Vietnamese Rice Noodle Soup, a.k.a. Pho

One of my favorite categories in any Asian restaurant is the soup. As a kid I loved egg drop and hot & sour soups* from what was then the only available Asian cuisine in our area, a Chinese restaurant. Then came college and the discovery of  Japanese food, particularly sushi, with a side of seaweed salad and the perfect simplicity of a cup of miso soup. Japan was usurped by Thailand, and the reigning favorites for a good long time were tom yum with shrimp and tom kha gai, that tangy coconut ambrosia.Most recently, I have become a tad obsessed with pho (actually pronounced “fuh”, despite my bad pun in the title), the rice noodle soup hailing from Vietnam. I  know, I’m a little late to the party, but I’d officially like to start making up for lost time. Read the rest of this entry →