Thanh Tan Yves Nguyen
Google
I tried Bon Me’s Ali’s Pho today at their Cambridge Crossing location.
If you didn’t know what pho was, you probably would say you had pho.
With that said, what I had can be described more as pho noodles in a chicken broth base more like a chicken soup. Don’t get me wrong, the broth was tasty. Beyond the pho noodle, there wasn’t anything pho about this dish though.
The flavor profile of the broth didn’t have any characteristics of pho. The diced, chunks of chicken were disappointing. They tasted like yesterday’s leftovers with that refrigerator taste that only cold leftover chicken has.
Then there were the long slices of cabbage. Cabbage? This really made it more chicken soup, soup.
Noticeably absent were the traditional herbs that makes pho, pho real, Thai Basil and Vietnamese coriander. Bean sprouts were not offered. Not even Hoisin sauce. Just the over used sriracha that is being used everywhere like it’s some kind of culinary magic sauce.
Overall, if I wasn’t feeling well or was looking for a bowl of comfort food on a cold day, like chicken noodle soup, sure this would be a good option. But if I was craving pho, this would not be it.
- 2 stars for food as it was lacking authenticity. The culinary interpretation of this dish took out the pho, besides the noodles. What the pho?!
- 2 stars for service as I barely interacted with a human, besides the person calling out my name and pushing me my order. The iPad that I ordered on didn’t give me an attitude, so I did leave a 15% tip for the expeditious order taking. I bussed my own table when I was done.
- 4 stars for atmosphere as it’s in a nice location.
So, no pho for you if you’re looking for pho here. But you will have $15 chicken soup!
#foodtasting #pholover