The Best Phở in Saigon (Part 2)

The Best Phở in Saigon (Part 2)

hint: Maybe Not Here :-/

After my treatise earlier this week about searching for the best phở in Saigon, I received several recommendations from friends and readers for other Saigon phở venues.  Ối trời ơi – my work is never done!  🙂

Coincidently, one recommendation came in just as I was heading out the door for lunch today.  A sign from the gods about where to eat today? Well, as it turned out, it was to be a sign from the god of mediocre kitchens.

The suggestion was to try phở bò at Phở Hùng.

.

It wasn’t until Hai and I pulled up on our motorbike in front of the glass-enclosed, air conditioned restaurant that I recognized the logo, then the name.  This was one of a chain of phở eateries.  The one Phở Hùng I had visited last year was actually opened only for a few months and then closed its doors! Was today’s lunch doomed?

Well, the place was mobbed.  It had to be good phở, right?

Actually, no!

It was almost exactly the noon hour, a scorching hot day, a highly air conditioned eatery, and a great street location. That would explain the crowds.

I ordered phở tái nầm – my favorite beef phở, combining bò tái (rare beef cooked in the hot soup broth in your bowl) and bò nầm (well-done beef brisket).  It was disappointing in so many ways.

Very disappointing was the beef itself.  The bò tái was overcooked to leather toughness.  No flavor at all.  And similarly, the bò nầm was chewy and dry. Only the large quantity of fat on the brisket moistened the palate as I chewed away. The phở noodles were overcooked and mềm (too soft). But, by far the biggest disappointment was the nước lèo (soup stock).  The classic phở bò beef-flavored broth usually produced by many hours of simmering beef bones was missing the flavor of beef.  In its place, was the wallop of the flavor of cloves! Perhaps I exaggerate slightly when I suggest the name of this soup should be phở đinh hương (clove noodle soup).

There was some good news.  The pile of greens to add to the phở was heaping. The staff was numerous, pleasant and attentive. It was one of the few times in Saigon that my glass of trà đá (ice tea) was re-filled without a request. And the restaurant itself was large and cooled nicely on a hot day.

The price was quite high – 100,000 VND for two bowls of phở bò ($2.50/ bowl).

Overall, a Ho Hum rating on Eating Saigon’s Yum Meter.

NOTE: Absolutely no bad feelings towards the reader who suggested Phở Hùng. Every eating experience is its own adventure and I love my job :-). Please keep those suggestions coming.

OPEN 6 am-3 am

Phở Hùng
241-243 Nguyễn Trãi
District 1
3838 5089

View The Best Phở in Saigon in a larger map