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| - Though I am Chinese, my parents were both born and raised in Vietnam, and only left because of the war. At home, I ate Vietnamese way more than Chinese food, and grew up in Boston, where the Vietnamese population is huge, and the bar for food is high. Moving to Pittsburgh, one of my first missions was to make sure I could get a good bowl of pho (fyi: "pho" sounds like "fuh," not like "foe")--my grandmother always taught me that you can judge the caliber of a Vietnamese place by the quality of their pho broth.
The pho broth here was clear and sweet, in that rich savory way that bone broth that has been stewed for hours and hours should be, not the salty hit that you get with boullion/msg-based soups. The noodles were silky and the right amount of thickness. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
My mom, who was with me at the time, had a bowl of their bun bo hue (a little spicy, a lot delicious, for those of you out there who are a little more adventurous when it comes to Asian food), and gave it 4/5 stars when I asked her about flavor and authenticity. It came with the authentic herb pairing on the side (each different Vietnamese noodle soup has a specific combination of herbs that it should come with--pho herbs are different from bun bo hue herbs. Use them by shredding them into your soup while its still hot for the most authentic flavor). My mom really liked that they serve their soups piping hot because she hates lukewarm noodle soup more than anything else. Now that this place has passed my pho test, I'll definitely be coming back here for bun bo hue and other noodle soups in the future!
Definitely recommend.
(p.s. It's not a super fancy or large place, but I don't really trust any Vietnamese place that puts on airs anyway.)
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