UtahDinersGuide.com

Review by Dan Purdon

Utah Valley has been fortunate to receive a plethora of culturally distinct dining options over the years, one of the newest of which is named Pho Noodle House, located on University Avenue in Orem.

First off, my culinarily-adept friends have told me that “Pho” is not pronounced you think it should be pronounced.  (Like the pho from “phone”).  In fact, you pronounce it more like “Fuh”, which opens up a whole world of fun double-entendre possibilities.  This has also been confirmed to me by a native Vietnamese person, so I’m pretty sure that they weren’t just messing with me.

Pho the restaurant is named after Pho the traditional Vietnamese noodle-soup dish.  This was my first experience with Pho, and I do love new experiences.  I couldn’t wait to try them.

My wife and I walked into the modern-yet-cozy restaurant early Saturday evening and were seated immediately.  After a good look over the menu, we ordered a bowl of Pho (of course) filled with steak and brisket.  (The more daring of you can get Pho filled with tripe, tendon, or all kinds of seafood - the kind of stuff you’re likely to find in actual Vietnam!)  We also ordered an entree of barbecued pork with vermicelli noodles and a “Jalapeno Bomb” appetizer.  Give me a break, we can’t get everything super-authentic.  I was in the mood for a little spice.  We ordered a boba tea drink to cool off the Jalapeno, too.

Our Jalapeno Bomb arrived quickly.  Picture entire jalapenos stuffed with a mixed veggie-and-tuna filling and deep fried to crispy perfection, served with a sweet dipping sauce.  They were spicy, crispy, and full of love.  The dipping sauce brought an especially nice flavor out of the filling, a deliciously sweet counter to the heat of the jalapeno.  And don’t worry too much about the heat - the frying process takes it down a few notches, so it’s really not bad.

Our Pho and vermicelli came out right on the Jalapeno Bomb’s tail.  The Pho’s presentation is really something to behold.  It comes out with a dish of fresh Thai basil leaves, fresh lime slices, fresh bean sprouts, a sweet plum sauce, and a spicy red chili sauce - all of which are there to be used at your whim.  I was excited - I had a food experiment on my hands!  I started by trying just the Pho broth.  It was subtle and savory.  I tried a piece of thin-sliced steak with some noodles.  It was soft, and it blended very well with the broth’s flavor.  Then I began filling my spoon up with Pho broth, adding a little of one condiment, tasting it, filling it again, trying another condiment, until I had sampled how every single ingredient changed the broth’s subtle flavors.  And satisfied that they were all very good options, I threw in all the bean sprouts and basil leaves together with a healthy amount of plum sauce and a squirt of lime.  I was in flavor country.  Towards the end of the bowl, when my taste buds were getting tired, I threw in a dollop of hot chili sauce.  That woke them up.

Our vermicelli dish featured thin-sliced barbecued pork coated in an Asian sauce that almost brought tears to my eyes.  This is how pork should always taste.  So tender, lightly smoky from the flame grill, with the flavors perfectly balanced within its deliciously sweet n’ savory coating.  I can’t tell you how much I appreciated this pork, it was amazing. It came with fresh veggies, chopped nuts, and a spring roll, all resting on a vermicelli noodle bed.  But still, the pork was totally the star of the show.

A quick word on the boba tea drinks here - we ordered a Lychee boba, which comes out in the form of a slushie with a huge straw and large tapioca balls at the bottom.  The slushy beverage tasted exactly like a sweet lychee fruit, like you had just bitten into a real one.  If the other flavors are half as good, I want to give them all a try.

Pho Noodle House was a great place to expand my culinary repertoire.  It reminds me of the first time I had Thai food years ago - it all tasted so new and fresh to me, opening up a whole new world of food possibility.  In fact, Thailand and Vietnam aren’t too far away from each other, so they share a lot of ingredients and flavors in their cuisine.  If you’re like me and have fallen in love with Thai food (but never tried Vietnamese), you will find a lot of the same fresh flavor combinations that will rock your world while still feeling pleasantly familiar.

Pricing: Moderate, $10-20 per person (including drinks, appetizers)

Pho Noodle House, 908 S State Street, Orem