Pho-get it, classic dish no longer for the thrifty - from Vietnamnews

Pho-get it, classic dish no longer for the thrifty

Viet Nam's national dish, pho, gets upmarket treatment at Pho Ta in HCM City. Hoang Ha reports.

When you mention dining in Viet Nam, many foreigners can't help but think of pho.

Housed in a villa on Le Quy Don St, one of the most beautiful, tree-lined streets in HCM City, Pho Ta was inaugurated at the most auspicious moment possible: 9.09am on September 9.

One of the restaurant's two owners, Nguyen Vo Viet Nam, explains nine is the number of completion and fulfillment until it spills over into ten and requires a new beginning.

I heard about the restaurant from a friend who said: "If you dig Vietnamese food but have not had Pho Ta, you've been missing out."

For the uninitiated, pho is the iconic rice noodle soup from north Viet Nam which is served usually with thinly sliced beef and garnished with basil, coriander, lemon wedges, chillies, and bean sprouts.

Now, with a craving for pho, I promptly went along with a friend to Pho Ta for dinner.

Eat your greens: Typical garnishes for the pho - basil, coriander, lemon, chillies, and bean sprouts. - VNS Photos

Its specialty, as its name implies, is various kinds of pho.

When we entered, the restaurant, which has 200 covers, was packed with a decidedly middle-class clientele made up of a mix of locals and foreigners.

It has plenty of open space on the ground floor. The decor, with yellow-brown wood even on the walls and ceiling, is simple but tasteful, giving the restaurant an air of warmth and luxury.

Nam said the designer of the villa, a French architect, also designed his other restaurant, the uber popular Bun Ta in District 1. The lights are meant to be pieces of art, he said, which explains the lack of pictures or photos on the wall.

"We have an open kitchen where customers can see our chef and her team making their pho."

The restaurant offers around 10 varieties of beef noodle soup. The coriander-scented broths are chock-full of various meat cuts, noodles, and vegetables.

My friend is not a big fan of pho but she began her adventure with pho recommended by Dang Tuyet Mai, the place's star chef.

The big bowl came with thin slices of various kinds of beef floating in the richly scented broth and with a tangle of rice noodles at the bottom.

My friend was in no doubt it was worth the VND69,000 (US$3.50) and she made it clear she meant what she said by polishing the bowl clean.

"I used to get bored after eating a third of a bowl of pho, but not here."

I ordered a special pho with round steak, flank, soft tendon flank, crispy flank, and honeycomb tripe at VND59,000 ($3.0).

The service was quick and friendly.

If you are new to Vietnamese fare, start off with a small beef pho on the menu: it comes with fresh slices of round steak that provide flavour and body, and firm but tender rice stick noodles.

And here's the clincher: it costs just VND39,000 ($2).

Yum: Pho Ta by Dang Tuyet Mai

Chef-driven

The restaurant's raison d'etre is its chef, Dang Tuyet Mai. It even has her name on its board, calling itself Pho Ta by Dang Tuyet Mai.

It began for Mai, a Vietnamese who lived in the US for 34 years until her return this year, when some of her daughter's friends visited her family and she cooked pho for them.

The friends happened to be Nam and his partner at Bun Ta, Nguyen Le Vy. Recognising a good thing when they saw one, they asked Mai to open a pho restaurant in the US together with them, but she refused citing her age.

They then convinced her to open one in Viet Nam where all she would have to do was cook for clients.

"As I grew older, the nostalgia for my home town grew stronger and stronger. La rung ve coi (the leaves always fall on their roots), as the old saying goes. I always thought of returning home," Mai said.

"I have cooked pho for more than 30 years. Every time I cook, I invite hundreds of relatives and friends.

"I want to make quality pho with no skimping on ingredients with lots of beef marrow to create the best broth."

She assured me that she does not use monosodium glutamate, just anise and basil. "Our pho is delicately seasoned with natural spices to give it a unique aroma and taste.

"After stewing it over a low fire and letting the flavours from the bones seep into it, I put the broth in the fridge to coagulate all the fat so that I can easily skim it. In a bowl of pho, I just put a modest quantity of noodle and garnish with spring onion and coriander. My pho must be a delight for both the eye and nose."

Nam said: "Pho has for long been a common man's dish. I wanted to present it in a villa and create a new trend of enjoying traditional Viet Nam food in an upmarket restaurant, where the health of the customers is assured by the use of the best ingredients." - VNS

Pho Ta restaurant

Address: 14 Le Quy Don St, Dist 3, Saigon

Hours: 8am to 11pm

Price: VND 39,000-69,000 (US $2.2-$3.9)

Tel: 08 3930 9104, 08 3930 9106

Comment: Noodles your stomach will love but your wallet will not fear.