There are few things more comforting than a giant bowl of noodle soup. I’ve been trying to perfect my recipe for noodle soup over the last few years, using leftovers from Sunday roasts to flavour a broth and add meat to the soup. Early attempts fell a bit flat flavour-wise, prompting some online investigations into what made the perfect base for a soup. After some experimentation, I found the flavours of the Vietnamese pho broth were what I had been looking for.
While I had been making a rather weak broth based on ginger, chilli and garlic, my first homemade pho attempt saw my spice rack well and truly put to work. Star anise, cloves, fennel and ginger combined with fish sauce, stock, lime juice and plenty of fresh coriander to create that real depth of flavour I had been hankering after. I’ve by no means gotten to the essence of what makes a great pho, but I do think the version I made with leftover braised oxtail was getting close to it.
Pho is said to have first appeared on the streets of Vietnam in the early 20th Century. There is a question mark over whether the name pho comes from the French pot-au-feu or rather from the Cantonese word for noodles. Both countries were great cultural and colonial influences on Vietnam, so anthropologists and food historians have yet to agree on this. It was the Vietnam war that brought pho to the rest of the world, with refugees bringing their recipes with them. But the pho failed to make it as far as Dublin.
Pho Viet opened towards the end of last year on Parnell Street, right next door to the brilliant and much loved Kimchi, and has arrived after a drought of decent Vietnamese restaurants in Dublin. Although it is possible to get a good bowl of noodle soup (I like Musashi’s chicken ramen), Pho Viet had, for me, the promise of delivering the flavours of the lauded Vietnamese pho.
Myself and my friend Chelsea visited Pho Viet on a Wednesday and found ourselves in a busy, bright room. It’s decidedly unfrilly, but it’s clean and comfortable. Our waitress talked us through the menu, which focuses on the pho, offering a choice of nine beef noodle soups, with chicken, fish and pork noodle soups also looking good. For those not into slurping through soup, there are rice platters and Vietnamese curries to keep you happy.
For starters, I went for the Goi Cuon spring rolls (€3) which came wrapped in clear rice paper and stuffed with fresh, crunchy prawns and vegetables with a peanut-based creamy sauce for dipping. Although they were light and tasty, I would have preferred to have had the deep-fried version of Cha Gio. But that’s only because I am on a stubborn, self-destructive path to ill health. I had ordered the much healthier version of Goi Cuon by mistake due to a lack of translation on the menu. Curse my rubbish Vietnamese! I was missing at least 200 calories from my starter. Chelsea had the Bánh Xéo (€6) which was a brilliantly crispy savoury pancake filled with bean sprouts, prawns and pork. It was enormous and so I was able to take my fair share which staved off my starter envy somewhat.
I thought it would be good to choose Pho Viet’s namesake on my first visit, so I was brought the Pho Viet Dac Biet (€7.90), the Pho Viet special. This generous bowl housed thick noodles swimming in that sweet yet spicy broth that lends so much of its success to star anise. There was steak, well-done brisket and meat balls alongside fresh herbs adding to the freshness and flavour of the soup. Chelsea’s Bun Tom Thit Nurong was a bowl of pork-based broth with rice vermicelli noodles. Prawns and meatballs shared the bowl with bean sprouts, carrots and crushed peanuts. The meat balls in both dishes were unnervingly like processed sausage rather than fresh balls of mince, which was our only complaint.
Pho Viet has a BYO policy, meaning that our bill came to a startlingly reasonable €28. We left full and comforted, looking forward to our next visit for pho. I plan on making my way through the menu in order to help my own homemade ‘pho’ improve. Nothing like a bit of tasty research to comfort the soul.
Pho Viet
162 Parnell Street
Dublin 1
01-8783165
