Mediocre pho
Pho is one of my favorite foods on earth, and I've been actively searching for the perfect bowl for years. I've had a few decent versions here and there, but never anything remarkable or consistently good.
I've always believed SF could do better.
So you can imagine how excited I was to see that San Francisco Chronicle food critic, Michael Bauer, had recently been to Vietnam and dubbed My Father's Kitchen the best pho replicate in SF.
I finally made it out there tonight, but to say I was disappointed would be a tremendous understatement.
The spring rolls were bland, as was the creamy peanut sauce that accompanied them (I added fish sauce and Sriracha to make them edible).
The noodles in the pho were alright--no clumps and not falling apart--but the broth had almost no spice or flavor. Even after adding lemon, jalepeno, fish sauce, vinegar and Sriracha, the soup was still barely worth eating. I even stole some cilantro off another dish to help it out, but to little avail.
So I'm a bit disappointed in both the restaurant and the critic, and am still looking for perfect pho.