In Search of Pho…

Like a vision from Dante, a man appears through a curtain of thick steam delicately holding an almost perfect circle of creamy white, paper-thin dough.

This is the fragile ‘banh pho tuoi’ - the rice noodle for the signature Vietnamese breakfast dish that I’m about to sample…

Outside on the street, a old lady gestures to me to sit on a tiny stool next to boiling pots and presents me with a bowl of ‘pho’ - a gorgeous broth infused with star anise, thick with ‘my’ fresh noodles, spring onions, beef, topped with basil and coriander and a squeeze of lime.

The table is warm, homely and like the Pho, comforting and full of friendly flavours.

The Vietnamese love to eat. Often. The streets of the country are littered with people squatting around low small tables slurping down the fresh, exquisite flavours that mirror the delicacy of their country.

From the Imperious Chinese influenced past of the looming Citadel in Hue to the French colonial building in Hanoi to the busting markets of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) - the Ben Thanh, I am eating my way around Vietnam…

Mai Pham, a Vietnamese American who runs culinary trips to Vietnam with Viking Travel, sees that “the herbs are the secret”. Unlike the flame-tossed wok cooking of China, Vietnamese cuisine has adapted a more subtle approach. Like the perfect spring rolls (Goi Cuon) encasing prawns, basil, salad and dipped in one of the five traditional sauces that play such crucial roles in dictating the flavour of the meal.

As evening settles over the monastery at the Thienmu Pagoda in Hue, young, novice monks chant sutras. Their monotone drifts past me, through the tropical air still moist from a rain shower – and I am in a Vietnam that has always existed - lush and green.

Only then I remember – waiting for me at La Residence is a dish of Ca Kho To - fish in a clay pot - and I start towards the bridge over the Perfume River into the night…

© Stuart Freedman