Cafe Thanh Truc — Restaurant in Philadelphia

It was a rainy day last night, so we had a hankering for something warm and cozy and pho is perfect for that! We ordered spring rolls, beef ball pho, and steak/beef ball pho over the phone for pickup. We were told 15 minutes so we waited 5-10 minutes and then walked up. When we got there, the rolls still weren't ready and it took another 10 minutes or so to get them. The place was absolutely dead so it was disappointing to have to wait, but we didn't have anywhere else to be but home, eating, so it wasn't the worst thing in the world. If we knew it would be so empty we might have eaten there. (It was maybe 7pm on a Thursday.)

We finally got everything home and it really hit the spot. For each order of pho, you receive a quart of broth, a giant bowl of noodles/meat, and a side bag of the bean sprouts, jalapenos, lime wedges, and (we think?) Thai basil and hoisin (spicy!) sauce. I don't know if I've ever taken pho to-go before and I thought it was nice that everything was portioned out that way so you can prepare it to your liking (i.e. no jalapenos and very little spicy sauce for me, and I wasn't feeling the basil tonight so I skipped it.)

Couple comments for being relatively new to vietnamese: "Spring" rolls means fried egg rolls. We were wondering why they took so long as we were expecting the cold kind. Haha, woops. They were still delicious and on a cold rainy day, they were probably more appropriate than getting "summer" rolls (what we now know is what we intended to order). My husband had gotten the steak pho, which was new to us, and didn't realize it came with raw steak. (It was in a separate bag so it didn't touch the other things.) We weren't sure if it would cook up fast enough in the broth so he decided to quickly pan fry it to throw it in cooked. Talking to friends later and tip for the future: could have thrown it in directly if you like or don't mind your red meats on the rarer side. Or, cook it up a little bit on the stove or in the microwave in a little broth.

All in all -- everything really hit the spot. There's enough pho for us to eat leftovers for lunch for the next day or so as well, which is always lovely.

Would definitely order from here again, possibly just stopping by to order in person so if it's quiet we can just dine in and get everything quickly...

Have been waiting for Viet Bistro to open for a while now, so was very excited when it suddenly had a "Grand Opening" banner up and quickly called some foodie friends to join me for lunch so we could try many of its offerings!

As regulars at Huong Tram in the former Hoa Binh Plaza, we've been longing for a great phở spot to open closer than 6th and 11th Streets on Washington Avenue (also great), and Viet Bistro did not disappoint. (Additionally, as Melissa P. noted, we recognized some familiar faces in the kitchen!)

We ordered a couple appetizers: Egg Rolls (cha gio), which were what we usually think of as "spring rolls," and Spring Rolls, which were what we usually think of as "summer rolls," both of which were tasty.

We ordered a couple types of phở and soup, and some extra bowls: Phở Tai Nam (flank, steak), Viet Bistro Special Phở (flank, steak, tripe, beef ball), Hu Tieu Do Bien (seafood noodle soup), all of which were hot and delicious. (The broth was good, but the consensus was that we expect it to have even more depth of flavor next time we visit, because the restaurant was literally in a prepping-to-open frenzy late last night!)

We ordered a couple other dishes to share: Bánh Mì Thit Nurong (Barbecue Pork)--the bread was perfection--and Bun Bo Xao Sa (rice vermicelli with lemongrass beef and mixed vegetable), both of which had terrific flavor. And sampled the delicious Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk--note, they have bubble tea!

Overall, service was friendly and timely, the price was just right ($15.00 minimum credit card), and, at least for now, it's BYOB! We did initially receive the wrong bánh mì and Phở Tai instead of Phở Tai Nam, but the mistakes were quickly corrected and didn't take away from our experience.

Welcome to the neighborhood,...

There is a certain quiet sorrow to a great thing unobserved. By three in the afternoon on a Monday, the tables at Café Thanh Truc sit mostly empty, a stillness settling over the room that feels entirely undeserved. One could travel the country and pay twice the price for a bowl of Bun Bo Hue—a perfunctory, flavorless rendition, perhaps, a culinary simulacrum served with a corporate smile—but it would be a poor trade. The bowl here is a thing of profound substance, a broth rich with the depth that speaks of a dish tended to with meaning and a reverence for its origins.

To sit with it is to recall another time, another place. It brought to mind those afternoons in an older Philly, with my grandparents, where a modest meal was a considerable event. They were not people of means; their generosity was measured in saved dimes and the small, grand gesture of a restaurant visit. That old sensibility—that an honest, heartfelt plate of food is its own kind of grace—seems to have taken up residence here. It made the quiet all the more poignant. In the hour I lingered, no one came for a takeout order, a small tragedy that seemed to underscore how much of the world has yet to be let in...