Pho Ph-luctuations

Pho in Ho Chi Minh City

Unknown to us, the super-popular Vietnamese soup called Pho varies widely from south to north. We began our stay in Vietnam in the south, in Ho Chi Minh city. There is a particular type of pho there, called Saigon Pho - it is the kind we normally think of pho: a beef/chicken soup, which comes with a plate of veggies, bean sprouts, and chilies, as well as extra hoisin sauce and chili sauce.

But, this type of pho pretty much stops in Ho Chi Minh! This style (at least, from what we saw) was limited to that city.  Hoisin is also extremely uncommon further north - Lynnea learned that it was introduced fairly recently, from China, and people mainly used it as a side dish to dip their meat in.

So, our experiences with Pho fluctuated from south to north as we traveled. In Hoi An, where we spent the most time, pho was a pretty simple broth, with rice noodles and beef, without the plate of veggies. Hoisin was an unknown word. But, the soup was still good - but boy, did we miss that first bowl of pho that we had, so long ago in Ho Chi Minh City!