The pho Nam Định options fresh-made noodles and plenty of beef.
Photograph: Hugo Yu
When the chef Nhu Ton was in Hanoi in 2022, she rented a Vespa and lit out for the territories. Whereas cruising across the countryside, Ton — a co-owner of Bánh, a small Vietnamese restaurant on the Higher West Aspect — ended up in Nam Định, about an hour and half southeast of the capital. This was her first time within the province, which, the story goes, is claimed to be the birthplace of pho. “There are totally different types in Nam Định, however generally the soup is much more peppery and there’s much more fish sauce,” she says. Upon discovering it, Ton knew what needed to be performed: She’d convey Nam Định to New York.
As she and her enterprise associate, John Nguyen, soft-open their new spot, Bánh Anh Em, that pho is the centerpiece of the menu. And so they’ve gone all in: In 2024, Ton returned to Nam Định to discover ways to make the best pho noodles — wider in Nam Định than a lot of the pho discovered round New York — and to go to the Thế Chiều noodle-machine manufacturing unit. For the restaurant, they imported one of many firm’s massive, lengthy machines, which they’ve squeezed into the 1,400-square-foot area. “We barely have the room, however we’re making it work,” Nguyen says.
The machine was simply the primary a part of the noodle puzzle. Rice was subsequent. They couldn’t import the range utilized in Nam Định, in order that they landed on a mixture of basmati, damaged rice, and leftover cooked rice. To make the noodles, they soak the basmati and damaged rice in a single day, mill it with the leftover cooked rice, then let it sit for an additional day. To check the sturdiness, they let the noodles sit in sizzling broth for five-, ten-, and 15-minute increments. Finally, they obtained the specified texture and chew.
Such luxurious noodles want an identical broth. Ton and Nguyen begin theirs with beef bones that they wash in mẻ, rice paste that they’ve been fermenting for years to realize a definite bitter be aware. The broth is cooked for 12 hours, seasoned generously with black pepper imported from Ton’s hometown of Buôn Ma Thuột, and completed with fish sauce. Different acquainted aromatics like star anise are added with a light-weight hand. The meat served with the soup is a number of cuts of brisket whereas a deluxe model — Đặc Biệt — comes with the addition of beef navel, tendon, tripe, and meatballs. Condiments embrace garlic pickled in rice vinegar and sliced onions in selfmade sizzling sauce that’s fermented for six months. It’s the additional condiments, Nguyen says, that give the Nam Định “the distinctive traits of this explicit model.”
However why cease at pho? Additionally they mill rice for bánh cuốn, or rice sheets, one of many restaurant’s different specialties. They’ll have a number of choices, together with one within the model of Buôn Ma Thuột: a tower of rice sheets with grilled pork, pickled mustard greens, and shredded younger mango, which you wrap and dip in fermented fish sauce cooked with pork bones. “A number of vacationers will come simply to eat this,” Ton says.
These types of little-seen regional specialities are the draw on the unique Bánh: an unconventional riff on the savory doughnut known as bánh tiêu; vacation specials like bún ốc (a snail and vermicelli soup); balut in tamarind sauce. On the new area downtown, Ton and her cooks are all in on pho and bánh mì, however the the explanation why are shocking. A pair years in the past, Ton and Nguyen requested their Vietnamese employees, “What dishes do you miss from again house?” Most mentioned bánh mì. “Pho and bánh mì are so in style in America. It captured my consideration,” Ton says. The issue: They aren’t the true deal. Bánh Anh Em will function types from across the nation, together with Haiphong (a smaller baguette with pâté, pork floss, and chí chương sizzling sauce) and Nha Trang (fish muffins). Additionally they determined to make their very own bread — they’re doing noodles, so why not? — after an worker urged it in a gaggle chat. “We took that critically,” Ton says.
Thanks for subscribing and supporting our journalism.
When you want to learn in print, you may as well discover this text within the March 24, 2025, concern of
New York Journal.
Need extra tales like this one? Subscribe now
to help our journalism and get limitless entry to our protection.
When you want to learn in print, you may as well discover this text within the March 24, 2025, concern of
New York Journal.
EAT LIKE THE EXPERTS.
Join the Grub Avenue e-newsletter.
Vox Media, LLC Phrases and Privateness Discover
See All