The Holy Grail of pho

I found it...a bowl of pho that not only rivals my mom's, but tops any other bowl of pho I have ever had. This is the Holy Grail of pho-a bowl so good that despite sitting in a packed restaurant, I didn't hear anything else other than the furious slurping and clattering of utensils against bowls.

Pho Le, located in Saigon's Chinatown, is famous among locals. It is considered one of the best pho restaurants in all of Saigon (which to me, makes it one of the best pho joints around). The pho here is so good it is attracting the attention of foreigners--I spotted a few Westerners eating here, which is sort of surprising considering that it is nowhere near any tourist site but in the middle of a bustling business district.

True southern Vietnamese pho is eaten with a lot of vegetables. Most restaurants in the States are very cheap with their veggie servings, but not here. You are greeted with a huge bucket of bean sprouts and ngo gai (don't know the English word for it).

...and a plateful of lemons and chopped chili peppers

How to describe this bowl of goodness? Let's start with the broth...
I don't know about other people, but what makes pho pho is the broth. True pho is a rigorous undertaking. Beef is cooked overnight until the meat falls off the bones and becomes tender. The broth, sweetened from the beef bones and meat, is saved to make pho. Most pho broth at other places are flavored by prepackaged pho flavorings. You taste that artificial flavoring immediately because it lacks a certain depth to the flavor. Not at Pho Le.

The broth here was sweet and I could taste that bit of fattiness from the meat. I also squeezed in lime to add a bit of sourness and chili peppers for spiciness. This combo of sweet, sour, and spicy was perfect, and attacked my taste buds with every slurp.
The meat was really, really tender not like that tough meat I've been eating at most other places here. It had a bit of fat and muscle still on it. I knew eating all that fatty tissue wasn't good for me, but dang, it was so good.

Look at that...so beautiful.
The bowls here are HUGE, but I finished the whole thing because it was just that good. I really can't describe how good it is, but it's the type of good that you just want to keep returning back to eat. I've never, ever had pho this good, which is saying a lot because before eating here, I swore that no one could ever make pho as good as my mom. But this place...it's just that good. Everyone in my family that has been here all agrees that it is the best place.
The final stamp of approval that seals it all...my mom's. My mom criticizes every bowl of pho she doesn't make herself, often with good reason. But even she agrees that the pho is good here. Also, my aunt, (pictured on the right) agreed and her tastebuds are shot due to sickness.

I didn't think I would find a bowl to rival my mom's, but I did. And I am oh, so much happier for it.

Pho Le
413-415 Nguyen Trai
Phuong 7, Quan 5, Saigon