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
Vietnamese refugees who arrived in San Jose after 1975 brought pho north from Saigon and built the Little Saigon corridor on Story Road into the largest Vietnamese commercial district in California. By the 1990s Story Road had more pho shops per mile than anywhere outside Vietnam, and the broth style here leans toward the southern Vietnamese clear-but-rich tradition rather than the cloudier northern style.
Common allergens: Gluten
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg beef marrow bones, blanched and rinsed
- 500 g beef chuck or brisket
- 1 large onion, charred directly over flame
- 70 g fresh ginger, 5 cm piece, charred
- 3 star anise
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 30 ml fish sauce
- 15 g rock sugar or palm sugar
- Salt to taste
- 400 g flat rice noodles (banh pho), soaked in cold water 30 min
- Toppings: thinly sliced raw beef eye round, bean sprouts, Thai basil, lime wedges, fresh chilli, hoisin sauce, sriracha
Method
- Toast star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel and coriander in a dry pan over medium heat for 2 minutes until fragrant. Tie in cheesecloth.
- Place blanched bones and chuck in a large stockpot. Cover with 3 litres cold water. Bring to a boil, skimming foam every 10 minutes for the first hour.
- Add charred onion, charred ginger and spice sachet. Reduce to a bare simmer, uncovered. Cook 4 to 5 hours, skimming fat occasionally.
- Remove chuck when tender, about 2 hours in. Slice thinly against the grain and reserve.
- Season broth with fish sauce, rock sugar and salt. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Adjust seasoning: broth should taste round, savoury and slightly sweet.
- Cook soaked noodles in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds until just tender. Drain and divide among 4 deep bowls.
- Arrange sliced chuck and 4 to 5 slices raw eye round on top of noodles. Ladle boiling broth over the raw beef to cook it in the bowl.
- Serve immediately with a side plate of bean sprouts, Thai basil, lime, chilli, hoisin and sriracha.
Tip from the editors. Charring the onion and ginger directly over a gas flame, then peeling off the blackened skin, is the single step that separates a flat broth from a smoky, layered one.
Where to eat pho
Pho in San Jose
Pho 90 Degree ★ 4.2
Pho 90 Degree in San Jose is the Story Road pho house open until midnight daily with spacious booths and spicy bun bo hue alongside classic beef noodles.
Try: Bun bo hue spicy beef noodle soup
More cities are in research. Want pho covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.