If asked to name well-known Vietnamese pho brands, many people will mention Pho Thin (Thin’s pho) at No13 Lo Duc street in Hanoi, owned by Nguyen Trong Thin.

‘Pho tai lan’ (stir fried beef noodle soup) is the best known dish at Pho Thin. It is different from other pho products with beef stir-fried on a pan of hot fat, with the rich moreish broth, covered by green onions. The wonderful Vietnamese traditional dish has been present in many countries, including Japan, Australia, Indonesia and the US. 

The way abroad

Thin said that after 2000, Hanoi began receiving more and more foreign travelers. It was the time when Pho Thin became the restaurant attracting many diners – American, Japanese and Korean.

‘Sometimes I was asked why I didn’t think of sell pho in foreign countries. But at that moment, I could not imagine that my pho could be sold in the world,” Thin recalled.

In 2009, a South Korean man invited Thin to South Korea to learn about the market potential. After several days of walking around markets and street shops in Seoul, he refused the proposal on cooperating with the man to open a pho restaurant in the city.

“The flavor of Vietnamese pho is not suited to South Korean culinary culture,” Thin said.

However, he decided to give his pho recipe to a unit in South Korea as a gift. Unexpectedly, a pho restaurant named ‘Pho Tang’ (pho made from the recipe given by Vietnamese chef) was opened some months later.

Thin’s intention to export pho to the world was forgotten for a long period until one day, a Japanese man, Kenji Sumi, came to see him in 2018 and asked Thin to teach him how to make pho.

Sumi was then an office worker, who regularly came to Hanoi on business. One day, pho was suggested for his lunch. The Japanese man liked the rich broth and the smell from stir-fried beef, and the green onions as well.

Sumi came to see him four times. But finally could only meet at the fourth time, when Sumi came with an A4 paper with the words ‘Toi muon hoc nau pho’ with spelling mistakes (I want to learn how to make pho).

On the next day, Thin invited Sumi to his home on Hang Chuoi street, near his pho restaurant at No13 Lo Duc street. Thin treated Sumi to a bowl of pho, and after enjoying the dish, Sumi was determined to learn how to make pho.

“I could see Sumi’s willingness to learn how to make pho. But I was not sure if Japanese diners would like Vietnamese pho,” he recalled.

“I told Sumi that I wanted to come to his homeland, Japan, to survey the market and learn about Japanese culinary culture. Sumi agreed on my proposal,” he said.

In 2018, Thin, who was then 67 years old, visited Japan. On the first day in Tokyo, he asked Sumi to take him to the markets.

“I went to the markets to find out what was sold there, what Japanese liked and how I could find materials for pho. I ordered dishes at popular shops. I also learned about Japanese culinary culture,” he said about the days in Tokyo.

“I tasted a lot of materials, from onions, spices to beef. I needed to sample the taste, so that I could design a recipe to create pho which is most similar to Pho Thin at No13 Lo Duc,” he explained.

Some days later, he told Sumi to invite 150-200 diners to come to enjoy Pho Thin and give marks on a 1 to 10 scale.

As many as 165 persons came to taste Vietnamese pho four days later. After considering Japanese diners’ reactions, Thin told Sumi: “You can learn to make pho and do business with pho."

Pho Thin is now famous not only in Hanoi, but also across the country and in the world.  Years ago, when he quit his job at a state agency and opened a pho shop, many people thought he was "eccentric and crack-brained".

Linh Trang - Do An