I’d never put herbs in a phở before in my life. Sophie had never not put herbs in a phở in her life, until she moved to Hà Nội. She had a smug, “After all these years of you inflicting that Hà Nội crap on me, I’m gonna show you what’s what” look on her face. I knew I was beaten before I took my first taste. I wasn’t beaten by the surroundings. I never took to them. I like my grubby wee back alley joints. However, I was realist enough to know it all comes down to the food, and Phở Hoa Pasteur, on that day, in September 2001, blew every bowl of phở I’d ever had previously clean out of the soup
...more
