On days when it is cold outside, I crave for a hot bowl of Pho noodle soup. If you have never heard of Pho before, it is a traditional Vietnamese dish, somewhat of a "comfort bowl" of broth, rice noodles, and a variation of beef, tendon, tripe and meatballs.
Pho is generally served with a side plate of lime, chile, bean sprouts, cilantro, basil and/or mint. You can either dump all or none of that into your bowl of noodles. Interestingly enough, I have heard that this side plate is not common practice in northern Vietnam.
Pho is very popular in Vietnam and supposedly sold at many road side hawker stalls. By the way, for the longest time I pronounced Pho as "foe". But as it turns out, one of my Vietnamese friends corrected me one day, saying that Pho is pronounced as "phir".
We have quite a few Vietnamese restaurants in Fresno. The place I like to go for Pho noodles is Pho #1. There are other Vietnamese restaurants in that area but in my opinion, the broth at Pho #1 tasted better. I like to eat my noodles with lots of bean sprouts, some hoisin sauce and hot sauce. Yum!
Pho #1 is not a fancy restaurant and not the best looking place either. But the pho is worth it and very cheap too.
If you prefer a more upscale place, Kim's Restaurant at Shaw and Fresno St should fit the bill. It is a Vietnamese Restaurant and they've spend more of their budget on furniture and interior decor. I am actually not sure if Kim serves Pho noodle soup. I have never ordered Pho at Kim's. The fresh spring rolls at Kim's are really good, served with peanut sauce.
We've been to both restaurants many times and you can read the full reviews at our Fresno Vietnamese Restaurants page.
