After two weeks on the road, my blood fish sauce level was getting extremely low. In addition, the heavy Lyonnais and Alsatian food was wearing on me. We’d seen a restaurant down the street from our hotel that served pho, Restaurant Chez Thuy. We went back there for lunch today.
The menu was a mashup of Alsatian, Thai, and Chinese. The only Vietnamese items on the menu were pho and deep-fried spring rolls (nems). At first the waiter said there was no pho, but the chef said that there was and she’d make it for us. It took a while, but two bowls landed in front of us. It was obvious that she’d made the beef fresh – most of the pieces were rare. The broth had the all-important star anise and cinnamon notes. There was a bottle of sriracha on the table to spike things up.
When the chef came by to clean off our table, Julian asked if she made bun bo Hue. As with most Vietnamese folks, she was quite surprised that we knew about that soup. I explained my discovery of bun bo Hue in New York and that several restaurants in Seattle serve that soup – and I’ve been known to cook it.
Although Restaurant Chez Thuy wasn’t the most transcendent pho we’ve had, the soup was enough to replenish my fish sauce level, at least until we get back home.
Recent Comments