After our pretzel treat at Immergut, we got back on the road and headed over to Harrisburg, our pit stop for the night. We had no plans for dinner when we got there. We were kind of tired, it was starting to rain, and although we wanted dinner, we weren't incredibly hungry. Most of the Harrisburg options from my research were at least a 20 minute drive and we just weren't feeling it. So I looked around on Yelp for a bit and found Pho Kim's, a sister restaurant to an Asian grocery store which had apparently opened fairly recently (at the time we went). It was less than 10 minutes from the hotel, so even better.
It was pretty empty when we got there and there weren't many other customers during our visit. We weren't sure if this was because they were new or because it was on the later side on a random Wednesday night. It looked like a family-owned restaurant. I don't know if one of them was Kim, or if they just named it this so people would get a kick out of the name (like a lot of other phở places). (Say it together fast, with the correct pronunciation of phở, if you don't know what I mean.)
It was pretty empty when we got there and there weren't many other customers during our visit. We weren't sure if this was because they were new or because it was on the later side on a random Wednesday night. It looked like a family-owned restaurant. I don't know if one of them was Kim, or if they just named it this so people would get a kick out of the name (like a lot of other phở places). (Say it together fast, with the correct pronunciation of phở, if you don't know what I mean.)
We've had some really good Vietnamese food over the years. Our favorite places are in Chicago (like Tank), and they left quite an imprint on us, so we have a fairly high bar when it comes to proclaiming Vietnamese dishes as excellent. Most of what we've had in NYC has sadly not lived up to their Chicago counterparts, but we still hold out hope. We wondered whether we could find a gem in Harrisburg that would surprise us!
The gỏi cuốn (fresh spring rolls, 2 rolls for $3) arrived first. They had shrimp, pork, lettuce and vermicelli noodles in a rice paper wrap with a peanut sauce on the side. These were not bad, but if you have fresh ingredients, it's kind of hard to mess these types of rolls up. The shrimp, pork and noodles were good, but the rolls could have used more herbs and other flavor to match some of our favorites.
The gỏi cuốn (fresh spring rolls, 2 rolls for $3) arrived first. They had shrimp, pork, lettuce and vermicelli noodles in a rice paper wrap with a peanut sauce on the side. These were not bad, but if you have fresh ingredients, it's kind of hard to mess these types of rolls up. The shrimp, pork and noodles were good, but the rolls could have used more herbs and other flavor to match some of our favorites.
I also got a bánh mì. I thought about getting a bowl of phở, but it had been over 90 degrees that day and I wasn't sure I was in the mood for soup. Also, the price of the bánh mì plus the summer rolls was equivalent to the price of the phở, and I was thinking about trying to get the best value for the money. Bánh mì are usually quite filling, especially with their giant baguette, and I thought this would also be a good way to try more of what Pho Kim's had to offer.
Even though I often go with chicken or meatball for my bánh mì choice, this time I decided to stay "traditional" and picked the bánh mì thịt nguội (on the menu as a "Vietnamese hoagie sandwich," $3.50). The menu said it would have "Vietnamese bread, ham, pork roll, pate, butter, vegetable, soy sauce." What it did have was bread, some vegetables (cilantro, carrots, radish, peppers), and some really crispy and hard to eat pieces of indistinguishable cold cuts.
I was really disappointed with this bánh mì. I just found it really hard to eat. The bread was very dry, hard to bite, and very crumbly once you did bite into it. The vegetables were fine and fresh, but nothing special. The pate was barely even there to add its unique flavor. On top of all that, the meats were just texturally not great. They were so hard! I've never had meat in a bánh mì like that before. It's often much softer. The whole thing benefited quite a bit from a full sandwich dip into A's phở broth. It was just overall a bit disappointing. It made me long for Ba Le in Chicago.
A, on the other hand, was smart, and got phở. He picked the phở bò viên ($7 for regular size), described on the menu as beef noodle soup with beef balls. A's often had meatballs in phở before. If you've never had them before, the texture is a bit different than what you would expect if you're more familiar with American or Italian or Greek (etc) meatballs. The beef balls in Vietnamese cuisine are more spongy and bouncy in texture. This soup had lots of them.
Even though I often go with chicken or meatball for my bánh mì choice, this time I decided to stay "traditional" and picked the bánh mì thịt nguội (on the menu as a "Vietnamese hoagie sandwich," $3.50). The menu said it would have "Vietnamese bread, ham, pork roll, pate, butter, vegetable, soy sauce." What it did have was bread, some vegetables (cilantro, carrots, radish, peppers), and some really crispy and hard to eat pieces of indistinguishable cold cuts.
I was really disappointed with this bánh mì. I just found it really hard to eat. The bread was very dry, hard to bite, and very crumbly once you did bite into it. The vegetables were fine and fresh, but nothing special. The pate was barely even there to add its unique flavor. On top of all that, the meats were just texturally not great. They were so hard! I've never had meat in a bánh mì like that before. It's often much softer. The whole thing benefited quite a bit from a full sandwich dip into A's phở broth. It was just overall a bit disappointing. It made me long for Ba Le in Chicago.
A, on the other hand, was smart, and got phở. He picked the phở bò viên ($7 for regular size), described on the menu as beef noodle soup with beef balls. A's often had meatballs in phở before. If you've never had them before, the texture is a bit different than what you would expect if you're more familiar with American or Italian or Greek (etc) meatballs. The beef balls in Vietnamese cuisine are more spongy and bouncy in texture. This soup had lots of them.
A is very particular about how he prepares his phở. He always tastes the broth first to see how rich it is, and then he goes about placing a large handful of bean sprouts on top, tears pieces of basil to put in, and squeezes in a lime, splashes in some fish sauce, then artfully swirls the sriracha and cross-hatches the plum sauce. In the end he thought this was a good, warming phở, but it wasn't overly amazing. The broth wasn't as good as places like Tank. But, if we didn't have such wonderful places to compare this with, we probably would have thought it was quite solid on its own.
The phở at Pho Kim's was definitely the best thing we got that night. I had such buyer's remorse. I should have gotten the phở gà. That was my mistake for going to a place that had phở in the name and then not getting it. I think I would have been much happier!
Pho Kim's, 5490 Derry Street, Harrisburg, PA.
Pho Kim's, 5490 Derry Street, Harrisburg, PA.
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