Tam’s Pho the cure for what ails you

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/09/2016 (3491 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Chicken soup has long been cited as the cure for all colds and flu.

I happened to be suffering from my first flu of the season and hadn’t eaten in a couple of days. I remembered when a Vietnamese cook told me that his beef soup held medicinal ingredients, and I was anxious to get on the mend.

Pho simply means “soup” and the dish was originally a street food in Vietnam. The soup is usually delivered in two parts: the broth with polka-dots of green onion and the extra fixings that vary according to the cook. Tam’s Pho, which is also the moniker for his restaurant, is served with thin sheets of beef, bean sprouts, hoisin sauce, Thai basil and mounds of vermicelli noodles. All beef phos retain a slight sweetness which I have never been able to identify.

I also chose an order of sweet pork and vermicelli noodles, which is actually my favourite Vietnamese dish. Tam’s version is also chock full of chopped greens, cucumbers, carrot matchsticks and a vinegar dressing. If my tummy wasn’t so tender, I could have devoured the plate.

Now that Skip the Dishes and Just Eat have both arrived on the scene in Winnipeg, you can order almost any restaurant dish to enjoy at home.  Which is an appreciated convenience when you are under the weather.

Kathryne Grisim is a local food and travel writer and blogger: foodmusings.ca. She believes food = love.