Can the pho at Pho 24 really, truly, honestly be the best in the land of pho? Can southern pho really, truly honestly be better than the pho up here the way mama Bear makes it at 4am on a random street of your choice somewhere between a bar stool and the pillow on your bed?
No expert am I -- especially as I haven't eaten in PHO24. Nor have I eaten pho in TPHCM so wouldn't know about the pho down south being 'way better' but it certainly winds up the inner-plastic-patriot in me enough to set up the Interprovincial Pho Challenge.
Boys, prepare my wagon -- unwind the giant ball of pho, fatten the calf, slaughter the chickens, boil the stock, hire some diminutive staff for an absolute pittance, buy some oh-so-wee plastic stools, warm up the Bia Ha Noi and pick out our least mouldy chopsticks. We're going on a road trip and we're not coming back until everyone admits our pho is the bees-knees.
* This is how we roll in Ha Noi...
Local Ong Tay hip-hop celeb D*Rough*T (Yeah, you know me! My name is D*Rough*T!) rolled down Ly Thuong Kiet last night looking for 'dem ladies with a new set of wheels before splashing some big C-notes out at the bia tuoi on lashings of Cha ca and ... um... bia tuoi.
1 comment:
The Guardian says Pho 24 serves "the best pho in Vietnam," and the author himself claims it to be streets above anything you will find in Hanoi. It's worth noting, however, that even Graham Holliday, Esq., doesn't seem all that confident in his own assertion, finishing the article by saying, "the clean floors and colour-coordinated walls of Pho 24... are home to the most consistently good rendition of this Vietnamese stalwart." In other words, he ends the writeup by admitting that Pho 24 can only produce a reasonably good copy of authentic pho (which has its roots in northern Vietnam) on a regular basis. It's not the sort of tag I imagine the franchise owners will be cutting out and sticking on the wall... I'd vote for pho from Hanoi any day. North: 1 South: 0
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