One of the things I’m loving about living in San Jose is the wide diversity of cultures, which means a wide variety of new foods to try.
Little Saigon is an area in east San Jose that supposedly has more Vietnamese residents than any single city outside of Vietnam. You’ll find a large number of shops, restaurants, and businesses along Story Road and its side streets. And of course, you’ll have your pick of many different pho restaurants.
The Vietnamese noodle dish I had to try was bún bò Huế, a noodle soup originating in central Vietnam. Unlike pho, Bún bò Huế uses thicker, more cylindrical noodles, and the broth is more complex, being made with beef bones and beef shank with lemongrass, seasoned with fermented shrimp sauce and sugar, and spicy chili oil. Beef shank, oxtail, pig knuckles, and pork blood are included.
Little Saigon’s Bún bò Huế An Nam restaurant is famous for one usual additional to their bún bò Huế, ox pizzle, or penis . In case you’re wondering what pizzle is like, it actually tastes and feels similar to tendon (that’s what’s actually in the spoon in the photo above). Thankfully, this means you probably wouldn’t have realized you were eating it unless you already knew.
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