Pho Hoa with a Twist

After having visited Puerto Princesa, I set out in search of that delicious Vietnamese noodle soup in the Metro Manila area. The only authentic soup I can find is at Pho Hoa, a Vietnamese franchise from the U.S. where most of their ingredients (noodles and hot sauce) are imported from California. Their soup is different from the one I had at Bona's Chou Long, a Vietnamese roadside noodle shop on Manalo Street in Puerto Princesa. But after a few experiments, I hit it right on the mark. When I ordered the  sliced beef flank soup, I requested that they use the beef stew broth, the one with a dash of paprika. I still remember Bona's soup were a bit sweet and spicy so I asked the waitress to hand me a teaspoon of sugar and about a spoonful of their hot sauce all stirred into the soup. Since their broth was not cooked with lemongrass, I just added a dash of lemon along with a few springs of basil and lo and behold...a duplicate of the Bona's Chou Long! So if you desire to get that authentic Bona's flavour, try it...the only downside is that Bona's Chou Long serves French baguette sandwiches while Pho Hoa has an assortment of authentic Vietnamese rolls and other Vietnamese-Chinese style rice dishes. Pho Hoa's advantage lie in the quality of their noodles and hot sauce which they import from the States and their beef balls from Puerto Princesa! In summing up, you can get a great Ph35 Bona's style Vietnamese soup flavor at Pho Hoa with quality ingredients for Ph200...but hey, it's worth it!!! Bona's Petit!