特越 PHỞ

Foodholic Niko @ Taipei

"Special Vietnamese PHỞ" is located near Ningxia Night Market, about a 5-minute walk from Exit 1 of Shuanglian Station. It is a Vietnamese restaurant that specializes in pho but also serves French bread, spring rolls, and other Vietnamese dishes. Interestingly, they also offer Korean ramen and hot pot items that you wouldn’t typically see in a Vietnamese restaurant.

We arrived on Monday evening at 6 PM, and the place was quite empty with a slightly dim environment. We were the only customers, and there was only one staff member who seemed to be Vietnamese and not very fluent in Chinese.

The seating capacity inside is quite limited, with only 4 two-person tables on the first floor, but I'm not sure if there's a second floor.

Traditional Stone Pot Beef Pho $180
Actually, I didn't see stone pot pho during my travels in Vietnam, so I thought it was quite special and decided to give it a try.

The staff first served a platter of raw beef, including beef slices, minced beef, and beef tripe (?), along with a plate of pho noodles and an egg. Then, a pot of boiling hot soup was brought out, into which they placed the raw beef and the egg, which cooked almost immediately. I was advised to add the pho noodles myself, starting with half to prevent them from overcooking.

First, I took a sip of the hot soup and I can only say it was astonishing! The broth was super delicious! It looked light but tasted very rich and sweet, with the saltiness just right. The most special part was a buttery aroma; I’m not sure if it was because they actually added butter or if the raw egg contributed to it, but in any case, it was very much to my liking—I almost drank the whole bowl!

The beef slices were also very tender and tasty! There were only two small pieces of beef tripe, but they had a nice chew, which I really liked! However, I wasn't a fan of the minced beef as it had a bit of a tougher texture.

Lemon was also provided; I could squeeze some in halfway but I felt the lemon flavor was not very prominent, as the original broth was already very delicious!

My friend ordered the half-raw beef pho $150, which looked very similar to my stone pot pho; the broth tasted quite similar too. The only differences were that it didn’t come with an egg and the contents weren’t added in front of me, just like that.

Overall, the price isn’t too expensive, and the beef was nice. The most impressive part was still the broth; I would return just for the pho's broth!