Pho (pronounced “fuh”) is a type of Vietnamese noodle soup that typically includes meat and sometimes green onions in addition to the noodles. It may come with various side dishes including basil, bean sprouts, jalapenos and lime. (Disclaimer: I hadn’t had pho before this past Sunday so I am not actually qualified to say whether or not it was in fact real pho.)
Of course the only reason why I know it’s pronounced “fuh” is because I said it incorrectly (many times) and had to be publicly corrected. My friends and I didn’t go to Mt. Vernon for the express reason of going to Indochine. We just ended up there after the BSO Sunday afternoon concert and wandering North Charles for some time pondering our options. It looks pretty small from the outside and appears to be a converted townhouse from the inside.
The interior is larger than the exterior would lead you to believe and looks even more like it was once a home. The front of the restaurant is bathed in blue-pink light by the neon sign in the front window and is right next to a kitchen and counter. They seat you when you walk in instead of having you find your own seats. That wasn’t what we expected because they had a Coke machine, which was one of the reasons we went there. We thought a place with a Coke machine would be cheaper than other places in the area (you must admit it’s not an unreasonable assumption).
The room we sat in was in the back and had clearly once been someone’s living room. It had a large mirror over a mantelpiece and was full of the Asiatic-themed art one would expect in a Vietnamese restaurant.
The prices are more reasonable than a lot of the other places in the area — comparable to Chipotle and a couple more dollars than Potbelly. A small bowl of pho was $7.95, and their small is a lot of food. One of my friends and I both got beef pho: Round steak and lean beef respectively. Both of us were super happy with it; The broth was delicious and the noodles and meat were cooked just right. In it were very thinly sliced green onions that were great. The sides of basil, jalapenos, sprouts and lime (as mentioned before) added a lot to the pho and were not additional charges.
My other friend got the Golden Crepe. I am not sure what it is, but he seemed to like it, although not as much as we did the pho. They also have a number of vegetarian options, one of which we carried out for another of our friends. No word on how that was! I had Thai iced tea as well, which was definitely overpriced — it cost about as much as a Starbucks drink — but was much, much better than the Thai tea you can get at Carma’s (yes you can get Thai tea at Carma’s)!
They had a number of other Vietnamese foods that are supposed to be good on the menu. This includes Bhan Mi, which is now on my list of foods to try soon. I would certainly go again! It’s not horribly expensive (except for the Thai tea), and the food was wonderful. The service was good as well. (Disclaimer: I also don’t care much about the quality of service as long as the food gets to me relatively quickly and no one is noticeably rude. So it’s possible a pickier person may not find it as good.) Disregarding all else, it’s worth going there just for the pho.
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