Pho Ha Noi ★ 4.1
Pho Ha Noi is San Jose's most celebrated pho destination on Story Road, simmering 500 pounds of shank bones for 24 hours to produce a clear Northern broth.
Order: Pho Bac special with 24-hour bone marrow broth
History
The French left Indochina with two lasting food contributions: the baguette and the taste for liver pate. Vietnamese bakers absorbed both and created banh mi, adding pickled carrots, daikon, cilantro and chilli to build a sandwich unlike anything in either France or traditional Vietnam. San Jose's Little Saigon corridor became one of the earliest and largest banh mi markets outside Vietnam, with counters on Story Road selling sandwiches for under two dollars through the 1980s.
Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 4 light French-style baguettes or Vietnamese banh mi rolls, split
- 200 g char siu pork or roast pork, thinly sliced
- 100 g Vietnamese pork sausage (cha lua), thinly sliced
- 60 g chicken liver pate
- For pickled veg: 200 g daikon, 100 g carrot, julienned; 120 ml rice vinegar; 2 tsp sugar; 1 tsp salt
- 1 cucumber, thinly sliced lengthwise
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro
- 2 fresh red chillies, thinly sliced
- 2 tsp Maggi seasoning sauce or soy sauce
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise or butter (optional)
Method
- Combine rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a bowl, stirring until dissolved. Add daikon and carrot. Stand 1 hour at room temperature, then drain.
- Toast rolls in a 200C oven for 5 minutes until exterior is crisp but interior stays soft.
- Spread pate on the bottom half of each roll. Spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on the top half if using.
- Layer char siu, cha lua and cucumber slices on the base.
- Pile pickled vegetables on top. Add cilantro sprigs and chilli slices.
- Drizzle Maggi sauce over the filling. Press lids on and serve immediately while rolls are still warm.
Tip from the editors. Vietnamese banh mi rolls have a thinner, crisper crust than standard French baguettes. Find them at any Vietnamese bakery: the texture difference is critical for the right bite ratio.
Where to eat banh mi
Banh mi in San Jose
Com Tam Dat Thanh ★ 4.4
Com Tam Dat Thanh in San Jose is the Tully Road broken rice specialist with fried shrimp cake, grilled sugarcane shrimp and shredded pork on jasmine rice.
Try: Broken rice plate with grilled pork and shrimp cake
More cities are in research. Want banh mi covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.