Friday night we went to Pho Nom on Convoy Street. It was kind of dead because of the Lunar New Year.
For the décor alone, this would be a spot to take people. The music was cool indie pop like The Marías “Run your mouth.” The food and service were very good.
And—there’s easy parking at the family owned and operated Diamond Parking on Opportunity Street—halfway between Ruffner and Convoy.
The decorations were beautiful, and we appreciated the various screens with city scooter life in Ho Chi Minh City, beautiful nature, inspiring food prep in Vietnam, and a screen to advertise formoosa and a few other restaurants.
On that last point—I started to notice a theme. formoosa had similar screens, and they both had little signs promising some kind of payoff—free dessert at formoosa, a free drink at Pho Nom—if you took a picture of your empty bowl and gave a review. They even both had cheap krullers and sesame balls.
After some internet sleuthing, I can confidently say that yes, there is something called the Steamy Piggy Empire, and it includes Steamy Piggy, formoosa, Pho Nom, and the Latin inspired Flama Llama. They are all in close proximity on Convoy and all pretty good.
We pulled up the menu on our phones and ordered two Pho Noms, a Pho with Boneless Short Rib and Meatballs, two Thai Iced Teas, a Shrimp Spring Roll with peanut sauce and a Diet Coke. That came to just under $94 before tip.
The Pho Noms seemed like by far the best choice, but at like $23.50 a bowl, my wife’s $17 Pho with boneless short rib and meatballs was possibly a better deal.
The Pho Noms had a large bone-in short rib and plenty of delicious meatballs. The meat was fantastic. The broth, however wasn’t super strong, or super hot for that matter. It was good, but I’ve been spoiled.
I would say something similar about the noodles. They were good, but I’ve had better. My preference is when you can get firm wide egg noodles.
That was always the thing at Kevin’s Noodle House—Pho Huynh Hiep—in Daly City. Pretty cheap price, pretty cheap ingredients, but you can get better noodles, and it’s super hot.
BTW, I should mention that Pho Nom is almost the opposite of Kevin’s Noodle House. It’s a weird comparison.
There is one last thing about Pho Nom’s eponymous bowl that deserves a commendation. They did the veggies way better than what I am used to these days.
Lately it seems like everyone is skimping on the Thai Basil. We got a giant plate filled with fragrant basil leaves, a generous portion of beautiful cilantro, four lime wedges, and the right amount of jalapeño and bean sprouts.
More aromatic dark leafy things, and maybe a little less sprouts and peppers. Of course there were already green onions in the broth as well.
So this is my distinction: The pho didn’t have the best or hottest broth or noodles. But the short rib and the meatballs were awesome, and the veggies were some of the best I’ve had. I thought this dish was well worth the extra cost.
The Shrimp Spring Rolls were really great. Very fresh. And I loved the generous portion of thick peanut sauce.
One of my perversions is to scoop up as much peanut sauce as possible, and then squirt a line of siracha on top of that. BTW, the siracha was great on the short rib as well.
This was a flavorful feast.
I kinda wish this restaurant had nothing in common with some of the other Convoy staples, but I am learning to appreciate this Steamy Piggy Empire.
Check out the Pho Nom website:
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