Phở has no place on the poncey tables of nouvelle cuisine restaurants that play chamber music, nor in the “ethnic” section of the Hilton breakfast buffet. It’s the single-dish spots like Phở Thìn, not seven hundred yards’ walk from the four-star Hilton Hà Nội Opera Hotel, that had that vibe nailed through the floor. The beauty of single-dish specialization is a point worth laboring, so I will do so again, and not for the last time. If the place you’re thinking of eating at serves only one dish, looks like it hasn’t seen a lick of paint since Hồ Chí Minh popped his clogs, and is still in
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