"Chicken Pho spot where legends slurp"

I tend to steer clear of anything gimmicky or purposely made for tourists, however even the many locals I spoke to raved about this restaurant in a small alley sprouting off the end of Cau Calmette. My fears were substantially calmed upon entering the restaurant and seeing a sea of local people fighting over morsels at the tables. Sure, there were a few lost looking tourists asking each other what a "Banh Xeo" was, but generally the mood was convivial.

There is a deep corner of my soul reserved for Mexican food, and that is something I almost never find in Asia. Johnny's Taco's in Bali do a good tex-mex job, but most places you try are criminally underwhelming.

Who has the best Mexican Food in Asia? Answers on a postcard.

Nine out of ten time's I would steer clear of anything mentioned in multiple guidebooks, just for the fact that I didn't come all the way to Vietnam to sit amongst fifty German, French and American tourists. However, having spent months in the city over the course of the past couple years, I felt it was time to try something different and see if it held a candle to the more humble style Vietnamese food I was used to. 

Suspicion always lead me to avoid entering this restaurant when I lived around the corner. Peering in to see clueless tourists panic-stricken flipping through a menu of foreign delights, with a waiter patiently explaining to them the concept of fish sauce, lime, lemongrass, herbs as they communicated in foreign tongues asking each other what the safest option would be. ​

Having spent months in Saigon over the course of a decade, I have eaten my fair share of mediocre bowls, ranging from trendy "nu-viet" restaurants, to the quintessential streetside plastic stool job. Of all the bowls I have eaten in varying degrees of lucidity and mental fatigue, three places stand atop broth mountain: Pho Quynh, Pho Hung and my personal fave, Pho Phu Vuong.