Gastro Monkey // 美食家

Since I knew I would be in the San Jose area, I wanted to find a good pho place to go to. I am a big fan of Northern Style pho, so in doing some research, I found Pho Hà Nôi. The pictures I saw on their Yelp page looked very similar to Turtle Tower. This made me pretty excited to give it a try. Feel free to compare the pictures by checking out my original Turtle Tower post . Please note that the bowls at Pho Hà Nôi were bigger (no size options for the chicken only large). One of the biggest draws for me would be the house made noodles. In case you are really into the thinner noodles, they have that as an option also. They name their specialty chicken pho "chicken with intestine," but there are no intestines in there. Or maybe it was meant to be a secret and I wasn't supposed to share? At Turtle Tower, they tell you that it's chicken and giblets. If asked, I would have trouble saying which I like better. Both are very good. It would be nice though, if at Pho Hà Nôi ...

Usually when I go to San Francisco and look for something to eat, I don't go for pho. I've had it before at random places in the South Bay and Oakland haven't had anything that stood out as anything special. Why would I get pho in the Bay if it tastes the same as in Sac? And then, I saw a bowl of pho on a friend's Instagram that looked different. The only other time I had seen a bowl that looked like that was in Sydney. And that pho is my favorite around the world (haven't been to Vietnam yet, so then there's that). Because the pho at Turtle Tower looked like the pho from An, I had to give it a try.  I ordered the phở gà (chicken pho) and cà phê đá (iced coffee). I just have to say, I haven't had iced coffee like this in a long time. I think the more mainstream Vietnamese coffee has become, the more watered down it's been. The only other times I've had it where it tasted like this was at someone's home, or in San Jose. It made my day. It's...