Vietnamese Pho Noodles Soup

Pho Lien

2010-08-21T22:39:00.000-07:00

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Mr. Pho Lien, you’re in my top 5 Montreal Vietnamese restaurant favorites for good reason. You’re always consistently good and in my opinion have one of the best lemon grass chicken in Montreal (except for maybe Hoai Huong on Victoria, Montreal). All your tonkinese soups are great, especially your weekend spicy soup (WSS), sooooooo fabulous, fresh, and so clean (but if u want the best WSS go to Pho Bang on Côte-des-Neiges). I guess your only drawback is that your appetizers are just standard, and your bean drink doesn’t have enough slimy green, red, and yellow things. All and all kind Sir, hats off to ya.
Cleanliness: 9.12131/10
Tastiness: 8.1131236/10

The fact that there’s always something interesting to look at due to the fortunate fact that there’s a lot of crazy people across the street: I’m sorry for being so insensitive/10

Pho Lien Restaurant

Address : 5703-B Cote Des Neiges, corner Côte-Ste-Catherine, Montréal;
Tel : 514-735-6949

Vietnamese Recipes

2010-08-21T22:34:00.000-07:00

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1 kg Beef shin bones
350 g Gravy beef
5 cm Fresh ginger, thinly sliced into 2 in length
1 teaspoon Salt
2.5 liters Water
6 Black peppercorns
1 Cinnamon sticks
4 Cloves
6 Coriander seeds
2 tablespoons Nuoc cham sauce
400 g Thick fresh rice noodles
150 g Rump Steak, thiny sliced
3 Spring onions (scallions), finely chopped
1 Medium onion, very thinly sliced

Place the bones, gravy beef, ginger, salt and water in a large pan. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer very gently, uncovered, for 3 1/2 hours.Skim off any scum that forms on the surface. Add the peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves, coriander seeds and nuoc cham sauce. Cook for another 40 minutes. Remove the gravy beef and set it aside to cool. Drain the stock, reserving all the liquid and discarding the bones and spices. Return the liquid to the pan. When the gravy beef is cool enough to handle, cut it against the grain into very fine slices. Set aside. Close to serving time, plunge the noodles into a pan of boiling water and cook them for about 10 seconds only, otherwise they will soften and fall apart. Drain the noodles well and divide them among large individual soup bowls. Arrange the toppings on a platter in the centre of the table. Bring the beef stock to a rapid boil. Place some slices of the cooked meat as well as a few slices of the raw steak into each bowl of noodles. Ladle the boiling stock over the top, sprinkle over the spring onion (scallion) and onion slides and serve. Each diner chooses their own toppings and can also add sauces such as sweet chili sauce and hoisin sauce to their dish.

Pho so 1

2010-08-21T22:31:00.000-07:00

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I have so many fond memories of this place. I came to Pho So 1 at least once a week while studying at UCLA. The food is cheap, it came out fast, and right next door is Ranch 99 where you can pick up most anything you'd want to cook for the week. Pho So 1 is also probably one of the best Pho places even remotely close to West LA, and I'm very happy to revisit my old feeding grounds for a meal.

Pho Dzung

2010-08-21T22:26:00.000-07:00

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Those who have been reading this blog for some time might realise that pho is one of my favorite foods of all time. My love for this simple Vietnamese noodle dish started from my year long stint in Northern Virginia, and later re-enforced from the 9 trips to Vietnam that I made in my previous job.

During my previous visit to Melbourne, I visited the very popular Mekong Vietnamese Restaurant right on Swanston Street. While it was pretty good, at least a couple readers commented that the best pho is found in Richmond, the Vietnamese community that is located just a few kilometers away from Melbourne CBD.
So on this second trip to Melbourne, I looked up online and found this Pho Dzung place at Richmond that is said to be one of the bests in this part of the world.

Mellissa and I took a train from Melbourne Central to North Richmond and walked a few hundred meter to the east on Victoria Street, passing quite a number of other Vietnamese and Asian restaurants, fresh seafood shops, and Asian grocers before reaching no. 208.
At 3pm, Pho Dzung was still packed with people to the point where we had to be seated upstairs. It was definitely the correct place to be.

Pho Bo Tai

2010-08-21T22:21:00.000-07:00

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A trip to the beautiful country of Vietnam will stimulate the senses. Not only will you meet warm and hospitable people, you will also experience wonderful cities filled with life and Vietnam’s serene nature. Of course, you cannot fully experience the country without trying one of Vietnam’s famous dishes, the pho soup.
Pho is a noodle soup which may also include basil leaves, lime, bean sprouts, peppers and chilies. Thin cuts of meat (beef, pork or chicken) can also added to the soup. Other contents of this dish include rice noodles, and meat broth. The broth itself is made by simmering the meat, bones, oxtails, flank steak, onions and several spices. The whole broth making process can take as much as several hours.
Historians, diners and restaurateurs have all come to agree that the soup could have originated from North Vietnam. The dish is distinctively Vietnamese but also has French and Chinese influences. Some have even speculated that the word pho may have come from the French word feu (meaning fire) and also from the French dish pot-au-feu, a type of beef stew. The method of adding charred onions to pho for flavor and color is a technique which distinguishes the Vietnamese soup from other Asian noodle soups and is also similar to the methods used in pot-au-feu. Rice noodles and certain spices (such as star anise and cassia) are staples in Chinese cuisine.

Pho - Noodles

2010-08-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

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Pho - Noodles
Pho is the most popular food among the Vietnamese population. Pho is commonly eaten for breakfast, although many people will have it for their lunch or dinner. Anyone feeling hungry in the small hours of the morning can also enjoy a bowl of hot and spicy pho to fill their empty stomachs.

Like hot green tea which has its particular fragrance, pho also has its special taste and smell. Preparations may vary, but when the dish is served, its smell and taste is indispensable. The grated rice noodle is made of the best variety of fragrant rice called Gao Te. The broth for Pho Bo (Pho with beef) is made by stewing the bones of cows and pigs in a large pot for a long time. Pieces of fillet mignon together with several slices of ginger are reserved for Pho Bo Tai (rare fillet). Slices of well done meat are offered to those less keen on eating rare fillets.
The soup for Pho Ga (pho with chicken meat) is made by stewing chicken and pig bones together. The white chicken meat that is usually served with Pho Ga is boneless and cut into thin slices. You could consider Pho Bo and Pho Ga Vietnam's special soups. Pho also has the added advantage of being convenient to prepare and healthy to eat.

Pho Thuan An, Vietnamese Restaurant

2010-08-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

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There are quite a lot of Vietnamese restaurants peppered all along Kingsway in Vancouver. I was just searching for “kingsway vancouver vietnamese restaurants” on Google Maps and I counted 14 Vietnamese restaurants. And I think there could be a few more restaurants that Google Maps did not catch.
Many of the restaurants are small hole-in-the-wall types that hardly registers on the radar of foodies. I am not surprised because many of them does look run down and in dire need of a coat of paint.

The Pho Thuan An restaurant is one such restaurant that I would not have chosen to check out on my own. The restaurant, located on Kingsway near the intersection with Fraser, is unremarkable in many ways. Worse still, it is somewhat blocked by a tree that most people will not even know that there is a restaurant in the location.
Even if it is not blocked by the tree, I find that the red letterings on the window does nothing to call out the restaurant at all.

The prices is just about average and in line with the menu you find in most Vietnamese restaurants. The prices hovers around $7 to $8 for rice and noodles dishes with only two dishes at the $12-$13 range. It is the wide variety of Vietnamese food that is the best thing of their menu.
The lady owner told us that they had been operating for six years already. Most of their customers are people who live in the neighborhood. I understand that because they are relatively unknown.
It is certainly a neighborhood restaurant when the customers and the owner chat to each other in Vietnamese. Everyone seems to know each other. Why, even a family who sat next to us chatted us up! And the customer is even very open with us — even telling us the story of how they escaped from South Vietnam when the country lost the war to the north and how they became boat people, spending 4 years in camps before coming to Canada. Only in a place like this!

Chicken Pho

2010-08-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

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VN Pho Vietnamese Restaurant provides authentic Vietnamese cuisine to the Morrow, GA area. Our Vietnamese restaurant has a modern dining area with music and entertainment settings that will surely help you to enjoy our food and make your dining experience a memorable one.

VN Pho Vietnamese Restaurant Offers:

Noodle soups - tai, chin nac, bovien, pho tai and pho chin
Rice plates
Rice vermicelli
Bubble tea
Appetizers

Katy, Texas' Authentic Vietnamese Restaurant

2010-08-21T22:06:00.000-07:00

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Treat your family to the authentic taste of Vietnamese cuisine at Pho Mai Vietnamese Noodle House. All of our homemade meals are created using less oil than other places, as well as high-quality lean meat, which provides for a healthier meal for everyone. These traditional ethnic dishes, ranging from noodle soup to fried egg rolls, are prepared quickly for your convenience. With two locations to serve you, the choice is easy with Pho Mai Vietnamese Noodle House.

vietnamese pho 88

2010-08-21T21:37:00.000-07:00

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INTRODUCTION Pho 88 restaurant feature naturally flavored, low-calorie, delicious soups with the choicest slices of brisket, flank, eye round steak,... Each bowl of soup is accompanied with fresh coriander leaves, bean sprouts, hot peppers, lemon wedges... to give the customers a complete, nutritious and well-balanced meal.

OUR COMPANY Operating a service business is not easy, but building an effective web site can make a huge difference in increasing responsiveness and customer satisfaction.Our business was established in 2006, and we pride ourselves on providing customers with high-quality food.

OUR GOALS provide the best customer service possible. To make each client feel like the only client. To provide the best quality and the most authentic Vietnamese food.

Phenomenal Pho

2010-08-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

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( Vietnamese Pho ) Pho, a Vietnamese one-pot meal of nourishing beef broth, rice noodles and fresh herbs and vegetables, has mysterious origins

Pho is perhaps Vietnam's most widely-known dish outside of its borders. The fragrant noodle soup topped with rare or well-cooked beef and/or brisket, or chicken partnered with a side of fresh veggies and herbs is unbeatable as a breakfast, lunch or dinner meal.
Some of you may recall that last week, I recommended Anthony Bourdain's "A Cook's Tour" book from 2001 as an introduction to Vietnamese food and I promised to wade into the issue of pho's origins.
Here is Bourdain's description of the first pho he encounters at the Ben Thanh market in Ho Chi Minh (a.k.a. Saigon)l: "A bowl of clear hot liquid, loaded with shreds of fresh, white and pink crabmeat, and noodles is handed to me, garnished with bean sprouts and chopped fresh cilantro" accompanied by lime wedges, chili fish oil and chopped red chilis. Bourdain describes it as "spicy, hot, complex, refined" and "overwhelmingly perfect."

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How to Pronounce BunBoHue and HuTieu NamVang

2010-08-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

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I received a number of requests for pronunciation of “Bún Bò Huế” and “Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang.” Bún Bò Huế or Bun Bo Hue is the spicy beef noodle dish with larger round noodle, pork hocks and coagulated pork blood. It’s originated in Central Vietnam and named after the old capital Huế. Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang or Hu Tieu Nam Vang, on the other hand, is the Vietnamese hu tieu Phnom Penh-style noodle, originated in the south but (obviously) with Phnom Penh influence.
Here are audio files on how to say Bún Bò Huế and Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang in Vietnamese. As always I included both southern and northern accents.

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How to Eat Pho and Finding Your Own Pho – A Primer For First-Time Diners

2010-08-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

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OK let’s get back to the basics. Here’s a primer for those new to Vietnamese pho. For advanced diners, check out other posts at the end of this article.

When it comes to pho, a Vietnamese would have the distinct advantage of knowing how to enjoy the noodle dish. Regardless of whether he or she grew up in the homeland or in an immigrant household overseas, he or she would have a mother or a grandmother who made this heart-filling noodle soup for breakfast each day, cooked using snippets of a recipe and with memories of how it is done in their own mother’s kitchen. Or at the very least, he or she would have a mother who would herd the family to a restaurant every so often whenever they feel the urge. Eating pho is natural to a Vietnamese.
A non-Vietnamese will not have the same experience. Aside from having to deal with the chopsticks, pho will always look and smell foreign to anyone who did not grow up eating it. When faced with a steaming bowl of this noodle, and especially if it is your first time to sample the national dish of Vietnam, you may have a challenge on your hand. Here are some tips.

Simple Process of Enjoying Pho

If you find yourself in a pho shop for the first time, it’s likely that a Vietnamese friend or a friend who knows this dish has invited you. But in the event that you are a real brave soul and decide to go try by yourself, figuring out how to eat pho can be a dilemma.
Thankfully, eating pho is not like eating Western food or even Japanese food. There is no unspoken etiquette that must be observed. This dish is meant to be enjoyed with some noise and a lot of slurping is just fine. So here’s the process in a nutshell.
The best way to attack a steaming bowl of pho is to have chopsticks in one hand and a soupspoon in the other. Take in a little broth with your spoon, slurp in some to get a taste of it. Follow it up with the rice noodles using your chopsticks. Then select pieces of ingredients from the bowl and enjoy them individually or together with the broth and noodle. Easy. But there’s more.

Taking in the Aroma

Of course, before you start eating pho, you cannot miss noticing the aroma created by the piping-hot broth. Most of the time, just taking in the rich aroma of beef stock simmered for a really long time with spices, roasted onion and roasted ginger thrown in is enough to whet the appetite. It also helps you appreciate this poetry in a bowl even more.
The fragrance of the broth is also a good indicator of its quality. Just one sniff will tell you if the spices are balanced in making the soup, if the broth is too salty, if there is monosodium glutamate sprinkled in it, or if the beef stock itself is poorly made. Remember that the soul of pho is in the broth. So enjoying the scent is definitely an important part of the dining ritual.

What to Do With the Garnishing

When you are served southern style Vietnamese pho, you will always be provided with a plate of garnishing. This plate would typically contain bean sprouts, culantro, Thai basil, sliced chili and lime wedges. Also you will have hoisin sauce and hot chili sauce available at the table.
Is there a specific order by which you should place these herbs in your bowl of pho? The answer to this is no. With the garnishing, you can think of it as finding the best combination that will fit your taste. Each individual garnish contributes its own distinct smell and taste to an already good bowl of pho. You do not want to dump all the garnishing into the bowl at the same time. Rather, just try a few at a time to get your preferred mix. More importantly, give the ingredients several chances (on different visits) and you’ll appreciate their roles in this noodle dish.
Here are a few tips on consuming the ingredients:

Bean sprouts are put in raw for the crunchy factor. Add a little at a time to maintain the crunchiness as you eat, or add them all while the broth is hot to cook them.
Dipping the sliced chili in the hot broth releases the oil and makes the broth taste spicier. You can keep them in if you dare. Many do.
Lime juice adds tartness to the broth, which is good if the broth tastes bland, too salty, or too sweet for you. The saltiness and tartness together provide a delicious combination that many people love – I’m one of them.
The herb leaves are stripped from the stems and shredded to bits before they are placed in the bowl. For the best aroma and taste, tear the leaves in smaller pieces, and add them as you go to maintain freshest and uncooked flavor.

Eating pho is always an adventure, even for those who have had it all their lives. For first-time diners, the key is to relax and enjoy. You’ll find your own pho in no time.

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How to make Vietnamese pho ?

2010-08-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

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Pho Bo broth:

2 spanish onions (about 1/2 pound each)
4-inch piece ginger
3 pounds beef soup bones (marrow are best, followed by neck bones and finally knuckle bones)
1 whole chicken
4 star anise
2 cloves nutmeg
4-inch piece cinnamon stick
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons fish sauce (optional)

Accompaniments:

1 1/2-2 pounds banh pho noodles
1/2 pound raw lean beef like eye of round (1/16 inch thick; par-freeze for 15 minutes to facilitate easier slicing), meatballs, tripe, tendeon.
1 medium yellow onion, sliced paper-thin, left to soak for 30 minutes in a bowl of cold water
1/2 bunch scallion, cut into thin rings
1/3 cup chopped cilantro and/or mint or thai basil
1 cup Bean sprouts
Sliced jalapeno peppers
Lime wedges

To Char the onion and ginger; Use an open flame on grill or gas stove. Place onions and ginger on cooking grate and let skin burn. (If using stove, turn on exhaust fan and open a window.) After about 15 minutes, they will soften and become sweetly fragrant. Use tongs to occasionally rotate them and to grab and discard any flyaway onion skin. You do not have to blacken entire surface, just enough to slightly cook onion and ginger.
Let cool. Under warm water, remove charred onion skin; trim and discard blackened parts of root or stem ends. If ginger skin is puckered and blistered, smash ginger with flat side of knife to loosen flesh from skin. Otherwise, use sharp paring knife to remove skin, running ginger under warm water to wash off blackened bits. Set aside.
Pre-cook bones. Place bones and chicken in stockpot and cover with cold water. Over high heat, bring to boil. Boil vigorously 2 to 3 minutes to allow impurities to be released. Dump bones and water into sink and rinse bones with warm water. Quickly scrub stockpot to remove any residue. Return bones to pot.
Simmer Once Again. Add 6 quarts water to pot, bring to boil over high heat, then lower flame to gently simmer. Use ladle to skim any scum that rises to surface. Add remaining broth ingredients and cook 1 1/2 hours. Boneless meat should be slightly chewy but not tough. When it is cooked to your liking, remove it and place in bowl of cold water for 10 minutes; this prevents the meat from drying up and turning dark as it cools. Drain the meat; cool, then refrigerate. Allow broth to continue cooking; in total, the broth should simmer 3 hours.(Reserve chicken for another use)
Strain broth through fine strainer. If desired, remove any bits of gelatinous tendon from bones to add to your pho bowl. Store tendon with cooked beef. Discard solids.
Use ladle to skim as much fat from top of broth as you like. (Cool it and refrigerate it overnight to make this task easier; reheat befofe continuing.) Taste and adjust flavor with additional salt, fish sauce and sugar to taste. The broth should taste slightly too strong because the noodles and other ingredients are not salted. (If you've gone too far, add water to dilute.) Makes 4 quarts
Heat broth and assemble accompaniments. Reheat broth over medium flame as you're assembling bowls. If you're using dried noodles, cover with hot tap water and soak 15-20 minutes, until softened and opaque white. Drain in colander. For fresh rice noodles, just untangle and briefly rinse in a colander with cold water.
Blanch noodles. Fill a saucepan with water and bring to boil. For each bowl, use long-handle strainer to blanch a portion of noodles. As soon as noodles have collapsed and lost their stiffness (10-20 seconds), pull strainer from water, letting water drain back into saucepan. Empty noodles into bowls. Noodles should occupy 1/4 to 1/3 of bowl; the latter is for noodle lovers, while the former is for those who prize broth.
If desired, after blanching noodles, blanch bean sprouts for 30 seconds in same saucepan. They should slightly wilt but retain some crunch. Drain and add to the garnish plate.
Add other ingredients. Place slices of cooked meat, raw meat and tendon (if using) atop noodles. (If your cooked meat is not at room temperature, blanch slices for few seconds in hot water from above.) Garnish with onion, scallion and chopped cilantro.
Ladle in broth and serve. Bring broth to rolling boil. Check seasoning. Ladle broth into each bowl, distributing hot liquid evenly so as to cook raw beef and warm other ingredients. Serve with garnish plate.

Good Success! ^^

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Vietnamese Pho Noodle Soup

2010-08-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

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This is the classic Vietnamese dish of white rice noodles in clear beef broth, with various forms of beef like; shaved rare beef, braised brisket, meatballs and tripe.

Pho noodle soup is a great comfort food and like most classics it has many recipe variations and history. Some say that "pho' is a Vietnamese corruption of the French feu (fire). The French have a classic boiled beef dinner pot-au-feu, and they did colonize Vietnam in the earlier part of the century .
A perfect candidate for the crock-pot this soup only benefits from slow simmering to infuse the broth with aromatic spices and let the flavors and gelatin from the bones seep into the consomme like broth.

Keys to a great broth include using marrow filled beef "osso bucco like" bones and charring the onion and ginger in the pho broth. The French method of adding roasted onion to pot-au-feu adds an extra rich looking brown colored broth. This use of charred aromatics makes it differ from other Asian noodle soups. Also par boiling the bones and meat help rid the broth of excess fat, which when boiled in stock can make the mouthfeel very greasy.
If you have a Vietnamese market in your area, check the aisles for pre-made spice packs, bones, meatballs, tripe, and they will even shave the beef for the rare steak for you. Also if you have a t-ball strainer (stainless steel mesh like strainer for making tea) these are perfect for putting the spices in to infuse the broth and it is easy to remove once the broth is done.

How to make pho ? --->View here

Vietnamese Pho History

2010-08-21T08:22:00.000-07:00

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The origin of phở is uncertain, and is mostly culled from oral histories. But during the colonial period, French contributed to many Vietnamese dishes. Pho or Feu needs fire to cook, you just can not cook many stuffs without fire. Vietnamese and French accents are not quiet the same, so French and Viet pronounce Feu differently. Way before 1920 there was no such thing as Pho, but thank to French contribution, Viet can enjoy pho. Still, the consensus among academics, diners and restaurateurs is that it originated in North Vietnam during the 20th century, and that the first phở restaurant opened in Hanoi in the 1920s.
The specific place of origin appears to be southwest of Hanoi in Nam Dinh province, believed to harbor both a Chinese and French connection. The noodles may come from China and French popularized the use of bones and lesser cuts of beef to make broth. The most likely ancestor is pot au feu, the classic French beef soup and stew combination. Phở did not become popular in South Vietnam until the mid-1950s.

Some observers believe phở may come from the Cantonese rice vermicelli Hofan (河粉) which are interchangeably abbreviated as either fan2(粉, phấn in Tự Hán Việt) or Ho2(河, Hà inTự Hán Việt ), the two sounds giving the name "phở". Both fan and pho refer to the same rice noodles found in Vietnam and Guangdong, China, suggesting that rice noodles may have been brought to Vietnam by Cantonese immigrants from the Guangdong province in the early 20th century. The noodles are cooked identically in both places, and are often seasoned using fish sauce, garnished with bean sprouts, and served with meat balls and sliced beef. Vietnamese phở, however, is further garnished with fresh mint, cilantro, basil, bean sprouts, limes, sliced chili peppers and sliced raw beef; this is especially true of Saigon-style phở. Furthermore, the broth of phở is made of beef bones and fresh onion, whereas the Cantonese broth of fan is made of dried flatfish and other seafood. In some regional varieties, the Vietnamese broth may also be a mildly sweet flavoured by Asian yellow rock sugar, but the Cantonese version is not.
In recent years, there has been also a new theory suggesting that the word phở comes from a French beef stew dish pot-au-feu, however this theory is often discarded linguistically. In the Vietnamese language, the word phở carries a non-flat category, whereas most French loanwords carry a flat tone, sắc or nặng tone, depending on the end consonant except the loanwords are ended with -t, -p, -c, -ch consonants. Phở does not match this rule.

Vietnamese phở noodle soup with sliced rare beef and well done beef brisket

Possibly the earliest reference to phở in English was in the book Recipes of All Nations edited by Countess Morphy in 1935. In the book, phở is described as "an Annamese soup held in high esteem...made with beef, a veal bone, onions, a bayleaf, salt, and pepper, and a small teaspoon of nuoc-man."
With the Vietnam war and the victory of the Viet Cong, phở was brought to many countries by Vietnamese refugees fleeing Vietnam from the 1970s onwards, especially popular in large cities with substantial Vietnamese populations and enclaves such as Paris in France, the West Coast of Canada, the East and West Coast of the United States, Sydney and Melbourne of Australia, and Hong Kong