I’ve asked my non-Viet friends to try pronouncing it as though they were asking a question; so far so good.

Fuh ?

Really like ya blog Billy! Good luck Girlfriend.

And yes – having grown up with lots of Vietnamese friends I definitely say “fur” – but find the advice of saying “fur?” with a question-like uplift at the end helps those who have difficulty pronouncing it gets their heads around it.
.-= Forager´s last blog ..South America calling =-.

Pho is everywhere in the capital and that means one problem — lots of mediocre pho threatening to give visitors an anti-climatic pho experience — but the city also has some divine slurps. Have a nose around Sticky Rice’s food blogspot — stickyrice.typepad.com — before you dive in.

My favourite is on Nghi Tam road, Pho Mau, not sure the of the number though. It’s only open from the crack of dawn till around 10am then the owner shuts up shop.

Every evening when I drive past his place, I can see him in his closed restaurant preparing the broth for the morning ahead in the evening. That’s such a reassuring sight — a dedicated chef overseeing a fresh broth. I know come morning my soup has been simmering away for a long time — maybe all night! — allowing all that goodness — beef stock, anise, ginger, etc — to combine into one triumphant slurp.

The good stock is key, but Hanoians still look at pho like a blank canvas — everyone has their preferred touches — drops of nuoc mam, vinegar (soaked with chili + garlic), fresh chili or chili sauce, a squeeze of a lime, an egg dropped in the broth, and so on.

So in my opinion no one is really handed the perfect pho — you must discover how to create your own perfect slurp, but finding that great stock in a restaurant that shows attention to detail (Pho Mau is also one of the tidiest and cleanest family-run pho places I know) for me is key.
.-= Teddy´s last blog ..PHO-shizzle… my nizzle? =-.