1. The pho that Tetsuo Arafune, or ‘uncle Nam’, from Japan tried in Gia Lai was so delicious that he emptied a bowl of pho worth VND50,000 in nearly a gulp. 

Tetsuo Arafune is from Saitama, Japan, and he has been living in HCMC for some years. In order to learn about Vietnam’s culture and practice the language, he spends his time traveling from the north to the south and tries a lot of local specialties.

Of the Vietnamese traditional dishes he has tasted, Tetsuo especially likes pho. He said there are many different versions of pho with different flavors, ingredients and ways of preparation.

He suggested that if travelers visit Gia Lai in the Central Highlands, they should try dry pho there.

The local restaurant Tetsuo chose is located on Nguyen Van Troi street of Pleiku City, where he ordered a bowl of dry pho. The dish was served with two bowls, one of which contained broth, plus spices (lemon, chili, herbs), while the other contained noodles and beef. The man named this pho as ‘pho hai to’, which means ‘placing one order, receiving two bowls’.

He noted that dry pho uses round, thin and chewy pho noodles, not soft and flat like common noodles. The broth is rich, fragrant and has a natural sweetness.

The special thing of the pho is the black soy sauce, a typical soy sauce of GiaLai people, fermented from soybeans. It has a salty taste mixed with a little fat, slightly sweet, and is quite delicious when dipped with beef.

He said the dry pho has an interesting taste, which is different from the pho versions he has tasted. Nguyen Thi Bich Hong, the owner of the restaurant, confirmed that the pho she serves is quite different from other popular versions, from the ingredients to the way it is served.

The noodles are made of ground rice flour, and will be chewy when boiled in water, not soft or mushy. They can easily absorb spices.

The restaurant has been open for over 70 years, employing 20 workers.

2. There is a strange pho version in Lao Cai which needs a long processing period of half a day.

This pho is served in a different way. Instead of sousing broth on noodles, the unique pho is served with thick sauce, with shredded char siu, eggs, crispy noodles and other ingredients. The sauce is special as it is red, the typical color of gac fruit (spiny cucumber, or Momordica cochinchinensis).

“This type of pho uses gac noodle which is as thin and flat as a leaf. It is served with a thick sauce like soup, so it is also called ‘con sui’ or ‘pho khan’ (dry pho),” said Hoa, the owner of a restaurant in Lao Cai.

According to her, it takes a lot of time to make delicious con sui, and the process of ingredient preparation may take up to 10-12 hours.

Of the different steps to make con sui, the sauce making is the most time consuming. Each pot of sauce is made of bones simmered for half a day with many spices.

The chef must constantly keep a close watch over the bone simmering to be sure that the sauce is pure, fragrant, and has the desired thickness.

To make char siu, the meat needs to be carefully marinated with a special red sauce. The chef braises the meat on the stove until cooked, and then fries it in oil so that the meat becomes “crispy outside, and soft inside” and has an eye-catching color.

The special part of the dish is the crispy noodles, made from two main ingredients: flour and sugar, rolled thinly, pulled into long strands and fried in oil until they turn brown, yellow and crispy.

According to Hoa, the crispy noodles can be created from arrowroot or sweet potatoes, while the flavor can be different, depending on the recipes used by restaurant owners.

When eating the special pho, diners can use lemon sauce, roasted peanuts, herbs, pepper or pickled cabbage.

Thao Trinh