So: overwhelmed and still coming to terms with the fact that I am actually living here, I choose not French but Vietnamese food for my dining out premiere. Strange? Well, maybe. Why? Perhaps with the busy brasseries on every street corner, there was the very real possibility that I would make a bad choice and leave disappointed - tainting my journee with immediate anti-climax. An, 'If it was shit, then it wasn't Paris's fault' kind of attitude thus dictated my first move.
It was on the recommendation of Jack (an English chef honing his skills in the city) that I should visit Pho Banh Cuon 14 at 129 Avenue de Choisy for what he would say 'may be the best 8€ you can spend in Paris'. And if that wasn't enough of an endorsement, then lastly, I thought, eating Eastern food may bring some zen-like calm after a frenetic first 48 hours in Paris.
And so I go.
Now for whatever reason I went, I am very glad I did. The gathering on the pavement outside is evidence enough of the popularity of the place. At 9.30 I was queuing for about 20 minutes. A queue would remain for the duration of my dinner and it is testament to the value of the food and the speed with you recieve it that service looked in no way ready to let up even when I left at 10.30.
Jack told me to have the Pho Boeuf Special. I looked around the room and it too was what everybody else seemed to have. It seemed sensible to oblige. And what a great broth it was: loads of glace noodles, thin slices of rare steak/chunks of more well-done beef, meat balls made from erm...animal? But really tasty. Even more so when I threw in the beansprouts, birds-eye chilli (which momentarily and embarrassingly became Adam's eye chilli...what a school boy!), onion and citrussy aromatic herb leaves which they bring separately en masse. It was a melange of spicy, beefy, umami-ness. After a refreshing glass of unsweetened iced-tea and change from 10€, it would be difficult to level criticism at Pho Banh Cuon 14 even if I had the burning desire or justification to do so. Gladly, I didn't and can only celebrate a terrific, if not wholly authentic, beginning to my time in Paris.
It was on the recommendation of Jack (an English chef honing his skills in the city) that I should visit Pho Banh Cuon 14 at 129 Avenue de Choisy for what he would say 'may be the best 8€ you can spend in Paris'. And if that wasn't enough of an endorsement, then lastly, I thought, eating Eastern food may bring some zen-like calm after a frenetic first 48 hours in Paris.
And so I go.
Now for whatever reason I went, I am very glad I did. The gathering on the pavement outside is evidence enough of the popularity of the place. At 9.30 I was queuing for about 20 minutes. A queue would remain for the duration of my dinner and it is testament to the value of the food and the speed with you recieve it that service looked in no way ready to let up even when I left at 10.30.
Jack told me to have the Pho Boeuf Special. I looked around the room and it too was what everybody else seemed to have. It seemed sensible to oblige. And what a great broth it was: loads of glace noodles, thin slices of rare steak/chunks of more well-done beef, meat balls made from erm...animal? But really tasty. Even more so when I threw in the beansprouts, birds-eye chilli (which momentarily and embarrassingly became Adam's eye chilli...what a school boy!), onion and citrussy aromatic herb leaves which they bring separately en masse. It was a melange of spicy, beefy, umami-ness. After a refreshing glass of unsweetened iced-tea and change from 10€, it would be difficult to level criticism at Pho Banh Cuon 14 even if I had the burning desire or justification to do so. Gladly, I didn't and can only celebrate a terrific, if not wholly authentic, beginning to my time in Paris.
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