As most of you know by now, I am a pho addict. It is probably one of my top 5 favorite foods but sadly, I have yet to really find a go-to place in NYC. How this city is so lacking in quality pho places is frankly still a mystery to me. I had just completed my first pilates class at Wundabar (super fun class if anyone is looking for a new work out class) and since the studio was in spitting distance of Chinatown, I felt like I deserved a big bowl of pho as as reward. Unfortunately, I was exhausted from class, so I wasn't really in the mood to run around town and I settled on this place right across from the Canal street subway stop. I had seen it before several times, but never been so I figured it was worth a shot.
In classic Chinatown fashion, there is no decor to speak of and they usher you into a seat and ask you for your order within 10 seconds of stepping into the place. The menu had your typical line up of Vietnamese food but I was here for the pho and I got the #1 - it had a little bit of everything (tendon, tripe, brisket and rib eye) in it plus an Vietnamese iced coffee. I noticed that the place is run by Chinese people instead of Vietnamese people (I mean it is Chinatown) but I usually find that ethnic restaurants run by people not of that ethnicity just aren't nearly as good. This place was no exception. I got my food in about 5 mins and upon first glance I could tell that it wasn't going to be my favorite pho. It had huge chunks of red onion which I had never seen in pho. I know that the broth usually requires onion in it, but I've never really seen a pho with giant stir fry sized sliced of onion in it. The meat in it wasn't as rare or tender as I would have liked but the kicker was really that the broth just wasn't doing it for me. It was greasy and missing some key pho flavorings like clove, star anise, and cinnamon. The noodles were fine but that's not saying much when the star of the show was lacking. In good news, the iced coffee was lovely and came in a traditional press which I love.
Luckily the price was right for such a mediocre bowl of pho. I came here purely out of connivence and laziness so I guess this is what I get for not putting much effort into things. If you're desperate for cheap pho, I can see this working in a pinch but I can't really endorse it knowing how much better pho there is out there in the world. Total bill: $13 with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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