Welcome to the Round-Eye Pho Blog!
“In search of the elusive “Perfect Pho” meal”.
As some may already know, my brother Bill and I have been
criss-crossing Ontario lo these past few years in a seemingly quixotic search
for what may be described as The Perfect Pho (“PP”). Our goal is to breakdown the components of
said PP, agree on weightings for each criterion, and then do extensive field
testing and scoring to determine rank.
We have focused on the greater Toronto area (GTA), but have and will
review far afield Pho – you never know where the PP may be found.
What is Pho?
Basically, Pho originates from Vietnam, and the word is
derived the French “Feu” as in Pot au Feu.
It’s generally slices of rare beef on top of a noodle soup , served in a
large bowl. The basic garnishes and/or
variations can include different components of beef (tendon, brisket, etc. – or
substitute with chicken), onions (white or green), Thai basil, fresh lime, hot
sauce and/or chili peppers, bean sprouts, and cilantro.
The variations on the basic theme are numerous, and as such
we have had to make decisions on what to keep in/out – using our personal
tastes as the final arbiter. Our choice
of Pho is Pho Tai – that is simple Pho with Rare Beef. Many will chide our decisions in terms of
inclusions and exclusions of Pho types and garnishes, but to paraphrase Mark Zuckerberg,
“If you had invented the Round-Eye Pho Blog, you would have invented the
Round-Eye Pho Blog”... but you didn’t.
Write your own damn blog.
Appetizers, other food/drink
Again, we have made a simple few choices here that suit our
personal needs but also give everyone further evidence of the mastery of the
chef and the Pho restaurant as a whole.
We have chosen two simple appetizers:
Shrimp cold rolls and Grilled Chicken cold rolls. We have also added tea
(hot/cold, depending on the season).
“Perfect Pho” Mise-en-Place
Everything – from the food, the restaurant environment, the
tableau, the eating tools, the staff, lighting, cleanliness, even the condiment
bottles, should be in their place and in proper working order in order to enjoy
the Perfect Pho. The following are the
definitive list of what needs to be in place for consideration of the Perfect
Pho. We forward you to the Judging
Template, which is what we will use to assess each pho experience and provide
the definitive ranking of Pho restaurants.
Appetizers:
- Shrimp cold rolls. Ideally, these should be tightly wrapped in rice paper, with lots of leafy green lettuce (not iceberg lettuce: -negative points), no/few sprouts, and bonus points for cilantro leaf. Finally, serious negative points if we see dark ‘poo-lines’ in the shrimp – gross...
- Grilled chicken cold roll. Obvious grill marks on chicken, taste of grilling ideal (also tightly wrapped, with lots of leafy green lettuce/thai basil), and ideally no/few sprouts. Negative points if no chicken cold roll option.
Other components include:
- Overall cleanliness of the location, and parking close by (bonus if free), and cleanliness of table, and items on table (i.e. clean squeeze bottles are critical!).
- Staff - ideally family-run, vietnamese/thai only. Bonus for hot daughter waitress (this is rare).
- Chopsticks - clean, or ideally wood disposable. If on the table, they should be end-up (the part your mouth touches should be up).
- Napkins – plentiful AND on the table, please!
- Tea – cold in summer or hot in winter), and ideally offered without asking, and no cost
- Hot sauce - ideally sriracha, but if not, less sugary the better
- Black pepper (not white pepper or powder) available, and ideally on the table.
- Overall price
Perfect Pho Hall of Phame Scorecard (score of 100 would be the Perfect Pho)
If you have any questions, comments, or new Pho locations you would like us to consider, please feel free to reply to this blog post.
Cheers, Bill "the Round" and John "the Eye".
