Still searching for the best Pho. Or am I?

Pho is almost the only decent Vietnamese food that we get in Melbourne. Why is it so hard to find the kinds of dishes that you find in Vietnam? Why is it that most Vietnamese restauirtants just have long lists of Chinese-inspired gluggy dishes that are so much less appealing than this food can be at its best. I also ate great fusion food in Vietnam at more expensive restaurants ( as well as street food) but I don’t think anyone is really doing that here. Red Rice had a kind of go for a while but has seemed pretty lacklustre lately. In Footscray where I live, the best (and most reliable)Viet food is pho (or the tamarind and seafood soup at The Star but I haven’t been there for ages). Often the food is great on one visit and rubbish the next (which I think means that the regular chef isn’t around and some relo is cooking). Maybe I’m wring but I’ve had heaps of bad experiences over the years. Recommendations about predicatble quality places to eat would be great.

Perhaps there is no such thing as the best Pho? I now think it an odd pursuit to be looking for it like a mythical grail and - I don’t mean to be condescending - but it is a little ignorant of Vietnamese culture.

Having just been in Vietnam again, it was apparent that all Pho over there is flavoured with the beloved Ajinomoto Monosodium Glutamate, along with just about anything else you care to eat. As you mentioned in your Hanoi experience Ed, sometimes it is the Beer Hoi venues there that serve the deftest versions. Or often it is from street hawkers who only sell between 4.30 and 6.30am when the Vietnamese take breakfast and the tourists slumber.

Every Pho is as individual as the person cooking it, and there are as many different ways to consume it as there are regions in the country. I am even planning to post my own Pho Bo recipe soon.

I think Aussies have a fixed idea about Pho, but Pho has many names too. Take the deliciously spicy Bun Bo Hue for example. In the South West and along the Mekong there are fantastic fish and seafood noodle soups too. In the North Bun Cha can be eaten with soup and thus can be construed as a kind of Pho. The Laotians also eat Pho and you will find some examples of these in Springvale.

I think Aussies just don’t know what to order, which is why they end up with glug. Even in Vietnam it is presumed that foreign visitors prefer something blander, or not featuring pigs blood, intestines, chilli, banana blossom, fermented shrimp paste, unborn eggs, offal etc, so many places will water down their ingredients and flavours to attract tourists.

To understand the reason for the narrower range of dishes in our local Vietnamese dining establishments you must examine the history of Vietnam. When the Communists governing North Vietnam unified the country, many people from the South came to Australia as refugees to escape potential persecution. So you won’t find Hue Imperial Cuisine and things such as Banh Cuon or Northern style Nem on Aussie Viet menus.

The Cantonese focus comes from the ethnic Southern Chinese who fled Vietnam to escape re-education. Sadly according to Wikipedia the number of those who died in reeducation may be as many as 2million, so many of our migrants have very sad stories to tell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reeducation_camp

Many of these families had lived in Vietnam for centuries, especially in the area once known as Tonkin and they sought a new life here instead, many opened simple restaurants. I think often they cook Chinese food with a lighter touch than chefs from Guangdong or Hong Kong.

I have found lots of great Vietnamese food in Melbourne and my first experience - back in the early eighties - was at Mrs Chu’s Tinh Dat in Carrington Road, Box Hill. It’s still there, with her daughter Hong now running the show, while her Mum I believe still supervises Indochine. Mrs Chu had lived in the South as well as towns near Laos and Thailand so she perhaps introduced a broader offering then some could at the time. After all, like the Europeans, the Vietnamese are parochial when it comes to cooking.

On our latest adventure in Vietnam we ate a number of our meals where no one spoke English, but the openhearted generousity of the locals led to show and tell lessons in what to eat and how to eat it. They were our most memorable experiences. Even here, may I suggest the trick of pointing to what the Vietnamese are eating and asking for it, in order to taste the real deal? I think you’ll like the results.

Good read Sticky… yes indeed… ‘my’ favourite Melbourne Pho a more apt description…