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at Pho32 & Shabu

Peter K.

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Even at 4AM, Technique Matters

If only I had known earlier in my life the correct way to eat pho, I think I would have developed a greater love for the noodle soup dish.

After (yet another) night of drinking and walking around town, my friends and I decided to conclude the night at Pho32 in K-town.Dave, the seasoned veteran of pho-eating, gave us a live demonstration on the real way to enjoy pho. For too long, I had treated pho like any other noodle dish, adulterating the clear soup with Sriracha and shoveling large chopstick-fulls into my mouth, hoping to finish the pho quickly before my stomach called for mercy.

Dave told us that the soup must never be contaminated and that the soup spoon, which I had hardly ever used with pho (I just drank straight from the bowl after the noodles had been decimated), was an integral part of the process. Into the spoon would first go the noodles - not too much, but enough for a hearty mouthful - then a piece of meat, beat sprouts, basil leaf, a dab of Sriracha and a squrit of Hoisin sauce. When the pretty spoonful was balanced and just perfect, there would be a careful dip into the soup to re-wet the noodles before a one-way trip straight into the mouth. In one bite, a multitude of flavors would coalesce, redefining any previous notions of pho.

We followed suit, and after a couple of clumsy attempts, began to expertly assemble delicious spoonfuls of pho. By meal's end, we were thoroughly convinced that pho could never be consumed in any other way.

 

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