BEST Pho! TRADITIONAL Noodle Tour of Saigon Vietnam

That the world is a good place full of good people and pho. I just got off the plane here in Saigon, went to the Airbnb, grabbed a shower and came to this place. And this is gonna be where my Vietnamese culinary adventure begins with a piping hot bowl of pho. I don't know how many years I've been dreaming of this moment. Pho is one of my like all-time favorite things to eat. I crave it daily. I feel like if you cut me open, I'll bleed hot oil and I'll bleed pho. And I always wonder what it's like to come to Vietnam to have a delicious bowl of this noodle soup right at the source. Is it gonna be so much better than anything I've had before? Well, I don't have to wonder anymore because I'm really here. Like I mentioned before, this is the first thing I'm eating in Vietnam. I don't even care that it's like 90 degrees outside. Let's go get a bowl of pho. The first place I'm at is called Pho Nguyen and all my local friends say you've gotta come here for some of the best pho in the city. And here it is. I got the pho special. I didn't know what else to get. I mean, the special looked like it had a bunch of different meats in there. So this is what I went for. Just looking at it right now, it kind of looks like a bowl of pho I would get in the U.S. But there are a lot of distinct differences. First of all, this place only has one size. It's not that big because I'm kind of used to like a mega bowl of pho. And what's in here is some sliced raw beef. It's sliced a lot thicker than the places I've been to in the U.S. Also, the places I've been to in the U.S., they typically fill the bowl up with broth. So usually you get a lot more broth than you do noodles and meat. But this right here, it seems to be like a good ratio, like 50-50. And this is Vietnamese coriander. It smells very cinnamony. All right, before I do anything, I just want to get a taste of this broth. I was a little jet-lagged because it's like 1 a.m. right now in New York. And you know that Folgers commercial, like the best part of waking up is Folgers here? No, no, no, no. The best part of waking up is pho in your bowl. So incredibly beefy. I mean, just a pure, clean flavor. Not oily. I feel like it just quenches that beefy thirst that's inside every single Mediterranean like me. I mean, chicken soup for the soul? Uh-uh. This thing, this thing will make her so happy every day of the week. Here's the thing. I will be perfectly, 100% content just eating this bowl of pho on its own like this. I don't need any spice in here, nothing. This is, this is perfection right now. But I do want to dress it up to see what it's like. I mean, the stuff is here. Let's put it in. And when I used to do this, a lot of people tell me I shouldn't. Because what I typically do is I douse my pho with sriracha. And I made a point to ask my friends here if I should do that, if that's a local thing. And they gave me the green light. So I'm gonna add some of this in here. And this is not your typical sriracha you find in the States. The color is a lot different too. It's a lot more orangey. I just want to taste this. Ooh, it's spicier. It's a lot spicier. It's a little sweet as well. Wow. Squeeze some lemon into like an open flame. This is what you're gonna get. Poison sauce, a little bit. And this is really new. This is garlic vinegar. And check this out. This is sautéed chili. I've never added this before. I'm gonna try it. Usually, I go nuts with my condiments. But I feel even bad right now adding more stuff to this already perfect bowl of soup. So I don't want to add too much, just a little bit. And hopefully, I didn't do any damage. Because I'll never be able to forgive myself. After I added all the stuff in, you get that beautiful fragrance from the basil and coriander. Crunch from the sprouts. The inviting heat from the sriracha that just gets you across the face. And the beautiful citrus and vinegar just highlights how awesomely beefy the soup is. A few minutes is all it takes for this broth to completely transform these noodles. This is the perfection. This is perfection. Look at this massive piece of beef tendon. It's borderline crunchy. Ooh. Oh. Hello. Hello, greatest thing ever. Wow. That is ridiculously beefy. But not only is the flavor beefy, it's also so cream. Not overly fatty, not overly oily. Just unadulterated, natural, great beef flavor. All right, forget the spoon. This is... It's not getting enough broth for me. Some beef. Bunch of the noodles. Dip it in the broth a little bit. That bite just made my trip. Let's do that again. You guys who've been eating pho your whole life but you never tried it here in Vietnam, you need to. You need that on your bucket list. You need that on your food bucket list, your travel bucket list. Whatever bucket list you have, add this to it. Put this down. Chase it with a coconut. In today's noodle tour, it's not over. I'm just getting started. I'm gonna be showing you guys a lot more delicious noodle dishes here in Saigon. So I guess I gotta prepare myself in case I fall asleep. Luckily, I ordered a second bowl of this pho. All right, I'm gonna wrap this up. Then it's on to location number two. Oh my god, little puppy. Little puppy. It's so sad. Oh, why are you tied up here? Maybe I bring you like a pork bone or something. Huh? You're the most adorable little thing. Who's following me? This place is really famous for their crab noodle soup. The noodles are supposed to be really thick, about the size of my pinky, and absolutely delicious. Cannot wait to have a bowl of this. And guys, this is my friend Clay. He's showing me around to all the great local eats. I never heard of this before. Crab noodle soup. Is that like a traditional Vietnamese dish? It's a traditional Vietnamese. It's not from anywhere. What's so special about this? The noodle is very thick. The noodle itself and the soup. The soup is very thick too. So we have crab and shrimp. And oh, this thing is like blood. I know my blood. What's really interesting is that as soon as we sat down, they put this in front of us. Yeah. This is a plate of Chinese youtiao. Yes. Basically fried dough. I'm assuming this is going to go inside the soup. Yes. The crab meat is really unique. So this is crab meat. Crab cake. And this is just like bits of crab meat. Quail egg. We got pork. I'm excited. I've never heard about this dish in my life. Like, I don't know if it exists outside of Vietnam. Now, is there anything we're adding in here? Oh, wow. We got. This is fish sauce. And this must be vinegar. This is the vinegar. This is like fresh chili. Fresh chili. You guys add a lot of citrus in your noodles, which I love. Little citrus. Little sunshine in the noodles. You like chili? Yes, I like. I love. Like a lot? Like this much? No, no, no. Not that much. Okay, that'd be for me then. And to wash it down. What is this? Artichoke cooked with sugar. This is artichoke drink. I mean, I've seen artichokes, you know, roasted and made into cheese dip. I've never seen artichoke drink before. That's really surprising. You can taste the artichoke, but it's not overwhelming. No. If you don't tell me there's artichoke in here, if I don't like consciously look for that flavor. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't be able to really pinpoint what this tastes like. It just kind of tastes a little bitter. Really sweet. Not overly sweet. But I would never think this is artichoke. It's good though. And what is this? This is siu pap or cornmeal. Oh, very nice. This is pleasant. It literally tastes like if corn could be milked, it would taste like that. And do you add the youtiao in there? Yeah, you just soak it in. I like to kind of squeeze it a bit to force out the air bubbles so the broth can go in. Cheers, my friend. Okay, cheers. That's incredible. Sorry, did my voice change? So is it like anything you've tried before? It's not like anything I've tried before. Like, I feel like an archaeologist and you just kind of like unearthed like a hidden pyramid for me. Wow, thank you. This is crazy. First of all, this noodle isn't like anything I've had before. Such a chewy, smooth texture. It's a little rubbery. Yeah, it's a little rubbery. You could probably skip rope with this thing. That noodle alone is fantastic in this broth. The crab flavor, it's just insane here. Flavor explosion. So concentrated, it's so thick. I feel like the flavor, it's just sitting like a ton of bricks in the soup. Man, and that chili with the chili. Yeah, it hit you. I can't wait to try a piece of the youtiao soaked in the broth though. How was it? Excuse me. Wow, give that a round of applause. People are just looking at me like, why is this random guy clapping in the middle of his meal? That's what happens when I eat food I absolutely adore. Youtiao, it's so much air in there, right? It soaks up the broth so well. That's so good. That broth is so incredible. I thought eating pho was like the highlight of my trip. And it still is, but wow, discovering this. Not many people know about this dish. No idea this existed. I gotta try this crab cake though. It just tastes like an extremely, extremely flavorful fish cake. Like extremely flavorful. Guys, it's not just crab, it's crab, fish, fish, and meat too. Oh, that's where it is. There's so much going on in here, and that's where I guess where the pork comes in. That's fantastic. You guys never had blood before? Yeah, this is what blood looks like, you know, outside of vampire movies. It just tastes like a piece of firmer tofu. I feel like the best way to eat this is just put everything you can in a, in a, in your spoon. And just eat it that way. Whoa, you are, dude, you are sweating. Yeah. Did I put a little too much chili in there both for you? Some good broth here, you can't waste that. Take some of the youtiao. One thing I, I wish I did was, uh, I should have tried this without the spice in there just to kind of get the original flavor. But it's not too late, my friend. I ordered us a second bowl. Well, just me a second bowl. You want a second bowl too? No, I'm good. I don't think I can handle another bowl. So before I add the spice. How was it? Ah, it's very seafood-y. That's good. That's so much flavor in the soup. I'm glad that you enjoy. More than enjoy, my friend. Thank you so much for showing me. I never, ever would have found this place without you. So thank you so much. I'm gonna knock down this bowl and there's more noodle to come, guys. This noodle tour, it isn't over yet. Hey guys, so after leaving the second noodle place, all the other noodle places I wanted to go to were closed. So this is a brand new noodle day. And, and I was just thinking, um, although I haven't been in this country for that long, I think I'm already starting to fall in love with this place. And I know that because I'm already starting to picture in my head, like, what would I eat if I actually lived here? And so far I'm thinking this, wake up, go grab a bánh mì, take the bánh mì to my favorite phở place, eat the bánh mì with the phở, then go grab some crab noodles and finish everything out with a nice iced coffee. I think that sounds like a great day. And, uh, oh, speaking of noodles, I'm at my third noodle place. This is gonna be good. This place is really known for their bông thịt nướng, which is noodles with spring rolls and beef. Oh, thank you, thank you. Yeah, thank you. And here it is. This is a really popular Vietnamese dish. And it's one of the dishes I love to order in Vietnamese restaurants in the U.S. But this just looks so much better. I mean, it's really next level. There's two types of meat in here. There's the roast pork, and then there's the beef. Aside from that, some spring onions, peanuts, pickled carrots and radish, and the spring rolls. Look at this. And typically people eat this with fish sauce. I'm gonna pour all this over the top. Give it a nice mix. This is one of my most favorite Vietnamese noodle dishes of all time. I'll tell you guys something, but don't judge me, okay? Every time I go to a Vietnamese restaurant in the U.S., I always want to order this dish. But at the same time, I gotta order pho. Because I just absolutely love pho. So what I would do is I would order both. Also, usually I would get spring rolls as an appetizer when I eat pho. So when I order this dish, I'm also telling myself that, hey, I was gonna order spring rolls anyways. But, you know, this time spring rolls just sitting on a bowl of noodles. Mike Chen logic. So excited. Yeah, it's everything I hoped for. Coming to Vietnam, I had some pretty lofty expectations, especially when it comes to bánh mì, when it comes to pho, when it comes to this dish. Because there are things I've had a lot in the States, and I just assumed that they would be so much better in Vietnam. And all of them were so much better. I do feel like it does need some chili. Is that enough? Let's start off with this. Yeah, that's enough. That's enough. That's good. Roast pork. This is food love right here. You know what I'm talking about? Food love. Love at first bite. Sweet, juicy, and that smoky flavor. I think it's unparalleled in the roast pork world. I love noodles and spring rolls. This is the perfect carb on carb. I love the fact that the spring rolls soak up a lot of the sauce and the beef. Chewy, juicy, lean because of beef. You can't just have one bowl. Excuse me, one more. Oh, wow. Something else I just discovered about this dish. Wow, it's good. Is this. Check this out. These are little crackling pork skin. I didn't notice this because it was sitting on the bottom. But this thing. Holy crap. This thing makes all the difference in this noodle dish. First of all, it provides a delicious meaty crunch. Then right after, that beautiful pork skin flavor. As you chew, completely fills your mouth. That's a food lab genius. Man, it's always sad to get to the bottom of a delicious bowl of noodles. Oh, thank you. Nom nom. Perfect timing. You know me. We're buddies. Yeah. That's a food friendship that will pass the test of time. Oh, walking out of here, I just realized something. Those delicious barbecue pork that was on my noodles. It's actually made across the street. Right here. Check this out. I smell this walking down the street. I actually wanted to come eat here after I was done with the noodles. Because it's kind of reminding me of China's lamb skewers and beef skewers. The smell is just insane. This guy is crazy. Let me just give him a hand here. Can I have one? Straight to the source. This is so crazy good. And having it on the noodles was good. But right off the fire when it's piping hot. That's a whole different story. This is the owner, by the way. You are the creator of delicious noodles. So I want to say thank you. And that, oh my god. That is crazy good. That is so good. And your spring rolls. Thank you for the fresh spring roll. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, yeah. I'm gonna walk and eat. This will be my, like, journey snack to my next location. Okay, thank you. That's so crunchy. I love it when I go from one food place to another. And have some food to get me there. The next noodle dish I'm about to eat hails from the ancient imperial capital city of Hue. And the dish is called Pho Bo Hue. Now, this dish is sort of similar to Pho, but with some distinct differences. And I can have a bowl if I can make it across the street alive. Also, after a few days here in Saigon, I think I figured out how to cross the street. You gotta just not be afraid to get run over a little bit. And use your hands. Use your hands. Besides Pho, this is probably the noodle soup dish I've been looking forward to the most. Actually, the first time I had this was inside a Vietnamese household. And I thought it was Pho. So I was like, hey, you guys made Pho. They're like, no, we made Pho Bo Hue. I'm like, what's the difference? Then the difference starts with the soup itself. In Pho, the soup is typically created with beef bones. Like, for example, my Pho recipe, I used oxtails. But here, they use both beef and pork. Also, the noodles are completely different. Pho obviously uses Pho noodles. And here, this in Chinese, we call Mi Xian, which is pure rice noodles. And they're a lot bigger than the Pho noodles. Then there's differences in the meats used. Here, there are slices of beef. But also, check this out. A massive piece of pork. All right, enough talk. Let's eat. First, just gonna add in some herbs. And they have banana flowers, which could be a little soy in Chinese, we call it. I don't particularly love this stuff. Let's add a little bit. And morning glory. And then, squeeze in some lime. You can taste that nice balance of beef and pork. And the soup is super clear. And it's so gentle. It's like massaging my tongue and throat as it goes down. Nice, bouncy and nice. They told me I gotta add some chilies. And what they have here, it looks like hot oil. But there's some satay in here as well. Let's make it rain. Oh, oh yeah. Wow. It didn't look like that. I think, was that spicy? But it gets you here. That's my type of heat. I think I'm always gonna be somebody who feels like spice will elevate any sort of soup. And I definitely think that's the case here. The beef looks awesome because it's a nice mix of meat and tendon. This is something you typically find in Chinese beef noodle soup. Oh yeah. That's the stuff. That's probably the most tender piece of beef I had in any noodle soup here in Vietnam. I never really had like a super tender piece of beef in my noodle soups. Unlike Taiwan, I squeezed the meat with my chopstick and it falls apart. Here the meat is more chewy. But the beefy flavor is ridiculous. So it's always the case where the longer you chew the beef itself, the more the flavor releases. I'm too excited for this. I'm like the Lion King live action excited about this. Come here baby. Whoa. I was expecting a bite from the skin. Expecting it to be a little chewy. I just bit the heck out of that. This piece of meat, check it out. That was my most gentle bite ever. The skin, delicate, gelatinous. And the meat itself, look at this. Easily came off the bones. And being Chinese, you gotta suck on that bone marrow. If you don't, you might lose your Asian card. That's the good stuff. There's not a lot of it. That's why it's so precious. All right, now it's time to not be so gentle with it. Because I love eating noodle soup the raw savage way. I mean the spoon is good, it's nice. But when something is good, you gotta get up close and personal with it. Best way to eat noodle soups, regardless of what country you're in. I love the pork and beef together. And I especially love the pork skin and fat. Because you get that nice texture of the beef and tendon. Then you have the much more gelatinous, fatty piece of pork. And all that just works so well with the noodles and soup. Also, the morning glory here, man. This adds such a delightful crunch. Last bite's my favorite. I call those things sunken meat treasures. And I'm about to get to them right now. Hang on. I'm just trying to savor everything and remember this moment. If you were ever eating with Chinese people, and they just down a bowl of noodle soup like I just did. Slam the bowl down and utter the word. That means they're in a good place. And right now, I'm in an extremely good place. I'm sweating. I'm crying a little bit. But yeah, I feel very strong. I wish I could hit the rewind button on this. I really, really do. And hopefully, I will get to before I leave Vietnam. But I got one more noodle dish to visit today. So with a heavy heart and a very strong stomach, let's keep going. My last noodle dish and probably one of the more unique food items I'm going to try here in Vietnam. It's called Banh Tan Bi. And I don't really know much about it. I never heard about it before. I definitely never ate it before. It's supposed to be some sort of gooey noodles with coconut milk or coconut cream. I don't know. Let's just go try it. And to eat this dish, I am at Banh Tan Sedec. And Sedec is a city in the Mekong Delta. And this dish, this is a South Vietnamese dish. It's a dish with noodles made out of tapioca flour and rice. The noodles look steamed. It's covered in coconut milk. It has a layer of pork skin on top, some peanuts. I think this is pork sausage. And I'm not really sure, like a pork meatball or something. These noodles are, they're borderline gooey. And on the bottom, there's cucumbers, some basil, mint, Vietnamese coriander. This is almost to me sort of like a noodle salad. I like this. The noodles are lukewarm. It's very chewy. It's got that tapioca texture. If I could describe this in one word, I would say these noodles, they're really fresh. Noodles are nice and coconutty. With the delightful herbs just punctuating that refreshing flavor. What I do love is the different texture you get in this dish. The veggies are crunchy. The herbs are actually really pronounced. And you get that nice gelatinous flavor from the pork skin. Really a super light noodle dish. I do feel like it could use some citrus, some chili. Okay, the finishing touches here. That was the finishing link between a great dish and a spectacular dish. Because there is so much coconut milk here, this dish is a bit creamy. So when you add the citrus and especially you add that hot oil, that just makes this dish sing. I think it's a pork meatball. Completely overlooked this thing. I'm just laying on my plate, I didn't think much of it. What a hidden gem this is. By the way, because of this dish, I didn't really see that much meat. So I got a massive bowl of what looks like pork ball. This with some soup. See that? That is fantastic tender right there. Oh, I actually forgot something. They just reminded me that I was supposed to add some of this fish sauce, which I completely, completely forgot. I just want to add a little bit because it tastes really flavorful already. But maybe this will jazz it up even more. So stupid, I should have added this in the beginning. A little fish sauce really does these noodles a lot of good. These noodles, if you love something refreshing, if you love coconut, you're gonna absolutely adore this. And these meatballs, those meatballs are so good. I ended up getting a second plate of noodles, just because I saw meatballs in the picture. But I feel like there's something else that I really need and crave to round out this noodle tour, to just make my, I don't know, Vietnamese noodle wishes complete. I think I know where to go. This, this is what I've been craving ever since I had it for the first time. And I cannot think of a better way to close out this video than having another bowl of popping hot pho one more time. It's kind of like noodle video 360, you know? Like framing devices for all you theater people. Okay, I'm actually gonna go sit down and grab myself a bowl. Look at this! That's adorable. It's in this country. I am at this place called Pho Va Vong. And my friend Clay said this is his all-time favorite bowl of pho in Saigon. So the expectations are high. And he told me it was even better than the first place I went to, which, which that already blew my mind. So after this, my mind might literally have had nothing left to blow ever. And here it is. This is my large bowl of pho. So excited. Okay, had to get some Instagram photos in. Let's just look at the beef. Again, the cut is about the same as the first place I went to. And I'm just gonna put this in the broth and let that start to cook. Let's see what else is in here. There's some onions, cilantro, scallions. And look at this fatty piece of beef that's like 90% fat. Beef ball, of course. Beef tendon. Oh, that's a yummy looking piece of tendon. Sprite. More tripe. Some chilies. Flank steak. And of course, beautiful noodles. Moment of truth. As they would say in New York, forget about it. This is pho-rican good. Too much? Sorry, sorry. But seriously, guys. I thought I met that pho a few days ago. And we connected. You know, we had a good time. We, you know, spent some quality time together. Talked about our hopes and dreams and our favorite pastimes. But this bowl right here, it basically completely erased all my memories of the previous bowl. Like by so much. First of all, the beef flavor of this soup is so much greater than what I had before. Also, for some reason, this on its own is already a little peppery, a little spicy. And I think it's because of the chili right here. This broth, it is a little oilier than the first one I had. But the flavor, it's just so much better. This is by far the most fantastic pho I've ever had in my life. No competition. Don't even have to think about it. This is it. This is it right here. If you come to Saigon, come and get this bowl of pho. I don't know what else I can say to you to convey how much I love this. Hang on, hang on a second. This is Brenda and Jennifer. Obviously, they came to Vietnam with me. They helped arrange a lot of the trip. I just want you guys to try the soup, okay? You remember how good the pho was the first time we had it? It was delicious, right? That was probably our best bowl of pho ever. Oh my god, it's right. Is that good? Try it, try it, try it. This is so good. Try it, try it. Isn't this so much better than that first place? That's so good. Wow. Sorry guys, I need some quality time alone with this thing. And one more. We can't forget about our camera guy. Damn, man. It's like I'm a proud parent showing off my little baby here. We're all gonna come back just for this. If I just come to Vietnam and this is the only thing I eat my whole trip, I'd be absolutely okay with this. All right, I gotta get to uni. Maybe a little better. I don't know if I can accomplish that, but let's add some sprouts, some more chilies, basil, a little citrus. I'm actually... Oh, I didn't see this. Look at this. There's an oxtail in here. This bowl of soup is full of surprises. A little spice. You know why these noodles are so delicious right now? Because I've been talking for the last 5-10 minutes and they've been soaking up this delicious broth. And now even if you separate the noodles from the broth and add nothing else to it, this is a delicious meal. So good. I gotta try some of their ribeye. Having pho here in Vietnam, especially after having this bowl of pho, there are good things and bad things, right? The good thing is that you get to have this magical bowl of pho. The bad thing is I'll never be able to eat pho again after I go back to the US. Like, it's over. I'm kind of eating it and mentally comparing what I had before in New York and it's a joke. It's like taking a cup noodle over to Ichiran Japan and asking for a taste test. I'm so excited about this oxtail. Oh, that skin is so gelatinously awesome. I cannot even believe. After like a dozen bites, how good this is. So to have a dish I love so much in the country of its origin and at this caliber, major item on my food bucket list, crock stock. I cannot go home happy. And all this, three US dollars. Best pho ever. Well guys, I don't know if you can see the glazed over look in my eyes right now, but that does conclude my Vietnamese noodle tour here in Saigon. And I gotta tell you, this is one of the funnest videos I've ever done because it included foods that I wanted to try so much. And everything either lived up or exceeded. Completely, completely exceeded all my expectations. And if you love pho as much as I do and you're traveling to Vietnam, please, please come here and get this bowl of pho. Also, if you love pho, and I'm not wearing it right now, but we did make a friends pho ever shirt that's really cute. So if you want that, go to our t-shirt store. That link is available for you guys in my description box below, along with all the other places I went to on this noodle tour. And guys, it's been such fun fun. Sorry, sorry, I had to do it one more time. Such fun eating noodles with you. And until we eat again, see you later.