Pho Bowl
Pho Bowl recently opened on West Broadway Street in Bethlehem. It specializes in Vietnamese and Thai food, but leans towards Vietnamese, especially with its focus on pho.
Pho seems to have increased in popularity in the USA over the last five years (at least in my neck of the woods), but it’s been around for, oh, a hundred years or so. For those of you who do not know, it’s a Vietnamese noodle soup that is light and refreshing (in my experience). I only ate pho twice in my life and enjoyed it immensely both times. The first was at a place in New York City. The second was at a stand in the Allentown Farmer’s Market. Upon hearing that an actual pho restaurant was opening nearby, I actively looked forward to that day. Thus, this past weekend, my boyfriend and I drove up to Bethlehem to sample it.
It seems that Pho Bowl’s grand opening is going well! Although it seems aimed towards take-out orders, there are still tables and a decent atmosphere if you would like to eat in. And not one table was open. My boyfriend and I wanted to eat in, but we had to wait until one of the tables opened up. This is no reflection on the staff. There were take-out orders coming in and out and all the tables had patrons. Given that this was likely an opening-weekend-surge, I won’t linger on the crowd, and move onto the food instead.
In short: the pho tasted delicious. I ordered the pho shrimp since I get enough chicken at home. I also have not yet worked up the courage to eat the rare steak (it seems very rare and I am a lightweight). My boyfriend did not order pho, he ordered pineapple fried rice, which surprised me more than my own meal. My pho tasted good, but in a way I expected it to taste. The pineapple fried rice used curry powder, which I admit is not a flavor I am familiar with, contained cashews, pineapple, and raisins which made the flavor an unexpected kind of tasty (all you curry-lovers out there will find me silly. Please forgive me).
There are only about four tables at Pho Bowl, but they each had a vase of flowers, spare soup spoons and chopsticks, and an array of sauces. I didn’t even get to partake in the sauces. Hoisin sauce I knew, I ate half my soup before I noticed it.
While one could argue that much of my fascination and delight is due mostly to my inexperience with both Vietnamese and Thai food, I still think I can tell a good meal from a bad one. Both of our meals were good.
I look forward to trying some of the other dishes. Many qualities of them appealed to me. Their use of various fruits and vegetables (cucumber plum sauce, papaya salad, etc.) aren’t something I’ve tried (though, again, I have not tried much). There seems to be a substantial use of cashews, which I always wildly approve of. Less so do I enjoy of the use of peanuts, which are not my preferred nut. In fact, the only issue I had with the meal that the lovely summer rolls we got as an appetizer were served with, you guessed it, a peanut sauce. However, even I could see that, objectively, the sauce was good. It was my lesser opinion of peanuts as a whole that was at fault.
If you enjoy pho, you will enjoy Pho Bowl. If you have not tried pho, it is a sincerely inoffensive noodle soup worthy of attention. It’s soothing, it’s refreshing, and Pho Bowl has a delectable menu of which I can’t wait to try more.
Visit: Facebook