Sunday, July 17, 2011

Taiwan: Pho Hoa

So on Facebook, I asked my friends if I should eat pho or ramen? I guess thanks to Jess, I choose pho, since I've had ramen too many times already.

I set off on another glorious food adventure in the middle of Taipei. I remember wandering about a few years ago and encountered Pho Hoa on my way to Japanese style all you can eat bbq. This time, instead of taking the MRT, I got lost on the Taipei bus system. Bus Number 262... (I appreciate the bus system cause it's cheap and efficient, unlike LA, which is experiencing carmegedon or not really)

After the bus passed the familiar underground mall at Zhongxiao Fuxing and Dunhua. I decided it was time for me to get off the bus and wander about.

Pho Hoa

No. 43號, Lane 190, Section 1, DūnHuà South Road, Daan District.
:台北市大安區敦化南路一段190431
You can get here by going out Exit 8 of Zhongxiao Dunhua Station, cross the street to the left and go through the ally or you can go through Exit 5 of Zhongxiao Fuxing Station.
You can also google map it ...
11:00-23:00 (damn they open late)
Tel: 2751-5578
http://noodle.zeelive.com.tw

After sweating and walking around in circles around the same block ... I finally reached my destination. I took a glance at the menu.


Oooo O M G. They have a chef's special called 火車飛機 (Train Airplane). This basically has everything all in one bowl (chicken, tripe, steak, tendon etc. that you typically find in pho). Just because it had such an awesome name in Chinese ... I ordered it : ).

Along with the Pho, I ordered spring rolls and Vietnamese iced coffee. The total came to be 270 NT. WTF ... All that for 270 NT. That's like 9 usd. That's how much I have to pay with tax and tip for just a tiny ass bowl of pho back in LA. Ah... I love Taiwan.

The first item that came was the spring rolls.

I gotta say. These spring rolls tasted like ordinary spring rolls. They were not superb and just alright. It felt kind of empty and loose. I think they put too little stuff in the rolls that made it feel thin. The sauce that went with it was just fish sauce and peanuts and squeezed lime. Just meh...

I was hoping the star of the show would be much better than the rolls.



When I saw the soup ... I was a bit puzzled. It was not clear and brown like typical pho soups. When I tasted it ... O M G...... This soup is delicious. It sort of tasted like ramen broth but with all the pho spices. The soup was creamy from the bone marrow from probably a million cow bones they used to stew the soup. I think this is perhaps one of the unusual but best pho I've ever had. I ended up drinking all the soup. It is also the first time I don't feel thirsty after drinking the soup (other soups I've had had me drinking a gallon of water).

The amount of noodles and meat also well balanced the soup. Some pho places put way too little meat or too much noodles >< . This place was just perfect.

To finish off ... I got the iced coffee and watched as it slowly went drip drip drip ... drip ... drip...


And finally stirred and poured into the ice for a nice refreshing finish to a meal.

It just started raining. Talk about good timing for getting back in time before it started pouring a lot. On a side note...

I rescued a dog from getting hit by a taxi ... then the dog bit me as thanks haha.

Now for something amusing ... Instead of using a lawnmower or grooming machine, they use a motor scooter to groom a baseball field.

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