Today the itinerary stated was a ‘do yourself lunch’ – an opportunity to explore Vietnamese cuisine on our own. Phở is a popular street food in Vietnam in which Lesley had a particular interest. She wanted to taste the authentic dish in order to ensure she could recreate it at home. Phở, is a noodle soup consisting of broth, linguine-shaped rice noodles called bánh phở, a few herbs, and meat: either beef or chicken.
Our Guide Quang suggested a nearby restaurant that we quickly reached by taxi although if we had known it was run by Quang’s brother (In-joke since the owner was the spitting image of Quang our guide!) we might have thought twice!! Quang vehemently denied all knowledge of his long lost brother but we were never wholly convinced.
Anyway I digress, the restaurant was truly authentic, with cauldrons of Phở bubbling away in front of some rudimentary tables and chairs. The order placed we only waited a minute or so before a bowl of steaming Phở was set before each of us. On the table was some red sauce that we were invited to add to our bowl.
Well have you guessed yet what happened? After trying a small amount of the sauce it seemed to add insufficient flavour so I added more, a lot more – now I could taste it and Lesley & Bob were falling off their chairs in mirth at my facial contortions, streaming eyes and nose and florid red face!! It was spicy hot-hot chilli sauce but being the trooper I am, I finished the lot – the Phở not the sauce!! There then followed various predictions as to what this outrageous consumption would do for my constitution and that I would probably have to spend the rest of the day in close proximity to a toilet.
None of these dire consequences came about in fact quite the contrary it aided my 45-minute ‘power nap’ back at the hotel and cleared the remnants of a head cold for good and that was that. I was not, however, allowed to forget this incident for the rest of the holiday and was subsequently called up to test any spicy foods before consumption by my fellow guests!
I still liked the Phở!! Photos courtesy of Lesley but please note these were taken before sampling the sauce.
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