
Sure, to each their own but I have always guided those with me and new to Pho to respect the authenticity of the flavours.
Putting the hoisin sauce into the broth is far too heavy handed and defeats the whole purpose of developing the nuance flavours of the herbs and spices in the beef bone broth that was cooked at length… putting the hoisin sauce in the broth would turn this into a hoisin broth and you will not experience the intended full potential of the flavours in the broth.
Doing so would be undoing and wasting the chef’s effort.
Also, only cut chillies goes into the broth and not the chilli sauce… as the chilli sauce has the potential to spoil the flavours of the broth.
The hoisin sauce with chilli sauce is for dipping meat before it goes into mouth.
If you have not done it this way' give it a try, may open up your mind and ideas and have a good experience.
Enjoy.
Totally agree with above. If you want a more Spicey soup try beef Spicey soup instead.
Hoi Sin and Chilli only for the very watery and tasteless broth. Otherwise if it is already full of flavour, no point.
Yea, I've seen someone get a separate bowl to separate out his noodles, put sriracha sauce on his noodles and eat it
”shu shu shu”then “gulp gulp gulp”
was gonna get hungry Jack's for lunch qith the discount voucher, think I've changed my mind now.
I eat my pho with nothing added to broth. Sometimes with nothing added at all. If flavour is lacking I’ll have the hoi sin sauce in my spoon for dipping noodles and meat but mostly flavour is already there. Pho in Vietnam is a lot less strongly flavoured and I kinda like it more.
Lots of herbs. Sometimes add some hoi sin sauce to the side plate, not in the soup. Add maybe 1 piece of fresh chili. Chili sauce will ruin the flavour of the broth. If you want chilli sauce then go for the spicey beef soup instead.
I use a combination of chopsticks for the noodles, salad and beef, and try and get as much liquid as I can with each mouthful, then use a spoon to finish off as much of the liquid as I can after. I add a bit of the dark sauce and some of the additional salad, but not too much, and a squeeze of lemon.
With extra beef, no noodles and no been-shoots.
I have a hard time conveying the order sometimes.
Pho Dac Biet:
No Onions or Shallots/Corriander. Lots of Basil/Mint and tons of Sprouts (raw or cooked, I dont care). Not a fan of the lemon. Depending on how strong the soup is, I dont put in the sauces (if it is already very strong and plenty of flavour). The crappy watery stuff I do squirt the Hoi Sin and Chilli sauces into. But I am quite particular about the chilli too - has to be proper pure Viet Chilli Sauce, not the garlic chilli sauce or anything.
is this some sort of marketing thread to make me crave pho?
I don’t know, but if it is then it is working.
Got to pho-cus
It's actually called fur and it's a breakfast cereal
One day I wish I can visit Vietnam and taste the authentic pho :)
Just like this Mikey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp6wtD9jGyA
Bean sprouts, basil and a squeeze of lemon in, occasionally a bit of hoisin sauce if the broth isn’t amazing…
Has anyone in Melbourne found a place that does good bahn cuon? Particularly anywhere in Springvale?
I remember trying it in Hanoi and I haven’t been able to find it in Melbourne, I tried Miss Chu’s version and it was disappointing.
Try Bac Tam in the shopping centre where Breadtop is (can't remember the name of the centre). Its one of the places that sells 3 dishes with rice. If I remember right its $8 for a decent size bowl with the pork loaf and nem chua. Really good.
Thanks heaps! I’ll give it a try :)
The beauty of pho is that there are no rules. You can customise to your own palate and style. Unlike other soups like ramen which is more rigid, you won’t get any frowns if you modify.
For me, I keep the broth free from sauces and save it for filling the meat toppings. It doesn’t make sense to me to modify the taste of something the chef spent many hours simmering away. Just a few herbs, sprouts, chilli, and a squeeze of lime to garnish is perfect.
I eat my Pho with hoi sauce and sriracha sauce on the side.
I like to dip my meat cuts into the sauces :)
And yeh if the soup isnt amazing add in the hoi sin sauce for extra flavour!!
Its a must for bean spouts, lemon and Vietnamese green herbs x
you guy should try replacing the pho noodle with egg noodle once in awhile. Taste pretty good! I use to smash my bowl of pho with hoisin sauce since i'm from the South. But lately i've removed the hoisin completely. Now you can actually taste the broth instead of just pure hoisin flavor. It was difficult at first since i grew up eating pho with mass hoisin.
Slurp sluuurrp sluurrrppp until the bowl is empty
best thread ever
Really craving Pho right now!
I like to eat it with just fresh bean sprouts and eat the beef with a mixture of chili and hoisin sauce.
Any recommendations for packet pho so I can make it quickly at home?
I don't recommend packet pho.
You can boil chicken bones or beef bones for a few hours with the pho spices in a very large pot. Add salt and/or bouillon cube (season to taste).
You'll have enough broth to make a lot of pho :D. If you don't plan on making a large pho broth, you can transfer some of broth from the larger pot to a smaller pot (and then simmer the pho spices in the smaller pot broth). Use any broth from the larger pot for soups etc.
As a Vietnamese guy,
fresh spring onions, hint of lemon, very small teaspoon size of hoisin sauce (so it doesn't ruin the broth), some chilli sambal sauce (not sriracha - as the vinegar in there ruins the taste of the broth for me), mint leaves, bean sprouts, onions (not pickled).
Every one of those goes into the bowl and mixed up. And then I dig in.
Ok but sambal is Indonesian and still has vinegar. I have a real Vietnamese friend so I've had authentic fur
Well Sambal might be the wrong word for it but its a chinese/vietnamese chilli paste/sauce (no english word for it - called tuong ot in vietnamese) - and doesn't have a strong vinegar taste - just only heat. Only just a hint of it though - don't like my pho too much heat can ruin the broth.
And Hoisin also isn't vietnamese but people still use it for Pho :P
Ok but I'm still more authentic than you. The English name for tương ớt is chilli sauce btw
No english name for it as in the brand name/style of it.
There are many kinds of tuong ot / chilli sauce.
Unfortunately, pho is not made equal everywhere… and if you get a terrible bowl (thinking of my recent visit to Roll'd), then the only thing saving it is Sriracha, hoi sin and anything else that'll make it edible!
But with me, I always taste the broth first… that's where the hours of cooking really shows. Then I add some fresh chilli, that's it. Not a huge fan of bean shoots and basil so i don't add it. A side dip of hoi sin, sriracha and chilli oil if i feel like it. Had some today… yum!
IMO, the best pho are the ones where the broth is still really tasty when you've finished your bowl. If you're still slurping soup at the end, then that's good pho no matter how you eat it.
Vietnamese here.
I usually eat pho by eating it without the siracha or hoi sin sauce first. I get to enjoy the clean delicious broth that way. If I'm halfway done with my pho, I usually add a bit of siracha and hoi sin. I ate all the bean sprouts, leaves, pickled onion, chilli randomly.
There's no right way to eat pho :) Enjoy it the way you want to!
Try Bun Bo Hue or Banh Xeo (vietnamese savoury tumeric pancakes) or Bun Rieu or Banh Canh. These are my favourite dishes.
I've always thought of opening a Banh Xeo shop hahhaha….
Banh xeo shop could work but……problem with Banh Xeo in Australia would be the pricing
Most places i've seem it on the menu its sitting on around $10-12 for it…now that's the pretty the price for a bowl BBH, BR or Pho
Yeah I’ve found prices for bang xeo so absurd in restaurants. I’m addicted to bang xeo so I make a batch at home for cheap. I can make 10 bank xeos with $20-$25 ingredients. Not many people know about band xeo too… this is making me hungry. I’m going to make them soon 😂
I'll eat at your Banh Xeo restaurant if you can make it with less oil.
Some Banh Xeo I eat at restaurants are just dripping with oil. The oil is not only unhealthy but makes a soggy oily mess.
I'm not Vietnamese, but I think we're brothers, I love Pho (with no sauce), Bun Bo Hue, Banh Xeo, Bun Rieu, Banh Canh, Banh Khot, Banh Mi.
Banh khot is awesome, small enough for an entree so I can have a noodle dish for mains.
I just came back from Vietnam and discovered Bun Cha in Hanoi. The Bun Rieu with snails was excellent in Hanoi.
I found the Pho better in Springvale/Footscray than from North to South Vietnam, but other dishes better in Vietnam (as you would expect).
I don't eat it.
Low carb - no noodles - just bean sprouts. Feel much lighter after eating a giant bowl of soup!
Sauces in but I know it's barbaric but I like my food ruined and terrible. I do that with everything but I'm aware that I do it and do the sauces gradually so I at least appreciate the original broth. All the basil. God help me if they give me a bigger bunch, I'll put it in.
I'm surprised no one's mentioned chilli oil! I don't add anything to my bowl and I usually get Pho Nam . Hoisin sauce and chilli oil for dipping the meat, no sriracha. I put the noodles onto a metal spoon and then take a piece of meat and dip into the chilli oil/hoisin sauce combo. Sometimes, I scoop some of the sauce first, then put the noodles onto the spoon and then dip the meat as well! My favourite places in Sydney are Pho An in Bankstown (price has gone up like crazy over the years though, but they serve it so fast), Pho Ann in Cabramatta (they basically tried to copy Pho An down to the tea they have) and Huong Xua in Cabramatta (tastes a bit different to the others but I like it).
^i called it XO in my post
Pho An they call it saté
but yeah
not every place has it and many dont even put it on the table…you have to ask for it by name
for people in the know ;)
I always have to go they this order,
I always added beenshoots last because I hate them when they get soggy and love the crunch it makes with my pho
Have a bit of street cred being Vietnamese. =P
Chuck in basil, fresh chilli (just a few strips to some heat), beanspouts and go ham! Have chilli / hoisin sauce on the side just for dipping. If the broth is bad, that's only when I'd put in the hoisin sauce (sometimes fish sauce).
i know everyone likes the fresh noodles, but I grew up on the packet noodles. I like it more as it has a bit more bite to it (like packet pasta / just past al dente).
my so spoonfed me cos i cant use chopstik
Fur
Faaa
Fe Fe Fe Fe
You guys are only talking about Southern style Pho, Pho is original from the North so google Phở Bắc or Pho Hanoi.
It's not only Phở Bò( Beef ) but also Phở Gà( Chicken ) . North style doesn't have hoi sin source or all other herbs which in my opinion destroyed Pho's taste. We eat Pho with "Dấm tỏi ớt" ( Garlics and chillies in vinegar ) and Quẩy ( chinese donut ) . It's best to have a hot bowl of Pho in cold winter day in Hanoi .
Lol
Don't spark a North vs South war here plz. ;)
Nothing about North and South war :D just difference taste between region Middle Vietnamese prefers spicy , South ppl likes sweet while North wants plain and bit salty .
Always the Combination Beef or Special Beef as called in some.
No Hoi Sin sauce, No chilli Sauce, No squeezed Lemon
Fresh Cut Chilli and maybe some chilli oil
Sprouts and Basil
Favourite in VIC: Pho Hung Vuong Saigon in Footscray
I have a friend who dunks a meat pie in to his pho and eats it like that. I tried it myself and it's quite tasty.
i treat every pho session as a ritual like so…
before anything i'll have one sip of the currently pure and untainted soup and go "ahhhh"… then
IN THE SOUP
- add/break some basil and mint
- add fresh chilli (not all)
- a gentle squeeze of the lemon slice (not all)
ON THE SIDE
- create a meat dipping sauce composed of fresh chilli, hoi sin sauce, sriracha and satay sauce (if available)
- squeeze the last bit of lemon for effect
DRINK
- either ca phe sua da (iced white coffee) OR nuoc dua (coconut juice)
ENJOY
I clicked on the profile to see if this was a throwaway account for this thread.
Member Since 07/05/2010. OK, username checks out.
I like bao, what's the best bao place in melbourne?
you mean bun bao ?
don't know. The soft bread, open, with meat filling. Not the French bread, the Chinese style soft bread….sooo yummy…
Prefer fresh & very hot chili myself.Finely diced and sprinkled over the soup.
And it must be SLURPED in the best Asian tradition ;-)
try the soup first unmolested, you add the hoisin and chilli depending on how you like your soup.
does anyone take the roots of the bean sprouts before putting them in the bowl.
sometimes ill ask the waiter for cooked sprouts where they are quickly dunked in hot water in the kitchen, this gets rid of the raw taste of the sprouts and enhances the sweetness of them. Tthey become a little less rigid when you eat them they retain some crunch but doesn't cool the soup too much at the table because I like my soup hot.
this my friend is a very serious question and i'm glad you brought it up as the world need to know the answer to this!
exactly next will be burgers and fries..
do you eat the fries before or after you burger or at the same time?
i would normally eat it after i burger them :)
With a fork and knife
I used to add sugar
Being a shop owner that's been serving pho for 5 years and have ate it all my life.
Honestly there is many choices on how you can have your pho. I like mine with basil and sliced scotch fillet with my mums clean gourmet rich broth.
I don't like it with chilli or onions and I really don't like it with pig liver, heart and intestines.
I do like mine with sirachi and hoisin sauces mixed together in a sauce bowl where I use it as dipping sauce for my meat.
Everyone had it differently. Mum has hers with beanshoots with lemon juice and chilli.
Just have it how you like having it.
I only put beanshoots if the soup is too salty.
When its ready to eat i use a fork to take the meat off the chicken/duck leg and keep the bone in the broth. having chunks of meat off the bone swimming in the broth makes the meat tastier, and i think it adds more fat from the meat to the broth.
Only recently have i been told not to eat the last 5-10% of the bowl, as the high salt content is not good for you. Same goes from Ramen. Older generations say this and scold me if I try to finish the bowl completely.
One mouthful at a time
fork and knife baby
lol you must be banned from eating pho.
I eat it with my fob friends in Cabra before getting crispy chicken noodles and 2x sugar cane juice with less ice.
Had some last night after reading this post.
Add ripped up Viet mint, bit of chilli so not to overpower the soup, small hand full of bean sprout, table spoon of onions and as much lemon juice as I can squeeze out of the slice and remaining juice from the missus slice. Tried dipping sauce but found it a hassle to keep dipping the meat into the sauce instead of straight in my mouth, must be a muscle memory thing…
Do a YouTube search for Strictly Dumpling. He is currently in VN and is doing 2 videos (one on Pho alone, and the other one is on VN breakfast foods)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2SwZvIPEF4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp6wtD9jGyA