Your best Viet

There’s nothing worse than having to pay for food you don’t like," says Michael Cua, owner of Phó Hòa Vietnamese food house. This was his experience when he came back to the Philippines after growing up in North America where he had been used to Vietnamese food. "When you’re a student and working, you only have so much funds, so you’d see a lot of Pinoys at Phó Hòa. In fact in Canada we’re the second biggest market next to Vietnamese and followed by Caucasians."

He remembers seeing a Vietnamese restaurant in Manila when he came back and then later thinking, "Why doesn’t it taste the way it should be?"

"I guess it’s okay when you’ve never had Vietnamese food, but I’ve had it so I really knew it wasn’t as authentic. One time my mom asked me if I thought the local market was ready for pho. I said, well, whether the market is ready or not, let’s bring in Phó Hòa anyway para at least tayo meron tayong mapuntahan.".

Which is why at Phó Hòa, they take pains to serve food that adheres to a uniform standard: Authentic and good. If you eat at Phó Hòa in SM Manila, the taste should be the same as the Phó Hòa in Vancouver, Canada, where Michael and his mom Nancy Cua discovered the restaurant, or in San Jose California where the franchise is based, or in Saigon, Vietnam, where everything started.

"Pho" means noodle soup in Vietnamese, explains Nancy Cua. "‘Hoa’ is just a name but literally translated it means flower – aromatic – so it’s aromatic noodle soup. In the US, the pho restaurants have different names like Pho Viet, Pho Pasteur or Pho No. 1."

Here’s a little crash course on Vietnamese cuisine: They use a lot of herbs and little fat. And if you’re watching your weight, you’ll be glad to know that a Vietnamese meal has definitely fewer calories than a burger, fries and a soft drink. Vietnamese food’s not as salty as Chinese food. Their French colonizers left very strong influences in their cuisine. Vietnamese coffee is so strong that it will keep you awake on your second wind or possibly even on your third. The staple is rice, noodles and French bread.

According to Michael, they also like to make their own soup, which is very unlike Chinese cooking where everything is served in one bowl. For instance, with a bowl of pho, you get a selection of condiments at your table like bean sprouts, basil, hoisin sauce, chili peppers and lemon to add texture and taste and flavor. One puts the vegetables in the bowl of noodle soup and mixes hoisin and chili in a dipping bowl. One is also well advised to eat the pho hot, lest the noodles expand, which they tend to do the longer they’re in the soup.

Michael explains that the main difference between Chinese food, which we are more familiar with, and Vietnamese is that with the former, "you put everything in the wok when you’re cooking but with Vietnamese cooking everything is timed. It sometimes takes hours to prepare some of the dishes to be created." Luckily at Phó Hòa, since almost everything is prepared beforehand, you need just wait less than five minutes for your food to arrive.

What we really liked was the vegetarian fried spring rolls (P68) stuffed with carrots, singakamas, wood-ear mushrooms and vermicelli noodles. Goi cuon (P68) is fresh spring rolls wrapped in rice paper (as opposed to the lumpia wrapper which has more calories from fat since it’s made from eggs and flour) that you can have stuffed with shrimps and chicken or just vegetables.

"Filipinos eat more rice, that’s why we have the barbecue dishes," says Nancy. "In Indonesia, for example, Phó Hòa serves barbecue dishes with either rice or vermicelli noodles. In Vietnam, it’s rice, vermicelli, rice noodle or French bread."

Grilled dishes include fish steak (P165), tenderloin steak with rice (P185) topped with crushed peanuts (Vietnamese cuisine uses a lot peanuts), com ga nuong cha gio (P145), and bun thit nuong cha gio (P145), grilled pork and fried egg rolls. Other rice plates include chay dau hu (P128), tofu and assorted mushrooms with rice; cha chien (P169), breaded fish with rice; com bi cha suon nuong (P145), grilled pork chop and egg pie with rice; cum thit bo kho (P145), beef brisket on rice; and glazed chicken on rice (P145). Another popular dish is the stuffed chicken wing (P87) with vermicelli noodles, wood-ear mushrooms and vegetables.

Noodle soups range from light size (P95) to to nho or small bowl (P120) to to lon or large bowl (P165). Michael relates that a bowl of pho will satisfy your hunger for almost the entire day. Of course, he may be referring to the American size that he was used to abroad where the big bowl is 13 inches in diameter! Thankfully, they have adjusted the sizes – and prices – to suit the local market.

At Phó Hòa, noodle soup choices are chicken, beef stew, seafood or vegetarian. If you prefer noodles to rice but want it dry, you can have pho xao bo (P129) or rice noodles with beef, or mi xao don thap cam (P187) or fried noodles with assorted meat.

If you have more room in your tummy for dessert, don’t forget Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk (P52). It uses a mini percolator, placed on top of the cup and the coffee drips through. It takes around five minutes for the cup to be filled. We tried the iced coffee version (P55) and though a little sweet for us, it was much stronger than what you find in coffee bars.

Mango crepe (P66), coco grass (P46), sticky pandan mongo cake (P28), and coconut custard (P46) are the other temptations on the dessert menu.

Phó Hòa is in its third year in the Philippines. Nancy and Michael Cua say that when they applied for the franchise in the US, they found out that eight other Pinoys already had their applications in. But given their background – Nancy owns Emerald Garden restaurant in front of the US Embassy – and their partners’ – who own various McDonald’s and Jollibee franchises – they got the prize.

"The Phó Hòa owner is a Vietnamese who fled his country during the war, along with the country’s intellectuals and entrepreneurs," says Mike. "In fact, he stayed in the Philippines as a refugee before going to America. So he really loves the Philippines. We met him in California where we trained and he came here right after we opened to check on the operations."

Phó Hòa now has branches at Greenbelt Square and Jupiter St. in Makati, Annapolis in Greenhills, Tomas Morato in Quezon City, and SM City in Manila. The Cuas plan to open three more branches within the year at Rockwell Center, SM City North-EDSA, and Libis. After the 10th branch, will start sub-franchising.

So how have Filipinos accepted Vietnamese cuisine? "The thing with Vietnamese food is that it’s not very familiar to Pinoys. The taste is different. Many Filipinos are afraid to try something new," says Michael. "When I was growing up in the States, the only things I’d eat were pizza and steak, nothing remotely Asian. My dad had to drag me to Phó Hòa the first time. The first time was okay, the second time it was so good but I didn’t want to admit it. The third time, I was going there by myself. The next thing you knew, I was bringing all my friends to Phó Hòa."

I guess it’s almost like a woman – or a man. At the first meeting you get curious. The second makes you interested. By the third time, you’re hooked.