Pho Mai is a tiny, inconspicuous restaurant near the north end of Main Street. For most people it’s easy to miss, but for fans of the popular Vietnamese soup, the restaurant is a beacon of light. It has long been a staple of my dining career, and I was excited to find a restaurant so close to campus. The prices here are reasonable, but not outstanding. A large bowl of pho and a drink will run you about ten bucks. It’s a filling meal, but you won’t be completely stuffed.
Pho is a traditional Vietnamese noodle soup that defies the stereotype of soup as an appetizer. It seems to have an unusually devoted group of followers, despite Vietnamese food’s relative obscurity. Though it is traditionally a breakfast food, pho is enjoyable anytime throughout the day. Served in a huge bowl, it is most commonly made with beef broth and thinly sliced beef, but can also come in chicken or vegetarian-based varieties. It also comes with onions and cilantro, and on the side, you get basil, bean sprouts, lime and hot peppers, along with Sriracha and hoisin sauce, to add to the soup as you please. These sides can be delicious, but it’s easy to get carried away and bury the flavorful broth in the overpowering chili sauce.
While the pho at Pho Mai is not exceptional, it is more than passable. The broth is as delicious as any pho I have tried before. Thankfully, it’s not too salty, as is often the case. The meat is fine, but the lack of options is a bit disappointing. Whereas most pho restaurants offer a variety of meats (including some, like tripe or tendons, which may be a little off-putting to most Americans), Pho Mai’s beef options are limited to the standard brisket and steak. The chicken variety is fine, but not nearly as good as the beef. My biggest complaint here is the noodles; they taste a bit stale and don’t add much to the flavor. This is a fairly minor concern, however, because the rest of the soup is so flavorful. To finish off your meal, I recommend the Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk, a deliciously sweet drink that can serve as a dessert.
Pho Mai’s décor is nothing that you wouldn’t expect. The dining room is tiny and sparsely decorated aside from an aquarium, a few wall hangings, and a TV usually tuned to CNN. But there is ample seating room to accommodate parties of any size, and the restaurant is rarely packed. The service is good and was helpful with the questions that I had.
Aside from the pho, of course, there are other options. These include egg rolls, spring rolls, beef and pork dishes, and a variety of other entrees. Those that I tasted were fine and certainly worth trying. But the focus of this restaurant is definitely the pho. And aside from Pho Mai, there aren’t any alternatives in or around Middletown. If you need your pho fix, this is the place to go.
Despite this restaurant’s problems, the pho makes it worth it.
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