Pho 2000, Ho Chi Minh

Pho 2000 is considered slightly above upmarket to your typical street pho stalls and has garnered some popularity in particular for one reason...

Bill Clinton had his pho here when he visited Vietnam in 2000.

I started off with a serve of bun cha gio which consists of deep-fried pork and prawn springrolls over rice vermicelli. As with most Vietnamese dishes, it's the attention given to the small details that makes that special difference, such as the scatter of crushed peanuts on this, which imparted a crunchy fragrant taste.

But I was here for the pho and this huge bowl of pho bac biet was just what the doctor ordered. Pho bac biet is literally transalated as "pho special" but it's best described as a combination beef pho. This has most of the various cuts of cow including the tripe and beef balls (i.e. processed spherical minced beef shapes not the anatomical ones). The soup here is rich and tasty and the meat servings were generous too. A squeeze of fresh lime juice, a scatter of raw bean sprouts and pho leaves makes this traditional hearty beef meal indeed one to remember.

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