Pho Pas

I spent last weekend in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) with friends. One of the main goals of the trip was to eat as much Vietnamese food, specifically coffee (like the Thais, they make it with condensed milk, you know, the healthy version), spring rolls, and pho. Pho (although actually pronounced more like 'fur', I like to pronounce it like 'faux') is a noodle soup with a broth made with lemon grass, lime, basil & mint. It usually has chunks of beef. (Pho Bo). It is delicious.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and had pho for lunch. It didn't disappoint. For dinner we went to an outdoor restaurant recommended by a guidebook. It was very busy with both locals and foreigners. J.Todd and I both ordered Pho Bo. The waiter (who didn't speak English) came back and said, No Mo Pho Bo. Our reply? 'Are you fo real?' The waiter nodded and said, "Fo sho. No mo pho bo." (Not really. But it sounds a lot more interesting this way.) He gave us the menu back and we both ordered the next pho on the list - Pho Hue Style. (Pronounced like 'weigh').

Our waiter brought the soup over and it looked good. The broth was kind of tomato flavored, but not too bad. However, there was a lot of stuff in the soup, and honestly, it kind of creeped me out because I couldn't identify most of it. J. Todd picked out a pig's knuckle. I picked up a piece of what looked like beef with my chopsticks. Our friend told me she didn't think it was beef because the texture was too smooth and it was too dark. She suggested that it might be a blood clot. Seriously. A. Blood. Clot. I was immediately in denial that I ordered something containing both a blood clot and pork knuckles. She was pretty insistent that it was a blood clot, so i said i would try it. I did. It wasn't beef. It was a clot, all right. I didn't finish my pho.

Overall the weekend was great, but the moral of the story is: When there is no mo pho, say no hue.