Hello everyone! I’ve been MIA lately with the food posts so I wanted to be sure to include this one right away. This meal was had at Pho Junkies food truck near L’enfant Plaza in Washington D.C. By the way, pho is pronounced as “fuh.”
If the tag line tells you anything, they believe their food is “better than BRAINS!” I honestly had never heard of pho prior to encountering this truck, but my coworker, Brent, and his friend swore on the quality of this particular food. He looks at me, and he’s like “dude…you’re in college. You must eat Ramen.” And yes. He was right.In fact, they called it “classy Ramen.” I was sold.
Pho originated in the early 20th century in northern Vietnam and the word pho may be derived from a French word that means beef stew. So, it’s a traditional Vietnamese dish that has chicken or beef in addition to the broth, noodles made from rice, and herbs. Apparently it’s pretty popular for street vendors but, like I said, this was my first encounter with it!
It was only $10! All of the noodles are in the bottom here.
As you can see, it was a LOT of food and it was very filling! Options included green onion, white onion, cilantro, lime, jalepenos, and bean sprouts – I got everything but the bean sprouts. The whole shebang was ten dollars.
First, let me say I was VERY happy that I went with the three meat option. I loved having the different textures of meat, along with the ocntrasting texture of the rice. I was worried, at first, about this just being a big bowl of sodium but the broth was great. I couldn’t stop thinking, and told Brent, about how great it would be if you were sick. Like chicken noodle soup, just better.
The meats were interesting. While meatballs are probably one of my favorite meats EVER, the chicken stood out here. You could tell the meat was lightly cooked and then probably finished off cooking inside the broth. I thought it made the meatballs just too mushy.
Anyone who has ever been in my house before knows just how much I love cilantro – I wish they had put more in my pho, because that was one of my favorite parts! The entire soup itself, though, had a very distinct flavor, probably due to pho spice, and that had some great traditional Vietnamese flavor that I loved which set this apart from probably any other meal I would have had today.
TL:DR
Flavor? (1-10) 7
Customer Service? (1-10) 8
Would I go back? (Yes/No) Yes
I would definitely go back here. While it’s not going to be my go-to place (DC Taco Truck still takes the cake on that one), if it’s in the area it’ll definitely be a suitable option for lunch!