Pho King
Pho Hoa may be a fast-food chain, but it's one that plays by its own set of rules.
Have you been aching for extra chicken skin in your next bowl of pho, the broth-based staple of Vietnamese cuisine? Is your tummy down for beef tendon, but not tripe? Maybe you're one of those people who has to justify ordering fatty flank by asking for nonfat broth. Whatever the case may be, at Pho Hoa, the fast-growing chain restaurant that landed in Philadelphia about a month ago, there is a numerical code for every adjustment you can imagine, no matter how microscopic. If you're intimidated by the older Vietnamese establishments along Washington Avenue, this is the place for you.
Yet that's not the only reason to go. Pho Hoa may be a fast-food chain, but it's one that plays by its own set of rules. There's fresh fruit in the smoothies, exotic greens on the garnish plates, and knowledgeable waiters who somehow manage to break speed records without making you feel hurried. I didn't expect to be won over by Pho Hoa, but three visits later, I can actually envision the previously unimaginable possibility of becoming a regular at an eatery offering 60-second service.
That time frame isn't guaranteed, but considering that orders are taken tableside, the pace of fulfillment verges on astonishing. It's almost as if servers surreptitiously transmit requests by walkie-talkie on their way to the kitchen, so quickly do they reappear with the customized steaming bowls.
Brothwise, the pho is fine. I've gotten brighter notes of star anise in other places, but considering that pho is a dish meant to be doctored up by the eater himself, this version suits. You can add everything from chili sauce to fresh leaves of culantro — a relative of cilantro that stands up better to heat. The various beef cuts hit the right mark, especially the flank, with its thin ribbon of flavorful fat. Better still is the chicken — or more precisely, what the additional "chef's specials" menu identifies as "live chicken."
"This is not a living chicken that is thrown into boiling water," a friendly bus boy was quick to point out when I asked for clarification. "It's a young fresh chicken from Ninth Street." In other words, while you can get frozen chicken here, Pho Hoa also offers the good stuff. The same goes for the jackfruit and avocados in the shakes. Even the durian shake is true to the fruit's combination of custardy flavor and potent chemical stink.
There are more offbeat treats on the "chef's specials" list. The wet crunch of a lotus rootlet salad with shrimp and shredded pork is set off nicely by crunchy shrimp crackers. Ground beef wrapped in grape leaves is earthy in the right kind of way. The pleasures of shrimp wrapped in sugar cane are mostly olfactory, but that's just the kind of subtlety you expect a fast-food place to dumb down. And that's the beauty of Pho Hoa. It's not highfalutin cuisine, but in the fast-food landscape, it's a rare gem.
Pho Hoa
1111 S. 11th St.
215-755-4000
Mon.-Sun., 9 a.m.-midnight
Various dishes $3-$8.95
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