The Bay Area has plenty of trusted places to get your pho fix, but for a taste of Hanoi, few spots can match the quality of Pho Huong Viet. The family-owned restaurant opened in Outer Richmond in 2021, serving Northern-style pho with fresh flat rice noodles and other Hanoi dishes. It’s run by three women, spanning two generations of their Hanoian family (which goes back 17 generations, according to their biography at the restaurant). The family-backed recipes offer a glimpse at homestyle cooking in Hanoi.
It’s not an expansive menu, but it honestly doesn’t need to be — the options and customizations of each dish allow diners to dial into their perfect bowl of food, whether it’s pho (soup-filled or dry), vermicelli noodles, or glass noodles.
As Pho Huong Viet serves Northern-style pho, the menu helpfully reminds diners that the restaurant’s soups do not come with bean sprouts, basil, or hoisin sauce. (“Not available,” the menu reads.) That being said, it’s worth looking at adding the pickled garlic vinegar that sits on each table; our server suggested adding it to the broth to taste. There’s also fish sauce and sriracha on the side, as needed.
Make sure to look over the add-ons section, as there are some gems hiding in there. There’s plenty to add on to further customize your food, including fresh makrut lime leaf ($1.50), chicken giblets (limited, but $9.75), and poached egg yolk ($2.50). In particular, the sinful bowl of scallions in tallow broth ($3) is intriguing (I’m earmarking that for my next visit). Extra beef or chicken broth (16 ounces for $5; 24 ounces for $8; and 32 ounces for $10) and pickled garlic vinegar ($1.50) are available to-go.