Okay Vietnamese food in the area.
It was a rainy day and what better food to get than a nice warm bowl of pho. The outside of the restaurant was easy to spot with their tall glass windows and purple exterior. Getting inside was the hard part since the flooring was damaged you can only open the door less than a feet before it gets stuck leaving little room to go in. The staff was friendly and it wasn't that busy so I was able to sit anywhere in the restaurant.
I ordered my usual pho tai (~€8) and it took maybe 15 minutes for it to come out which I thought was unusually long compared to back at the states where it takes 5-10 minutes. The bowl looked amazing with the onions and sliced beef and scallions. However, there were several few key ingredients missing from the pho and that was the Sriracha and Hoisin sauce. There weren't any on my table and the staff didn't have any and I was very confused as to why an Asian restaurant that particularly serves pho doesn't have these sauces when there are some available in the markets in Paris.
Another comment about my pho were the thickness of the noodles. I'm used to very thin noodles as my family makes pho and I've eaten at several pho restaurants back at home, but these were noodles I've never seen before in pho. Combined with the lack sauce the pho tai was okay at best. The beef was highlight of the pho as it was very tender and nicely cooked. The broth was also a delight to drink up.
I'm sure there are other amazing plates on the menu and I'm not sure if all pho are like this in Paris or France, but if you're used to having pho in the U.S., I'd avoid the pho here and get something else. read more