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Viet Groccer - Bangsar South, Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur (2025)

12/09/2024

5 Michelin-recommended Vietnamese family restaurants (Part I)

1. Tam Vi, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi

Two years after Michelin's arrival in Vietnam, Tam Vi has retained its Michelin star. Located in a two-story house on Yen The Street, it offers a setting for around 100 diners at a time with about 20 tables.

The restaurant's décor reflects a traditional Vietnamese home, with antique furniture and bamboo chopstick holders. The courtyard, shaded by trees, is perfect for a cool day.

2. Vi An, D**g Da District, Hanoi

Located at 145 Hoang Cau Street, Vi An made the Michelin Selected list for 2024. The restaurant's philosophy centers on sharing the flavors and culture of Vietnamese rice dishes with everyone, focusing on northern cuisine.

The space combines traditional Vietnamese values with modern design, with wooden furniture and greenery, offering a peaceful atmosphere.

The menu includes both à la carte and set meals. Popular dishes include boiled cabbage with egg dipping sauce, pork stew with quail eggs, and fried spring rolls.

Prices start from VND15,000 (60 U.S. cents) per dish, with set meals beginning at VND200,000 per person. Private rooms, communal spaces, and parking are available, and dessert is complimentary.

12/09/2024

Savoring Hanoi's newest delight: roasted chicken pho

In Hanoi, roasted chicken pho is an unconventional and lesser-known delight. Around a month ago, Nguyen Xuan Kien, 49, introduced his roasted chicken pho at 116B6 Kim Lien Street, D**g Da District, and it quickly became a sensation within Hanoi's food communities.

Around noon, the kitchen buzzes with chefs hard at work. Each with a distinct role: some shred the chicken, while others blanch the pho noodles. There are those who pour the broth, and the team ensures seamless order-taking and impeccable service for the valued guests.

The most sought-after dish on the menu is mixed pho with roasted chicken. Pho noodles are placed in a bowl, seasoned with a sauce, and garnished with chicken and herbs. Diners can enhance the experience by dipping the dish in a sauce prepared with a medley of coriander roots, basil, garlic, chili, sugar, fish sauce, lime and kumquat juice.

The chicken is finely sliced and arranged atop the pho, accompanied by peanuts, fried onions, blanched bean sprouts, and herbs. Diners will relish the tender, marinated chicken pieces with their fragrant skin.

To combat any dryness, it pairs perfectly with a steaming bowl of the chicken broth. To create the broth, the owner simmers pork bones and chicken leg bones, adding salt, fish sauce, onions, and grilled ginger, stewing it continuously for 18 hours.

12/09/2024

When Obama Met Bourdain in Vietnam: Recap of "Parts Unknown"

12/09/2024

3 typical differences between Hanoi beef pho and Nam Dinh beef pho

Similarities

– Basic ingredients: Both Hanoi beef pho and Nam Dinh beef pho use basic ingredients such as pho noodles, beef (usually rare, cooked or fried beef), green onions and herbs.

– Broth: The broth in both types of pho is made from beef bones, combined with spices such as cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, and grilled dried onions and grilled ginger.

– How to eat: Both types of pho are eaten with vinegar, chili, and pickled garlic.

Difference

About broth flavor:

3 typical differences between Hanoi beef pho and Nam Dinh beef pho - Photo 2.
Hanoi pho

– Hanoi Pho: The characteristic of Hanoi pho is the clear, light broth, seasoned with cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, and ginger depending on the restaurant's recipe. Some places also use sea worms to create sweetness. The water used to boil bones for the first time is often thrown away to avoid bad odors. The bone marrow is beaten at both ends so that the marrow can easily absorb into the broth during the simmering process.

That's why the broth of Hanoi pho is often clear, gentle and delicate. The sweetness of the broth comes from beef bones, pork bones (some people even add things like old black goose during the process of simmering the broth...) and spices, not too rich, easy to eat and feel. receive.

– Nam Dinh Pho: Nam Dinh pho broth always has fish sauce, lots of ginger, little cinnamon or anise flavor, has a fatty scum, and has a strong taste. The water is simmered mainly from the bones for 15 - 18 hours.

Thus, the broth of Nam Dinh pho is often richer. The water has a golden brown color because during the processing process, beef bones are often used in larger quantities and are grilled until golden brown along with the use of additional spices such as fish sauce during the cooking process. The flavor is also stronger, suitable for those who like to eat bold flavors.

As for the beef and pho:

3 typical differences between Hanoi beef pho and Nam Dinh beef pho - Photo 3.
Pho Nam Dinh

– Hanoi Pho: Beef in Hanoi Pho can be rare or overcooked, usually thinly sliced and moderately soft (Blanched Rare Pho). The pho noodles are small, thin, soft but still chewy, not falling apart when soaked in hot broth.

– Nam Dinh Pho: Beef in Nam Dinh pho is usually cut into smaller pieces, gradually softened, rubbed on a cutting board, placed on top of a bowl of pho and poured with hot broth (also known as re-minted or re-boiled pho). , which may have the addition of meat or grits, creating variety in texture and flavor. Fresh beef is sliced thinly, gradually minced until soft without breaking, then placed on the cake and poured into boiling broth to slowly cook the meat.

About spices:

– Hanoi Pho: There are a few typical herbs to add to pho: green onions, coriander, and herbs (basil). However, if it is true that Hanoi Pho uses herbs (single basil) that are grown in the Lang region, called Lang basil or Lang basil. This is a suburban area of Hanoi in the past, specializing in growing spices and vegetables. The herbs grown here have a special flavor that cannot be found anywhere else. This also makes Hanoi beef pho different from Nam Dinh beef pho.

– Nam Dinh Pho is often served with spring onions and Chinese scent.

12/09/2024

What Makes Up the Phở

Unique as the Phở already is, another great quality about this soup is the varying techniques employed in cooking the dish. So to speak, no two bowls of Phở served from two separate kitchens will ever taste the same. However, all Phởs in the world are made up of the very same three elements that makes a bowl complete: the broth, the rice noodles and the meat.

But then ag*in, no matter where the Phở is cooked, and no matter that no bowl could ever be exactly the same, there is only one distinct taste of the Phở broth. Considered the soul of the dish, many agree that a successful bowl of Phở is the creation of good broth. Phở fanatics and the most discern diners judges the quality of a bowl of Phở by having a sip of its broth before any garnishing had touched the whole dish.

There may be no single perfect technique for creating the best Phở broth, but all Phở recipes call for the following ingredients:

Yellow onions Ginger Star Anise Cloves Salt Fish Sauce Sugar Carefully-selected beef bones (marrow-rich bones and knuckle bones) Boneless beef chunks

Generally, two stockpots of boiling water are needed for the preparation. Both the beef bones and boneless chunks are parboiled in one pot over high heat for about 5 minutes to take out the excess fat and all the impurities. Depending on different cooks, while some prefer to rinse off the meat and bones before moving them to the second pot, others leave it unwashed. While on the second pot, everything is kept at a simmer for an hour and a half. Any scum rising to the top is ladled out from time to time. Char the garlic and onions in open flame and the spices are then either tossed or wrapped in cheesecloth. The beef chunks are taken out after 90 minutes, while the rest of the broth is allowed to simmer much longer. When done, the broth is strained to come clear from impurities and is seasoned with sauce, salt and sugar before poured over the unseasoned rice noodles and boneless beef set aside earlier.

As techniques may vary one way or another, some would even simmer the broth up to more than 12 hours for the bone marrow to perfectly dissolve into the water, which is the very essence of the broth itself.

While there is no denying that the Phở broth is the most important element of the Vietnamese Phở, its rice noodle plays an equally important role. If the broth is the soul, the Bánh Phở noodle is the body of the Phở dish itself. The very noodle used in every bowl of Phở, Bánh Phở is made of rice flour which comes in different widths, and could either have rectangular or square cross-sections. Other countries call it chantaboon or rice sticks. The Bánh Phở is sold as drily packaged and widely available in supermarkets. However, many believe that fresh Bánh Phở adds to the quality of a great Phở.

Adding Finishing Touches

There are essentially two things you need to do before digging into your bowl of Phở. Add the garnishing, and then add the sauce. There is no strict rule as to what you must or what you must not add to your Phở since garnishing your bowl is more like putting together your own sandwich - toss in whatever you wish and have it whichever way you want.

So once your Phở is served on the table, you can go ahead and do your thing. Among the popular garnishes people mostly include in their Phở ritual are:

Bean sprouts - Freshly added or slightly blanched, they are popular for enhancing the flavor of Phở and if taken rawly, the crunch that comes with it could be lots of fun.

Herbs – freshly stripped from their stems and dropped straight to your bowl gives more character to your Phở. Every herb could introduce a different flavor and aroma. Many use the chopped cilantro (ngo g*i in Vietnam) because of the nice, pleasant fragrance it gives out. The purple-stemmed Asian/Thai basil adds a tempting, sweet smell to your bowl. Spearmint could also make some twist not just to the flavor, but to the scent as well.

Lime – many would prefer adding a squeeze of lime to tame the sometimes too sweet or too salty broth. Even if it comes bland sometimes, lime somehow brings the broth to life.

Chiles – a thin slice of hot chile, either dipped or mixed into the Phở, releases the oil from the hot broth. Popularly used are Thai bird chiles and dragon chiles, or if not, serranos or jalapeños will do.

Your table where your Phở is served would never be complete without the sauce. Whatever you fancy, you could go for the hoisin sauce, hot chili sauce, Sriracha hot sauce, bo vien or whatever your taste buds dictate. Once satisfied, go ahead and start digging and slurping your bowl to its last drop.

12/09/2024

Phở - A Bowlful of Vietnamese History, Culture and Huge Flavors

When speaking of Vietnamese food, one name will always be in the picture, and in fact, because of its popularity, is well-talked about, praised and even glorified by many. An easy dish to pick up and enjoy, hearty, delicious, warm and comforting, Phở (often written Pho) is, and will always be, considered the perfect food that cheers not just one’s appetite, but the heart as well.

Known as Vietnam’s national soup, this rice-noodle dish served in a flavor-packed broth may seem very simple to one’s eyes, but every bowl of Phở is loaded with complex flavors that delights the taste buds of anyone who acquaints himself to this pleasantly satisfying treat.

History of Phở

But as to how Phở came up, no one is truly certain about the specifics. In fact, there aren’t really many written records or past documents uncovered about Phở. Scholars, chefs, diners and many Phở fanatics, however, agree that this dish was invented in the early part of the 20th century in northern Vietnam.

A couple of theories point to Nam Dinh province (southwest of Hanoi) as the birthplace of Phở, and that ingenious cooks from the locality invented the dish to satisfy the zest for good food of its residents, both Vietnamese and French. With the use of local ingredients, du boeuf was added to the soup to create a local-tasting soup with a touch of foreign flavors. In another theory, the history of Phở is traced back to Van Cu, a small impoverished village still in the Nam Dinh province. Suggesting that it was in the village where the first bowl of Phở was invented, yet as a means of survival, its residents peddled the delicious soup for several miles to Hanoi. Though not substantiated, many of the present vendors in the capital are in fact from that village.

Invading the Global Scene

After the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the Vietnamese fled to different parts of the globe. To every country they immigrated, they did not only bring along their hopes and dreams of a better life, but also their colorful cultures and unique cuisine. Since then, Vietnam’s national dish started to grace the tables of different cultures around the world.

With the large Viet community in the United States, many Americans have acquainted themselves to Phở. Not only do they find goodness in every bowl as they see it as a very healthy meal that is so rich in flavor, the Americans also admire the exquisite art of making the dish. The popularity of Phở in France is undeniable as well, and by no doubt, it had captured the taste buds of other countries like Canada, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. Filipinos are known as adventurous eaters and with a strong craving for great food. Their country is considered a melting pot of different cuisines and Phở is among the many dishes trying to fancy its people’s fickle taste buds. Though the dish has not yet taken strong roots in their country, its presence has been beginning to be strongly felt. At present, there is now a certain number of Phở fans in the Philippines showing tremendous acceptance to the unique dish.

Viet Groccer - Bangsar South

12/09/2024

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