08.26.10
尋找越南河粉
原來有個好似openrice既網站叫phofever.com, 搵到全美加既越南河粉店, 仲可以寫粉評, 以下係我寫比佢地既粉評:
My passion towards pho dates back to the years I spent in Houston, where there are 94 listings on phofever.com. I longed to find a “true” Vietnamese pho restaurant in New York. I’m not a Chinatown regular, so I probably overlooked this Pho Bang on 157 Mott as recommended by my colleague.
Arrived at 2:15pm on a weekday afternoon, I still saw a full house that I need to sit at a small table in front of the restrooms. The menu is just standard (probably worldwide) and I ordered #7 on the menu, my regular raw eye round + tripes + beef balls. Together with a Vietnamese coffee, totaled $11 only. The $6.75 price for the “extra large” bowl is really ok comparing to Houston prices years ago, but one drawback comes here… the quantity of noodles is not that much as an “extra large” size. Nevertheless, it still happily fills up my asian-sized stomach.
My habbit is to taste at least 2 spoonful of soup before anything goes, mainly for knowing its real taste. Bang’s soup is full flavored, without the obvious hint of MSG. By the way, I would call MSG a “core ingredient” in Houston pho soups. The soup was not as hot as I always see. I asked for meat on the side, and I afraid it couldn’t get cooked enough. However, this turned out to be nice. The meat took a while to turn beige, and stayed medium rare until I finished the whole thing halfway. Boiling hot soup sometimes overcook the raw eyeround. This eyeround here is fresh and tender, the best part of the whole bowl.
The coffee is nice too. I’m not sure what the “correct” quantity of water and condensed milk to make a perfect cup, but it usually fills up a bit more than halfway in the glass full of ice cubes. This one here filled up to 1 inch down the rim in the full glass of ice, and still strong and smooth.
As I recall, there was also a Pho Bang in Houston. I enjoyed their bun bo hue so much, but I’m not sure they are still in the business.
食完仲買番枝久遺既是拉差辣椒醬
