Cheap & cheerful isn’t the right phrase per se… cheap & surly would be more accurate, but we’d feel the same way if we had to deal with the perennially long lines outside this favorite pho destination. You can quibble over whether it’s the best Vietnamese spot in Paris or not, but it’s undeniably one of the most popular. Turnover is fast regardless and you’ll be eating steaming bowls of cinnamon & anise scented beef broth soon enough. Avoid the chicken pho which tends to be overly fatty and go for a #1 instead with large rice noodles, thinly sliced strips of raw, slightly tough beef, meatballs, and with or without tripe depending on how you feel about stomach in your stomach. You’ll receive a platter of lemon wedges, sliced raw onion, sprouts, greens, basil, hoisin sauce and sriracha to doctor the broth as you see fit. Starter selection is limited but the pork nems (spring rolls) are always a good bet as are the chewy banh cuon (steamed pork & mushroom dumplings with slices of ham on top).

-Catherine Down, January 2015

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