In his book on Hanoi's delicacies Vu Bang noted a remark from his epicurious contemporary: "In this year of 1952, pho appears to have reached its peak, just as a perfect symphony...with no room to criticize, nothing to substract and nothing to add."
A bowl of pho, in its genuine form, is a simple and pure pleasure. A handful of fresh rice noodles, a morsel of chopped spring onion, a sprinkle of cut coriander, a squirt of chili sauce, a dash of lemon juice and thin slices of slow-simmered bavette beef. The noodles are soft yet springy, the beef is tender, and most essentially, the broth is sweet, a sweetness of depth and sincerity, originating from the beef bones, fragrant but not overwhelmed by ginger and spices, moderately seasoned. Not the clumsy sweetness of pork bones or saccharine sweetness of MSG and sugar.
This basic bliss is what we are after at Pholosophy.
