Phở Thế Béo at Truc Bach island in Hanoi [Vietnam]

Travelling with the Greatest Kon has many advantages and one of them would be his deep research on what to do and where to eat! If I am the one planning for the trip to Hanoi, I doubt I would travel to this obscure area that's outside the old quarter and appeared to be more a local housing district.

Generally quiet, the main hive of activity came from the surroundings of a street hawker located at a cross junction. Customers were just queuing on the road, without a care for the danger from a possibly rogue motorist. 

Although operating hours were listed as 9am till 5pm on Google Maps; it was said that the stall operates till they sell out and it could be as early as before noon! That's the reason why Kon suggested making this the first trip for the day. 

In case you can't read maps, just note to order from the stall with this painted mural that was according to the likeness of the boss, who would likely be taking order from you.

I glanced at the menu and left the Greatest Kon to order as he had researched before. What he did, from my understanding, was showing the online pictures to the boss to order! The boss was friendly and I guess it's not the first time that tourists had purposely dropped by his stall.

He even gifted us as youtiao after knowing we were from Singapore! Not expensive stuff yet such hospitality warmed the cockles of our Singaporean hearts.

Next up would be finding tables for us to have our pho and it's difficult as the tables were all over the place along the street. How would we know if the one we sat on actually belongs to the stall?! 

Finding our table a bit too small, we were brought to an indoor area that was subdivided with tables and chairs. It felt a bit strange as the back of the space seemed like a living space. Oh well, guess indoor would be better than outdoor. 

Our orders were served within 10 minutes! Even though there were four of us, we ordered only three bowls of pho and that's a good decision after we realized how huge each bowl was, and it was filled with so much meat! 

We were expecting one or two youtiao per person, and shocked to see two full min-baskets! This totally derailed any initial plans to just drink soup, eat meat, and reduce starch intake! 

The full bowl of goodness known as Thap Cham! For a meat eater, this picture made me happy, especially when I am not a pho-lover, preferring the dry bun thit nuong or bun cha instead. 

A disclaimer here; I never like the noodles from pho and hence wouldn't be the best judgment. Soup wise, it was flavorful and in my opinion, tastier than Pho 10 Ly Quoc Su at the old quarter.

There was mix of beef parts within and my dismal knowledge on them means I can only identify beef brisket, slices of beef and beef balls. The slices of beef were alright, albeit overcooked;  maybe I spent too much time taking photos. Beef brisket was delish! 

Minced beef balls were bouncy, tender with a rough texture and inconsistent shape that implied they were homemade. Sadly, there was just one beef ball per bowl.

There were these special Beef Balls with Salted Egg that Kon had read about. I might not be a fan of salted eggs but I do enjoy salted egg lava buns, salted egg chips, and salted egg crabs. Maybe these salted egg beef balls would be nice? 

A large salted egg yolk took off quite a bit of meat from the beef ball and this resulted in a lack of blissful satisfaction (when our teeth bit through one whole meat ball made purely of beef), with added unnecessary saltiness. 

Dip it into the concoction of chilli and sweet paste to for better flavor, and to balance out the saltiness. For me, I would go for extra beef balls and remove this salted egg beef balls! Again, do be reminded I am not a fan of salted egg.

I had high expectations for the youtiao which felt so crispy! Unfortunately, they were super chewy and the soak in the beef broth from the pho failed to improve the taste. As the Greatest Kon rightfully pointed out; looks can be deceiving! 

=====

There's no way I would be able to finish up the pho; there were just too much of the noodles and my focus was to clean up the beef parts, which were already so generous! 

Address

16 P. Trần Tế Xương, Trúc Bạch, 

Ba Đình, Hà Nội, Vietnam

Map

As above. 

Pricing

Thap Cam - 100,000 Dong a bowl

Beef Ball with Salted Egg - 20,000 Dong each

Click here for my Week-Long Itinerary to Hanoi - City of Lakes, Ninh Binh and Halong Bay @ Vietnam