A restaurant in a skyscraper in Ho Chi Minh City is serving a noodle soup of 4 million VND with expensive ingredients, such as gold leaf, wagyu beef, and truffled mushrooms.
Six years ago, pho 100 USD (more than 2 million VND) once made a buzz for a restaurant in Ton That Dam market, also the first restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City to receive a Michelin star in June. 2017 is considered the most expensive in Vietnam. However, in this August, it was “overthrown” by a bowl of pho costing 4 million VND.
This is a newly launched dish of a restaurant belonging to a hotel on the 66th floor in the 81-storey Landmark building in Binh Thanh district, Ho Chi Minh City. Le Trung, executive chef at the hotel, said that the VND4 million bowl of pho is an upgrade of the “skyscraper pho” that has been served at the hotel restaurant for the past five years. Mr. Trung himself commented that the noodle soup “has a price in the sky” literally and figuratively because the ingredients used are all high-class, including wagyu beef, gold leaf, foie gras, truffle mushrooms and simmered young ribs.
The beef is grade A5, the highest grade when it comes to wagyu beef quality. The meat is thinly sliced in a rectangular shape, with lots of fat, when it comes in contact with hot soup, it will soften, “eating in the mouth feels like melted butter”.
Next is truffle, or diamond mushroom, originating from Australia, priced at 45 million VND per kilogram. Each bowl of pho uses only about 10 g of thinly sliced mushrooms. Talking about the reason for using truffle in pho, Trung said that the mushroom has a warm tone with notes of earth, minerals and wood. The same smell with traditional pho ingredients such as beef, anise, cinnamon, ginger should create harmony when combined.
The highlight of the bowl of pho is the food yellow leaves, which are placed on the side of the bowl. Mr. Trung said that food yellow leaves are used by many chefs at famous restaurants around the world to decorate dishes. Finally, the foie gras increases in fat and the ribs are simmered in the broth, “just lift it up and the ribs will fall off by themselves”.
“During the process of creating a bowl of pho, my colleagues and the culinary director sat down to choose high-quality ingredients that were delicious and kept the spirit of Vietnamese pho,” said chef Le Trung.
The complete meal includes a variety of seasonings
Chef Le Trung introduced to diners about the “heavenly price” bowl of pho.
The bowl of pho when brought to the table includes pho noodles and ribs, without adding expensive ingredients
Freshly grated truffles at the table
The complete meal includes a variety of seasonings
Chef Le Trung introduced to diners about the “heavenly price” bowl of pho.
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The soul of Vietnamese pho in the upgraded version is the broth, which plays the role of blending all the flavors of the ingredients. The chef keeps the traditional way of cooking pho with tube bones, oxtail, encrusted ribs and chicken bones, simmering for 48 hours, using familiar spices including ginger, anise, and cinnamon. Pho noodles are handmade. Serving a wide range of diners, the pho side dishes include fresh crackers, herbs, garlic vinegar, Northern chili sauce, black sauce and Southern chili sauce.
Mr. Jaron Guggenheim, Director of Culinary Department at the hotel, said that this bowl of pho is just a special dish, grateful for traditional dishes, temporarily not on the fixed menu, most of it is of a demonstration nature. . Instead of bringing up a bowl of hot noodle soup with broth, diners will sit at the table and watch the chef grate truffle slices, gold inlaid on the bowl, foie gras, and beef are also carefully arranged on the noodles. When the broth is hot, it is also the time when the scent of the ingredients in the bowl of pho spreads. The aroma of truffles radiates boldly but does not overwhelm the familiar pho broth.
Ms. Luu Ngoc Thuy from Soc Trang said that this is her first time enjoying pho at the restaurant on the 66th floor. Before coming, she did not know this noodle dish is being spread a lot on social networks. Only when she looked at the menu and saw that the restaurant had a new noodle dish with “a lot of interesting ingredients”, she ordered it to try.
“The broth is light, bone-sweet and not as fatty as some pho dishes I’ve enjoyed. I’ve eaten wagyu beef A5 in Japan and found the quality of beef in this bowl of pho quite similar. Other ingredients when combined. It also creates a harmonious taste,” Thuy said.
The female diner who claims to have an open opinion on cuisine should agree with the chef’s new way of making pho. In addition, Ms. Thuy said that the price of 4 million VND is “appropriate because the raw materials used are expensive”, diners are taken care of at the table.
Mr. Guggenheim said that this noodle dish since its launch has created a viral effect in the media. Although there are many opinions about upgrading the traditional pho, the number of new customers coming to the restaurant to enjoy “beyond expectations”. The restaurant was initially limited to serving only 3 bowls per day, now increasing the average daily sales to 10 bowls.
“However, pho 4 million dong is only served in August, the main noodle dish of our restaurant is still sky-high pho, without expensive ingredients such as foie gras, golden leaves, truffles and ribs,” he said. Guggenheim said.
Besides the supporters and curious about the expensive bowl of pho, there are many opinions that pho should just be “itself” and “shouldn’t deviate from the traditional scope”. Ms. Thy Van, living in Ho Chi Minh City, said that in the past few days, she has seen a lot of information about expensive pho on social networks. Because the price is higher than her financial ability, she cannot enjoy it.
“Personally, I don’t like the traditional dish being changed more or less. The world famous noodle soup is because of its simplicity, inherently simple ingredients. Although the wagyu beef is softer, the nutritional value is higher. , can not be like the beef we often use in traditional pho,” said Ms. Van.
($1=24,000 VND)
Post and photo: Bich Phuong