Phở Hà
17 – 19 Hải Triều Street
District 1
[see relocation note/warning below]
*****
Bitexco Financial Tower
There’s a place in Saigon where you can stand in the middle of the street, spread your arms wide and touch (well almost) Saigon’s tallest, U.S.A.-architect-designed skyscaper with one hand; and a traditional Hanoi street food eatery with the other. (CAUTION: Best to stand in the middle of any Saigon street only after midnight when the traffic diminishes and while wearing brightly colored clothing!)
That would be the very impressive 68-story lotus-shaped Bitexco Financial Tower at your outstretched right hand fingertips; and northern-Vietnamese-folk’s favorite everything-chicken Saigon eatery, Phở Hà, at your left hand.
Pointing to the Bitexco Tower from across the street
If you recall my passion for northern Vietnam’s classic xôi (sticky rice) dishes (take a peek at my Xôi Mai and Quán Thư Hiền experiences), then you’ll likely understand why I’ve returned to Phở Hà several times this month alone.
Xôi gà
I love xôi gà (sticky rice with chicken) here at Phở Hà. The chicken meat itself is perhaps the best I’ve found yet in Saigon. Plump, moist, flavorful, tender-yet-meaty. In a word, perfect. Prices do tend to be higher here than elsewhere (we’re talking Vietnamese-level pricing, though). Clearly, Phở Hà is offering a better pay scale than most to those high-end chickens coming to work for them.
And then there’s the xôi itself. The main concern with xôi is texture. It cannot be too moist or too soft. It cannot be too dry, hard or crunchy. It’s got to be chewy, a bit dry, yet a bit moist – what? Trust me, you’ll know it when you eat it. At Phở Hà, it’s made to perfection.
So, perfect xôi plus perfect chicken. You get the picture.
In addition, they also offer phở gà and miến gà (chicken noodle soups), gỏi gà (chicken salad), and everything else gà. Oh yes – and FEET Gà (for my foot fetish readers).
Phở gà
I’ve had the xôi gà – excellent. And the phở and miến gà – very good.
And the gỏi gà – okay, but not quite as good as the gỏi gà at Ky Dong. The phở and miến were in the range of 45,000 vnd ($2.10/bowl), while the chicken salad was 75,000vnd ($3.60 USD).
Chicken feet – Yummy?
My friend Tan LOVED the feet gà – even at 10,000 vnd (50 cents) per foot.
Finally, I wanted to push the envelope (actually stretch my tummy) and try one more dish after enjoying my miến gà (again, it’s amazing what my job requires that I do to try to keep Eating Saigon! informative.)
I ordered up a plate of xôi chiến gà luộc (crispy-fried sticky rice with fried chicken.) Again, the rice was perfect! Delicious and crispy-crunchy. Very very nice. Unfortunately, in the process of frying, that wonderful plump, moist chicken dried out a bit and was something less than wonderful. At 70,000 vnd ($3.35 USD), it would be a stretch to recommend this dish over the regular xôi gà.
Xôi chiến gà luộc (crispy-fried sticky rice with fried chicken)
Finally, after a great Saigon street food meal (eating Hanoi street food) at Phở Hà, get up from the table and walk across the street to the other end of your outstretched arms and enjoy the reflecting pool at the base of the Bitexco Tower.
After enjoying your chicken feet, relax at Bitexco Tower’s reflecting pool
In the evening, cool gusts off the Saigon River whip around the tall building, and locals gather to sit, chat, and enjoy the breeze. Very relaxing. A very peaceful downtown Saigon retreat in an otherwise chaotic evening traffic town.
Phở Hà and Bitexco evening relaxation are yet another great Eating Saigon! adventure.
UPDATE – February, 2016: Confirmed! Still great xôi gà (sticky rice with chicken) for me and very good phở gà for Hai.
UPDATE – February, 2018: RE-Confirmed! Still great xôi gà (sticky rice with chicken) for me and very good phở gà for Hai. Came here with friends from Cambodia and they LOVED IT!!
MAJOR RELOCATION UPDATE – February, 2019: Okay, please pay attention. Phở Hà has relocated just a few doors away from its original location. They were evicted from their location of many decades and replaced by their landlord and another shop (seemingly pretending to be the original). BUT, the excellent phở gà and xôi gà from the original Phở Hà can still be had a few doors away at its new location at 17-19 Hải Triều Street.
UPDATE – January, 2020: They continue to serve excellent phở gà and xôi gà. Don’t miss this!
UPDATE – February, 2023: They continue to serve excellent phở gà and xôi gà.
Phở Hà
17 – 19 Hải Triều Street
District 1
(08) 38210 339
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