Chad Kubanoff (37 years old) is an American chef, currently living in Ho Chi Minh City. He owns a social media account with more than 26 million followers, regularly posting cooking videos and experiencing street food in Vietnam.

Besides banh mi, Chad said he really likes Vietnamese pho. He has eaten pho many times, experiencing all the flavors of northern and southern pho.

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Chad Kubanoff loves Vietnamese pho and finds the taste of northern style pho different from southern style.

Most recently, Chad visited a famous restaurant on Xuan Thuy Street, District 2, Ho Chi Minh City, to enjoy a pho dish that he commented was “the best Northern-style pho in Ho Chi Minh City”. That is pho tai lan.

“This is my favorite pho, very Northern style. It’s not served with raw vegetables or bean sprouts, but it has a lot of onions,” Chad said.

At the restaurant, the American chef ordered a bowl of rare beef pho for 160,000 VND. The reason this pho is so expensive is because it is made from famous Japanese marbled Wagyu beef.

As Chad observed, the beef was stir-fried with fragrant garlic at high temperature. The chef stir-fried quickly, stirring evenly until the meat was browned.

“The premium beef is stir-fried over high heat, as if the smoke seeps into every piece of meat so when you eat it, you can still feel the smoky smell of the beef,” Chad said.

He appreciated the taste of the rare beef, finding the smoky smell quite fragrant but not unpleasant at all.

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Premium beef is stir-fried rare, combined with broth simmered from beef marrow and bones, especially with natural sweeteners.

While enjoying the dish, the American guest showed his expertise by adding pickled garlic and traditional chili sauce to the bowl of beef pho. He commented that these are two “standard spices” that are indispensable for Northern-style pho.

According to Chad, the pho is "very flavorful", the meat is soaked in spices so it has a rich flavor, very different from pho dishes served with pre-sliced ​​cooked meat.

“The owner told me that they did not change the recipe but brought in all the quintessence from the North. That is also the reason why I love this pho.

The beef is stir-fried rare and still retains a bit of smoky flavor, while the broth is rich. Everything blends together, making the dish more flavorful than any Northern pho I have ever enjoyed,” he said.

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Chad commented that Northern-style pho is often served with lots of onions and a clearer broth than Southern-style pho.

After eating, the American chef commented that the pho had a distinct flavor similar to that of Hanoi. He noticed that in other pho restaurants, the beef would be boiled, sliced ​​into small pieces and then placed in the bowl, so “the flavor is no different, just like the way the broth is cooked.”

“But when enjoying rare beef pho, the broth mixed with stir-fried beef makes you feel like the dish has a special spice added, changing the taste of regular pho,” Chad said.

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The American guest loved the rich flavor of Northern-style pho tai lan, constantly exclaiming how delicious it was.

In addition to Northern-style pho tai lan, at the restaurant, Western guests can also enjoy other delicious pho dishes such as: fried pho with stir-fried beef, pho rolls, and mixed pho.

He was surprised that pho noodles could be used as an ingredient for many dishes and commented that each dish was delicious in its own way, but all had an attractive flavor.

Photo: Chad Kubanoff

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