Thursday, May 25, 2006

Pho Real



I just had a great lunch with my friend Paul - the food was excellent and he paid for it! We went to Thang Long, a Vietnamese restaurant in Madison Heights. This is "Pho", which is a noodle soup. I ordered mine with medium beef slices and beef meatballs. The broth is beef, and full of rice noodles and cilantro. You add some bean sprouts, basil, lime and chile pepper from the plate on the side to taste.

Thang Long must have 15 different kinds of Pho, in addition to about 150 other Vietnamese and Thai dishes, and almost everything is between $5-10. You can get your Pho with rare, medium or well-done beef (or any combination), meatballs, chicken, pork, or seafood. The meat is lean and delicious, the broth is really hot, the bean sprouts are crunchy, and the peppers and basil wonderfully aromatic. For $5.50, you're getting the whole package.

I'm guilty of it myself, but it's mystifying why there is always a line for the fast-food drive through when you could eat this for the same money, maybe even in about the same time. The gratification factor is a lot higher too - you can positively stuff yourself with Pho, but it's pretty tough to get fat on broth and rice noodles. If you're in the area let me know, I could eat there every day.

I also wish someone would franchise a Pho Hoa in Detroit, it looks like my kind of place.

4 comments:

Jeremy said...

I'm just around the corner from John R. and 14.

Jonathan said...

Awesome, I didn't know that. Let's go next week.

Jeremy said...

Fo sho.

Jeremy said...

That was a tasty lunch ... it's left a lingering taste in my mouth all afternoon, which I must say has been downright delightful!

This place just made it onto my route.

P.S.

Thanks for lunch!