Pho in San Jose: Styles, Broth and How to Order

Pho in San Jose is a bowl with a long story: a clear beef or chicken broth, flat rice noodles and fresh herbs, served in a city with one of the largest Vietnamese communities outside Vietnam. Here is where the soup comes from, how the northern and southern styles differ, how to order and how to compare bowls.

The dish, its styles and a few notes will carry you through the city, bowl by bowl.

What makes pho in San Jose special?

Wikipedia describes pho as a Vietnamese noodle soup made with a clear broth, flat rice noodles, herbs and usually beef or chicken. Its modern form emerged in northern Vietnam in the early twentieth century, and its origins are debated: some link it to French beef stews and others to Chinese beef noodle soups sold by street vendors in Hanoi. After the Vietnam War, refugees carried the soup around the world.

San Jose is one of the places it landed. Wikipedia says the city has a very large Vietnamese population, and that many arrived after the fall of Saigon in 1975. A bowl of pho here is part of a living community, not a novelty.

What is the difference between northern style and southern style pho?

According to Wikipedia, the northern, Hanoi style has a subtle, clear broth, with green onion, cilantro, pickled garlic and chili sauce, and sometimes fried dough on the side. The southern, Saigon style has a sweeter, cloudier broth and comes with bean sprouts, Thai basil, culantro, lime, hoisin sauce and chili sauce.

Many bowls blend both traditions, so treat the two labels as ends of a range. If a menu names a style, order it and write the style in your note. If it does not, notice whether the broth tastes clean and savory or sweet and spiced, and whether the plate of herbs looks like the northern or southern list.

What goes into the broth and the bowl?

Pho broth is made by simmering beef bones, oxtail and sometimes flank for several hours with charred onion and ginger and spices such as star anise, cinnamon, clove and cardamom. Cooks skim the pot for clarity and add fish sauce near the end, according to Wikipedia. Chicken pho uses chicken bones and a similar spice blend.

The noodles are usually fresh rice noodles, medium-wide, and the beef can be rare steak, brisket, flank, tendon, tripe or meatballs. Each cut gives a different texture, so a first bowl with several cuts is a good way to learn which you like. A bowl built on the flat noodles contains no wheat, but sauces served beside it may, so ask about them.

How do you order and season a bowl?

Taste the broth first, before you add anything. A good one should already be savory and aromatic. Then add herbs, sprouts and lime a little at a time, and use hoisin and chili sauce in small amounts on the side rather than stirring them into the whole bowl, which hides the broth. Pull noodles and meat together with the chopsticks, and drink the broth from the spoon.

If a menu offers sizes, start small, since pho is filling. Order a tea or water, and take a moment to smell the bowl when it arrives. Aroma is a large part of a good one, and writing it down helps you compare.

How do you compare bowls across San Jose?

Order the same bowl at each stop, such as the plain beef, and judge four things: the clarity and depth of the broth, the texture of the noodles, the freshness of the herbs and the tenderness of the meat. Take a photo from above, which shows the color of the broth and the toppings. A bowl eaten at 11 a.m. and one at 9 p.m. can differ, so note the time.

Do not look for one right answer. Some people like a lean, clean broth and others a richer one, and both can be well made. The point of comparing is to learn what you like, not to rank a community's cooking.

What should you ask about fish sauce and other ingredients?

Pho can contain fish sauce, beef stock, soy-based sauces and peanuts or sesame in side dishes. If you avoid an ingredient, tell the server before you order and ask how the bowl and its sides are made. Treat each answer as that day's information. See our food allergy guide for more on how to ask.

How can Mosey help you remember a bowl in San Jose?

After the meal, open Mosey and rate the pho as its own dish, with a line on the broth and the noodles. The place and the stars are all that is required, and you can add a tag, a photo and a dish name. Tag the friend who shared the table and they can rate the same bowl.

Start a list called Broth notes and send the invite link to a friend, who can add stops before they join. Follow friends to see what they rated and saved. The ratings page covers rating by the dish and the lists page covers shared lists.

Where else can you read about San Jose?

For the neighborhood where much of this cooking sits, see the Little Saigon guide. For other cooking, see the Mexican food guide and the bakeries guide. To plan a visit, read how to find good food in San Jose. See also the San Jose page, the California page and the US food guides.

At your next bowl of pho in San Jose, get the Mosey app and rate it by name.