Pho-Qs

Saigon: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Lunch at Saigon

Saigon was dece. Up there with Pho Tau Bay. But no Pho 79 or Ngon. There were few floaty bits and some green onions in the broth. The spring rolls were the standard “good” and the sauce for them was unique – less peanutty than usual. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing, but I prefer my peanuttier sauce. The beef was a little better than Pho Tau Bay and they also had 3 sizes: small, large, and x-large. The small was still large enough for me not to be able to finish. But maybe slightly smaller than most “smalls.”

Panoramic of Saigon

We were enjoying our pho, though I mistakenly added too much Hoisin and ruined the shit out of my broth, when we noticed something at the table next to us. A huge bowl of pho. I mean huge! We asked the waiter about this and he explained the “Pho Challenge” which is eating this entire bowl of pho in 45 minutes. If you win, your pho is free, you get a T-Shirt that says “I am the pho king” on the back, and apparently at some point they’ll put pictures of the winners on the wall. Their Facebook page says this is 10 lbs of pho. Of course we asked the dude taking the challenge if we could photograph him, because we wouldn’t want to disappoint our readers. Here he is:

Taking the Pho Challenge

The point here, guys and gals, is that Saigon isn’t bad. It’s just too close to Ngon not to go there unless you want to save the few dollars extra that Ngon would cost. The other point is: someone needs to take this challenge and let me watch. Think you can do it? Let me know!

Contact:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Saint-Paul-MN/SAIGON-RESTAURANT-SAINT-PAUL/129743374913

704 University Ave. W
Saint Paul, MN, 55103
651.225.8751
Hours
Tues-Sat 10:00a-8.00p :: Closed Monday
Sun 10:00a-7:00p