What is pho? The Vietnamese noodle soup is the country's greatest culinary gift to the world

PLATE UP

We can argue long into the night about the world's best soup. Maybe it's ramen, maybe laksa, maybe bouillabaisse or caldo verde or even Moroccan bessara. Everyone is entitled to their preference. What you can't argue, however, is that Vietnam's most famous soup, pho, is in the conversation. This has to be Vietnam's greatest culinary gift to the world, among many delicious donations. Pho is a fragrant, subtly powerful dish that's even greater than the sum of its considerable parts. Its broth is a gently simmered stock of beef bones with onion, ginger and spices; it arrives pooled around banh pho, or flat rice noodles, and rare beef slices, topped with bean sprouts, fresh herbs, lemon and chilli. The aroma is transcendent. The taste is perfection.

FIRST SERVE

Though this dish is now ubiquitous throughout Vietnam, it has only been around little over a century. Pho was developed in the north of the country during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, influenced by Chinese traders but also by French colonisers, who popularised the consumption of beef. The pho obsession spread to the south in the 1950s, when the country was divided and millions of north Vietnamese migrated south, bringing their soup recipe with them.

ORDER THERE

On the busy streets of Hanoi's Old Quarter, Pho Gia Truyen Bat Dan (49 P. Bat Dan, Ha Noi) can trace its origins back to the accepted inventors of pho, in the village of Nam Dinh. In Ho Chi Minh City, try Pho Hung (243 Nguyen Trai, District 1).

ORDER HERE

For Sydneysiders, there are plenty of famous pho shops in Cabramatta and Bankstown, but our surprise favourite is Pho Ha Noi Quan in Marrickville (346B Illawarra Road). In Melbourne, Pho Bo Ga Mekong Vietnam (241 Swanston Street, CBD) is a classic.

ONE MORE THING

There are two schools of thought on where the name pho came from. One is that the moniker – and the dish itself – was inspired by the French soup pot-au-feu. The other is the same story from a Chinese beef-noodle dish whose name includes the sound "fuh".