South Korean newspaper introduces 4 pho restaurants in Hanoi

Writer Park Jeong Bae of Chosun daily newspaper introduces 4 restaurants after a food tour to the "city of pho" Hanoi.

After researching, Park Jeong Bae concluded that "Hanoi is the city of pho", and Hoan Kiem district is the "mecca" of pho. 

The first restaurant he visited in this area was Cu Chieu beef pho in Hang Bo, Hoan Kiem, which is 100 years old and has gone through 4 generations. The restaurant is named after Mr. Co Chieu, son of a man named Co in Van Cu village - a pho making village in Nam Dinh. Mr. Chieu brought his family's pho pho to Hanoi in the 1930s and passed the craft on to his descendants to this day.

According to a Korean writer, the restaurant space stands out with a fresh beef counter located right at the entrance. The restaurant uses hot beef, which customers can slice wherever they eat. The restaurant's broth does not use spices such as anise, cinnamon, or cardamom, but only uses broth cooked from beef bones and beef. The accompanying condiments do not have fresh lemon like many other pho restaurants.

The second pho restaurant in the Hoan Kiem area that Park Jeong Bae introduced is Pho 10 Ly Quoc Su, Hang Trong Ward, open from 6:00 a.m. to 9:50 p.m.

"Pho 10 Ly Quoc Su is a famous name in Hanoi," Park said. The restaurant has grown from a small pho establishment into a chain of stores present on many streets throughout the capital and provinces throughout the country. He commented that this pho restaurant's broth is sweet and the space is spacious.

Pho Thin, Lo Duc is the next place Park Jeong Bae mentioned. He shared that this pho brand is popular with many Korean customers. Kimchi tourists love the restaurant because of its rich, fatty flavor. A bowl of pho here costs around 70,000 VND, "more expensive than the average pho restaurants in central Hanoi". The bowl of pho at this restaurant has an easily recognizable feature: lots of green onions.

Pho Bat Dan also appeared on the food tour of a Korean male tourist. The first time Park Jeong Bae came to the restaurant, he saw customers lining up waiting to eat pho early in the morning. To him, the Bat Dan pho noodles are thin, the beef is tender, and the spices served without lemon are "like Cu Chieu's restaurant". The writer suggests that diners should try undercooked pho and order more fried rice to enjoy the rich flavor of the dish.

The Korean writer also pointed out the difference between Northern and Southern style pho. The most obvious difference is the accompanying spices, Southern pho often comes with a variety of herbs, bean sprouts, chili sauce, and hoisin sauce. Northern Pho often uses green onions as the main spice, accompanied by vinegar, garlic, chili, and some places add fresh lemon.