Finally found Pho in Sweden (Twice!)

Back home, there is pho aplenty. Whenever we felt like a nice hot bowl of pho we have a plethora of choices. Here in Sweden, if one is are craving asian food, or even pho you are limited to food options the Swedes love (which means hundreds of Thai places, pizza places, sushi bars, Indian food, Kebab plates, ‘American’ restaurants and some Asian fusion restaurants – the majority are ‘Swedish-style’ of course. Indian food that is ‘swedish level of spiciness’ for example. ).

I have since found some pretty decent Chinese restaurants (future blog post) and just recently we have found a decent sized bowl of hot Pho!

Pho in Stockholm
It was pretty funny when we started searching for food during our trip to the Swedish Capital, and the first thing we searched was Pho. Stockholm, a much more proper city, would have to have some and lucky for us, they did.

The restaurant we tried was called Nem Nem Quan located in Sodramalm a few blocks from the tunnelbana station, Medborgarplatsen T-bana

The servers were dressed in traditional Vietnamese clothing, which we read on the online review so we were already skeptical. It was Saturday night and restaurant was full, a good sign, however all of the customers were Swedish. We ordered 1 pho ga and 1 Bun Bo Hue (even though the majority of people were eating noodle dishes). We also ordered some Vietnamese coffee, which was spot-on and reminded us so much of our trip to Vietnam!

Both the Pho and the Bun Bo Hue came in good sized bowls with a slice of lime and some chili, but that’s about it. No fresh herbs or bean sprouts to add to the soup. And although there was sriracha sauce there wasn’t any hoisin!
Note: I know this isn’t just a North American thing because we have been to Vietnam and in the South (Ho Chi Minh) they served the pho with extra bean sprouts, herbs and hoisin.

The Pho broth wasn’t as flavorful as the Bun Bo Hue but I liked the pieces of white meat. The pho noodles were also nice and chewy, not overdone at all. Overall, we were happy to finally find some pho in Sweden! It was delicious and although quite expensive for a bowl of Pho, it was worth it.

Mmmmm….

Pho in Göteborg
Back in Göteborg, a restaurant was recommended to us that served pho. I’m sure there has to be a hundred Thai places in this city, but we had never seen a Vietnamese place. Although many of the ‘Asian’ stores (that sell asian products) are run by Vietnamese people, it was the first I had heard of a Vietnamese restaurant.

Vi Viet, used to serve Thai and Vietnamese but now focus only on Vietnamese dishes as the staff is Vietnamese and that’s what they know how to do best.

They offer various Vietnamese dishes, from Pho to Banh Mi. Unfortunately, they
didn’t have my favorite, Pho ga! Instead, they recommended a different soup
that used chicken broth and had chicken but also included prawns. I think that
was the first time I had pho with prawns before.

We got there near closing and unfortunately they were out of different
appetizers (spring rolls, salad rolls, duck steam bun) we wanted to try and had
run out of Hanoi beer. No Vietnamese coffee on the menu either. That was a bit
disappointing.

The pho, however, was pretty tasty. Unlike the Pho in Stockolm, our Pho Bo and
Pho Ga alternate was served with a side of hoisin, sirracha, bean sprouts and
more herbs. They used a lemon slice instead of lime but some places back home
also serve it with lemon.

The flavor of the Pho Bo broth was actually pretty good, the chicken alternate
with prawns was tasty too but the pieces of chicken seemed to be mixed with egg
and the soup had carrots which made it a little sweet and different from Pho
Ga. Overall, we decided this place was better then the place we tried in Stockholm.

The staff were pretty friendly and told us the restaurant had been around for 8
years but only recently began to serve only Vietnamese food. We told them that
next time we would come earlier in the day so we can try the appetizers.

It sure ain’t North American or Vietnam prices but am glad to have a go to
place for pho finally!

Vi Viet
Gothenburg
http://www.viviet.se/kontakt.html

Nem Nem Quan
Stockholm
http://www.yelp.com/biz/nem-nem-quan-restaurang-stockholm

Ahhh 7 months without pho is waay too long…