Evan (from the US) moved to Vietnam to live for more than a year and often shares on his personal YouTube channel videos of culinary experiences in some places he has been to such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hoi An (Quang Nam), and Da Nang.

In a recent video, Evan revealed his three favorite Vietnamese pho dishes that he had in Da Nang. He rated these pho dishes on three levels, based on the criteria of appearance, taste, and price.

“Never going back to America after this Vietnamese pho,” he wrote in the video title description.

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Evan introduces Northern-style traditional pho at a famous pho restaurant in Son Tra district, Da Nang city.

At the first level, in my personal opinion, Evan commented that the traditional Northern-style pho that he enjoyed at a pho restaurant on Ho Nghinh Street (Son Tra District) was the best.

The restaurant is a famous pho brand in Hanoi with dozens of branches both domestically and internationally. At the restaurant, Evan ordered a rare pho dish for 50,000 VND.

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Northern style pho is the most popular with Western guests, characterized by clear broth, served with green onions.

Western guests commented that this is the most basic and widely popular pho dish. The broth is naturally sweet and rich from the simmered bones. The noodles are soft and the beef is well-cooked.

“The pho is simply seasoned, without many fancy ingredients, but the flavor is fresh and delicious,” Evan said.

In terms of appearance, he rated the Northern-style traditional pho dish 7/10 because of its simplicity, including clear broth, rare beef and green onions. However, in terms of price, he rated it 8/10 and flavor 9/10.

“I like this pho because it is cooked in the traditional style, with the typical flavor of Northern pho,” said an American guest.

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American male tourist tasted rare beef and nodded in approval.

Ranked at level 2 by Evan is Southern-style pho, sold at a restaurant on Duong Dinh Nghe Street (Son Tra District). Here, he ordered a serving of beef pho for 70,000 VND, including several types of meat such as tendon, ribs, and brisket.

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Southern style pho is also Evan's favorite.

Evan commented that the noticeable difference is that Northern-style pho is prepared quite simply, while Southern-style pho is served with some side dishes such as herbs, bean sprouts, red sauce (chili sauce) and black sauce (sweet sauce).

“Northern pho usually has 3-4 basic ingredients, while Southern pho has more ingredients,” he said.

Before eating, the guest also added chili, garlic vinegar, chili sauce, coriander, and bean sprouts. He commented that the broth was initially rich and had a natural sweetness from the simmered bones, but when spices were added, it had an attractive change.

“This is one of the reasons why I decided to move to Vietnam. This pho has such a diverse flavor. When you squeeze in some lime, the broth tastes better with 4 flavors: salty, sweet, sour, and spicy,” Evan exclaimed.

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American tourists appreciate the taste of Southern-style beef pho

In terms of appearance, he rated the Southern-style pho dish at 8/10 with thinner, softer noodles than the Northern-style pho. The flavor was 9/10 because “the beef was cooked perfectly, soft, smooth, large and full of pieces.”

“This pho is suitable for American taste. The beef is tender, dipped in dark soy sauce, reminding me of pastrami (a famous smoked beef dish in New York) back home or Montreal-style smoked meat of Canada,” the male tourist expressed.

He also said that although the price of Southern-style pho here is more expensive, it is served with large pieces of good quality meat.

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Evan was impressed with the pho with red wine sauce because of its creative preparation and attractive color.

The last dish on Evan's list of three favorite Vietnamese pho dishes is pho with red wine sauce. He enjoyed this pho at a famous restaurant on Nguyen Van Thoai Street (Ngu Hanh Son District).

Here, he ordered a serving of pho with red wine sauce for 30,000 VND.

“This pho is unlike any other pho in Vietnam,” Evan describes.

Western guests commented that this pho dish has an eye-catching appearance at 8/10 points with the orange color of the beef and the green color from the coriander and green onions.

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He rated the pho with red wine sauce as affordable.

Regarding the price, he rated 10/10 points because the beef stew pho here is affordable but the portion is large and nutritious. However, regarding the flavor, he rated 7/10 because he found the flavor not as rich as other versions.

“This is also my favorite pho dish, but it’s not the best. The beef is stewed until tender, with both lean and fatty meat, melting in your mouth. The broth would be even more delicious if it were seasoned a little more strongly,” he shared.

Photo: @NoodleheadEats

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