Vietnamese restaurants, part 9
Jan. 11th, 2016 11:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petardierThis time we went to Pho Le (1356 Dorchester Ave) for pho*. It's not John's favorite soup which is why we left it till this late in the series. Also, it's cold now, so soup works well. We both got the pho with beef slices, beef tendon, and tripe. All were thinly sliced and delicious.
John tells me there are two main ways of spicing up your pho. Both start with putting basil leaves in the soup. Basil leaves and bean sprouts come on a plate separate from the soup. The basil, in John's view, is not optional. Some put a mix of Hoisin sauce and chili/Sriracha sauce in a side dish to be used for dipping the meat slices. Others put the mix directly in the soup. John is a dipper. He says the sauce gets in the way of appreciating the properly-made broth that is the key to a good pho. I tried dipping as well. John's point is well taken. The broth could easily be overwhelmed by strong condiments. The other sign of a good pho is noodles that are not overcooked. If they're falling apart when you pick them up, they've been cooked too long.
Next episode, congee with tripe?
*pronounced fa (but there's also a tone to do there) If you say foe/faux, you've just said the Vietnamese word for city.
John tells me there are two main ways of spicing up your pho. Both start with putting basil leaves in the soup. Basil leaves and bean sprouts come on a plate separate from the soup. The basil, in John's view, is not optional. Some put a mix of Hoisin sauce and chili/Sriracha sauce in a side dish to be used for dipping the meat slices. Others put the mix directly in the soup. John is a dipper. He says the sauce gets in the way of appreciating the properly-made broth that is the key to a good pho. I tried dipping as well. John's point is well taken. The broth could easily be overwhelmed by strong condiments. The other sign of a good pho is noodles that are not overcooked. If they're falling apart when you pick them up, they've been cooked too long.
Next episode, congee with tripe?
*pronounced fa (but there's also a tone to do there) If you say foe/faux, you've just said the Vietnamese word for city.
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Date: 2016-01-13 07:19 pm (UTC)The tripe was inoffensive. Just another slightly chewy ingredient. Didn't actually have much taste, so I dipped it in the hoisin/chili mix.