Post-workout beef brisket pho with extra meat near Ajou Univ: Madam

Three-line summary

• Food is delicious 👍
• Lots of authentic menu items you won't find at other Vietnamese restaurants
• Easy parking, spacious

Get the beef brisket pho plain. I haven't tried the cha ca la vong yet — I'm curious, someone try it for me.

There are two or three parking spots right next to the restaurant. The downside is that the exterior is so pretty it sets your expectations too high for the interior, lol. The inside is pretty ordinary in comparison.

Craving pho right after CrossFit

I started working out near Ingye-dong. By the time I finished, I could feel the muscle soreness coming on, so I was craving hot pho haha. There was a Vietnamese restaurant near Ajou University that seemed to be new, and the vibe looked good so I picked it.

Lol I forgot to take a photo of the exterior since it was night. The place clearly put effort into an authentic Vietnamese feel. This isn't a well-taken photo, that's just really what it looks like.

When I looked it up online

There was a photo of this beautiful woman as the header of their intro page, so I assumed they'd hired a model. But then the moment I walked in, someone who looked exactly the same greeted me — I was so confused, lol. I guess she just enjoyed getting her makeup and hair done, wore the traditional dress, and did a bit of self-actualization while saving on the modeling fee. Smart move. The staff are foreign, which really raised my excitement level for what I'd expected to be a pretty unremarkable bowl of pho 😌

Parking and the menu

There were two or three parking spots too, so it was convenient.

Surprisingly, not many Vietnamese restaurants sell banh mi, but this place has it, plus items I'd never heard of before like cha ca la vong. I tend to go for authentic menu items whenever I can, especially with Southeast Asian food, but my friend who came along is a really picky eater, so we went with the safe picks instead. Cha ca la vong... who even are you... what are you...

"Cha ca la vong" appears to refer to Cha Ca La Vong, Hanoi's iconic traditional grilled fish dish. Cha Ca La Vong is a Hanoi specialty with over 150 years of history. "Cha ca" means grilled fish, and "La Vong" refers to a historical figure who fished while waiting for his time to come.

So apparently that's the story. Next time I go, I absolutely have to try it... I'm a solo-living office worker who barely gets to eat fish as it is.

Large beef bibim noodles and extra meat

I'd gone straight from CrossFit, so eating carbs right after felt kind of guilty, so I added extra meat. I think I also got the beef bibim noodles in a large size.

This is the beef bibim noodles! The brown stuff on the left is the sauce. You pour as much as you want over the noodles, and it's got a sweet-tangy flavor that felt unfamiliar to me but seemed like it would be right up the alley of engineering-major guys who love tonkatsu sauce, lol. I've become an unofficial taste-profiler for the guys in my lab... I never wanted to know this much about you all...

Nom nom

Beef brisket pho: the noodles and the broth

The portions were huge, so I ate the beef brisket pho first since it seemed most likely to get soggy.

Can you see how clear the noodles are? The broth flavor had soaked in perfectly, and the noodles were cooked to the exact point where you just have to slurp them. The broth was so comforting, like a proper bone broth — genuinely soothing. So I devoured that first without even thinking. The noodles were perfect too, honestly this was the ideal form of Vietnamese pho, nothing to complain about. Highly recommend the noodles. Ugh, writing this blog post is making me want to go back solo after my next workout.

After eating, I sent my CrossFit coach a photo of my meal and got credit for adding extra meat, haha. But honestly, the broth was the real star. Not a bad choice at all, I promise.

What does 'Madam Hao' even mean?

I wondered what Madam Hao meant, so

(instant scratch of the head)

Ah, so it just roughly means something like "a woman people like," haha.

The ideal form of Vietnamese pho (no exaggeration)