What is Phở?
The most famous Vietnamese dish. Beef noodle soup. It's difficult to say correctly because it's so much about the intonation. It's kind of like saying 'fur' but elongated ('fuuurrr'). Very tasty.
How to eat Phở
After learning from my Vietnamese friends and watching people eat Phở, I hopefully have a good idea of how most people eat it. It's worth tasting the broth first and remember that all the garnishes depend on your personal taste - there's no right or wrong way.
Tear up a selection of the leaves provided and add them to the soup, along with some fresh chilli, a squeeze of lime, some Sriracha (red chilli sauce) and hoisin. Note that not everyone adds the Sriracha and hoisin (some don't add lime either) but it seems like most do. Some people add fish sauce too, but it's rarer. If you're not sure, start without any additional sauces and add some later to see what you prefer. Beware that by the end of the soup, the flavours will have intensified, especially from however much chilli you added.
Grab one of the small dishes and add half Sriracha, half hoisin, possibly with a squeeze of lime - mix them together and use it as a dip for the beef.
Use the chopsticks and soup spoon to mix up the soup, then eat the noodles using the chopsticks and chase each mouth of noodles with a slurp of the broth.
History of Phở
Phở is originally from the north of Vietnam and the name actually refers to the type of noodles used.
Typical price of Phở
30,000 - 50,000d