A bowl of pho plated with gold costs 4 million VND in the tallest building in Ho Chi Minh City

A restaurant in a skyscraper in Ho Chi Minh City is serving a 4 million VND pho dish with expensive ingredients such as gold leaf, wagyu beef, and truffle mushrooms.

Six years ago, the $100 pho (over 2 million VND) made a splash for a restaurant in Ton That Dam market, which was also the first restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City to receive a Michelin star in June. The 2017 bowl of pho was considered the most expensive in Vietnam. However, this August, it was "dethroned" by a bowl of pho costing 4 million VND.

This is a new dish launched by the hotel restaurant on the 66th floor of the 81-story building in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. Mr. Le Trung, executive chef at the Autograph Collection Hotel, said that the 4 million VND pho bowl is an upgrade of the "sky-high pho" dish that has been served at the hotel restaurant for the past 5 years. Mr. Trung himself commented that the pho dish is "sky-high" in both the literal and figurative sense because the ingredients used are all high-class, including wagyu beef, gold leaf, foie gras, truffle mushrooms and slow-cooked spare ribs.

The tray of ingredients is placed next to the guest table, then the chef serves at the table.

The beef is grade A5, the highest level when evaluating the quality of wagyu beef. The meat is thinly sliced into rectangular pieces, with lots of fat marbling, and when exposed to hot soup, it softens, "melting in the mouth like butter".

Next is truffle, or diamond mushroom, originating from Australia, priced at 45 million VND per kilogram. Each bowl of pho only uses about 10 grams of thinly sliced mushrooms. Talking about the reason for using truffle in pho, Mr. Trung said that the mushroom has a warm aroma with notes of earth, minerals and wood. The same aroma as traditional pho ingredients such as beef, star anise, cinnamon, ginger creates harmony when combined.

The highlight of the pho bowl is the gold leaf, placed on the edge of the bowl. Mr. Trung said that gold leaf is used by many chefs at famous restaurants around the world to decorate the dish. Finally, the foie gras adds fat to the pho bowl and the ribs are simmered in the broth, "just lift it up and the ribs will fall out".

"In the process of creating a bowl of pho, my colleagues and the culinary director sat down to choose high-quality ingredients that were flavorful and retained the spirit of Vietnamese pho," said chef Le Trung.

The soul of Vietnamese pho in the upgraded version is the broth, which plays a role in blending all the flavors of the ingredients. The chef maintains the traditional way of cooking pho with marrow bones, oxtail, flank ribs and chicken bones, simmered for 48 hours, using familiar spices including ginger, star anise and cinnamon. The pho noodles are handmade. Serving a diverse range of diners, the side dishes of pho include fresh fried breadsticks, herbs, garlic vinegar, Northern chili sauce, black bean sauce and Southern chili sauce.

Mr. Jaron Guggenheim, Director of the hotel's culinary department, said that this bowl of pho is just a special dish, paying tribute to the traditional dish, temporarily not on the fixed menu, mostly for performance purposes. Instead of being served a hot bowl of pho with broth, diners will sit at the table and watch the chef shave each slice of truffle mushroom, gilding the bowl, foie gras, and beef are also carefully arranged on the pho noodles. When the hot broth is poured over, the aroma of the ingredients in the bowl of pho spreads. The aroma of truffle mushroom is strong but does not overwhelm the familiar smell of pho broth.

Ms. Luu Ngoc Thuy from Soc Trang said this was the first time she had enjoyed pho at the restaurant on the 66th floor. Before coming, she did not know that the pho bowl was spreading widely on social media. Only when she looked at the menu and saw that the restaurant had a new pho dish with "many interesting ingredients" did she decide to try it.

Ms. Ngoc Thuy enjoyed pho for the first time in a skyscraper.

"The broth is clear, sweet with bone flavor and not as fatty as some pho bowls I've enjoyed. I've eaten A5 wagyu beef in Japan and found the quality of the beef in the pho bowl quite similar. The other ingredients when combined together also create a harmonious flavor," said Ms. Thuy.

The female diner admitted that she has an open view on cuisine, so she agreed with the chef's new way of making pho. In addition, Ms. Thuy said that the price of 4 million VND is "appropriate because the ingredients used are expensive", and diners are also taken care of at the table.

Mr. Guggenheim said that since its launch, the pho bowl has created a viral effect on the media. Despite many opinions about upgrading the traditional pho dish, the number of new customers coming to the restaurant to enjoy the pho bowl "beyond expectations." The restaurant initially limited serving to three bowls per day, but has now increased the daily average to 10 bowls.

"However, the VND4 million pho is only served in August. Our restaurant's main pho dish is still pho chac troi, without expensive ingredients such as foie gras, gold leaf, truffle mushrooms and ribs," said Mr. Guggenheim.

Besides those who support and are curious about the expensive bowl of pho, many people think that pho should just be "itself" and "should not deviate from the traditional scope". Ms. Thy Van, living in Ho Chi Minh City, said that in recent days she has seen a lot of information about expensive bowls of pho on social networks. Because the price is higher than her financial ability, she has not been able to enjoy it.

"Personally, I don't like traditional dishes to be altered in any way. Pho is famous worldwide because of its simplicity and the simple ingredients it uses. Although wagyu beef is softer and has higher nutritional value, it still cannot be the same as the beef we often use in traditional pho," said Ms. Van.

Article and photos: Bich Phuong

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