I have recently moved from my hometown to live in brand new city. I used to eat pho like 3x a week and loved it. However, my new home recently closed down the one and only Pho restaurant to ever exist in town. Therefore, I have resorted to desperate measures... instant pho.

I was told that "Vifon" is the largest instant pho company and offers the most authentic product. Has anyone had any experience with it?

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I will continue this blog when I go to Austin or Houston and buy all kinds of different brands and cook them with combinations of meat and vegetables. The ramen noodles blog was very popular therefore, I hope fans of noodles will come and try the instant pho variety. Tell me what you guys think of the product.

ReketSomething

United States6012 Posts

February 14 2011 07:09 GMT

Making real pho is not hard. It just takes a lot of time and you typically make large quantities. Never had this but it looks kinda fishy haha.

buckbo1604

Canada186 Posts

February 14 2011 07:14 GMT

Um never had it. I just eat instant noodles. Its called mi va mi..I think so. Its in a silver aluminum package and is spicy and citrus. Ill update on the name later.

itzme_petey

United States1400 Posts

February 14 2011 07:30 GMT

On February 14 2011 16:09 ReketSomething wrote:
Making real pho is not hard. It just takes a lot of time and you typically make large quantities. Never had this but it looks kinda fishy haha.

I agree, the time required is not as big of a factor as the ingredients required. I do not live in an area that has a wide variety of ingredients required to make the dish. Its truly sad..

SpoR

United States1542 Posts

February 14 2011 07:35 GMT

On February 14 2011 16:30 itzme_petey wrote:

Show nested quote +

I agree, the time required is not as big of a factor as the ingredients required. I do not live in an area that has a wide variety of ingredients required to make the dish. Its truly sad..

Try and find a farmer's market or something like that?

raiame

United States421 Posts

February 14 2011 07:36 GMT

I just had some instant pho from mama, and it's alright. It's nothing compared to real pho, but I just need my dose of msg and I'm hungry at 230 am.

Seion

United States45 Posts

February 14 2011 08:15 GMT

I've had that specific brand a few times. They're comparable to real pho in the same way you can compare instant ramen to real ramen.

iPlaY.NettleS

Australia4310 Posts

February 14 2011 09:10 GMT

I try and avoid MSG nowdays , 10 years ago i didn't have a problem with it but now i am in my mid 20s it catches up to me pretty fast.

Darkchylde

United States473 Posts

February 15 2011 05:54 GMT

The instant stuff is pretty terrible IMO.

Honestly, to make a decent homemade bowl of pho isn't too bad. Where are you living if I may ask?

Disregard

China10252 Posts

February 15 2011 06:18 GMT

#10

The most difficult part of making Pho is the soup base or broth... Everything else is already made or can be bought, soaking vermicelli is a easy task.

shawster

Canada2485 Posts

February 15 2011 06:21 GMT

#11

just make it yourself, it's just beef broth and spices/flavourings + noodles and beef. it's not like you have to make the beef stock from scratch

SONE

Canada839 Posts

February 15 2011 12:24 GMT

#12

Two words, no good. Had that exact one many times before. You think it'll be half decent each time, and once you eat it's just like any other instant noodle.

nayumi

Australia6499 Posts

February 15 2011 14:16 GMT

#13

lolwut the soup tastes like plain water if you ask me :/

and tons of MSG so that's a no no for me

zulu_nation8

China26351 Posts

February 15 2011 14:30 GMT

#14

Can anyone link to an easy and reliable recipe?

Darkchylde

United States473 Posts

February 15 2011 15:52 GMT

#15

http://www.inspiredtaste.net/4307/vietnamese-soup-pho

Here's a pretty detailed recipe. You can streamline the process by buying premade beef broth and for the spices then you can find the premeasured spices in their own satchels at Asian markets.

Here's the one my mom commonly uses: http://www.amazon.com/Pho-Hoa-Beef-Noodle-Spices/dp/B003GRMUCU/ref=sr_1_15?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1297784921&sr=1-15

We have tried this one before and it's pretty good although a bit pricey for Asian standards: http://www.amazon.com/VV-Foods-Vietnamese-Noodle-1-Ounce/dp/B000PBM598/ref=sr_1_2?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1297784806&sr=1-2

The last one combines the broth base and spices so you just need to mix it with boiling water, then add noodles, beef, herbs, and condiments.

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