pho vi hoa

los altos, ca

website

this is a real pho restaurant, as opposed to madame tam, which is a vietnamese-ish restaurant that happens to serve pho. so of course there are going to be some things that the real pho restaurant does better: (1) better fattier beef, (2) selection of pho - i can choose a bowl that has tripe, tendon, and all these weird chewy bits, and (3) price.

the real pho restaurant also serves an excellent fresh lemonade - a little sweet for derek's tastes, but perfect for mine. but what was missing from the real pho restaurant, however, was the flavor of the broth. it was good at pho vi hoa, but i think madame tam, surprisingly, has a richer and more flavorful broth. so, pho vi hoa for the meat and madame tam for the broth. hmmm.