Eatery - Pho Quang Trung (CA)

9211 Bolsa Ave, Ste 101-103, Westminster, CA 92683
Pricing - $ | Dining - Casual | Cuisine - Vietnamese
http://phoquangtrung.com

It's a travel tradition for me - I need pho when I get home! While my favorite pho place is Pho 79 in Garden Grove, it isn't open at all hours of the night (WHY NOT?!) and when your flight lands at 9:40pm, your choices become more limited for good pho. However, since Duc was going to pick me up, he did some research and said that Pho Quang Trung in Westminster might be our best bet. I looked up the reviews on Yelp and saw some positive comments so I agreed. Also, I was sick so having some warm noodle soup seemed like an awesome idea at that point.


So many of the rave reviews were commending the chicken pho - I have never had chicken pho before but since that's where the praise was going towards, I decided on that with chicken breast instead of thigh and no add-ons of liver or skin (I know it's traitorous to beefy tradition but...I had to). The "medium" that came out was HUGE! I mean, I normally would have said no but my congestion wanted some brothy lovin'. As I ate it, I felt like I was betraying my dear Pho 79 because I was actually enjoying my meal. The broth was hot, clean, and rich. The noodles were perfect in texture. The meat was fresh and bountiful. Why did I have to like it so much?!


Duc went for the pho tai sach (the tripe was for my sake since I was craving it) in the medium size too. That broth was also hot, clean, and rich; there weren't any traces of greasiness which a lot of pho restaurants have. The meat was so plentiful, and the noodles spot-on too. Because the broth was so clean, it did lack a little bit of the savory marrow flavor we like in our broth (which is so deliciously heavy and apparent in Pho 79's broth) but in general, was fantastic. We both felt bad about enjoying the meal so much as well as seeing that this place actually took credit cards (no shady Vietnamese cash-only business?). We'll keep it for our late-night cravings then and still visit our dearly beloved during its opening hours. WELL-PLAYED PHO QUANG TRUNG, WELL-PLAYED. You made us feel like we were having an affair, sigh.