Skip to main contentThe selling point at this 82nd Avenue strip-mall noodle shop is the Vietnamese soup bun bo hue ($8.50), pho's thick 'n' spicy, blood cake-packed little sister. Ngoc Han's version is lighter and more herbaceous than other beef broth bowls around town but still floating with fish balls, tendons and other body parts. But that's not all that's worthy here: Don't overlook the airy chamber's roster of vermicelli bowls ($7.50). A bed of slippery rice noodles and shredded lettuce is topped with piles of grilled shrimp, grilled pork, dried cold pork, bean sprouts, peanuts, green onions and shredded carrot. Pour the sweet-'n'-sour vinegar and fish sauce over the top and you've pretty much got the cobb salad of Vietnam. Genius. Equally habit-forming is Ngoc Han's spicy pork roll ($3.50), a salad roll amped up with a peppery hybrid of barbecue pork and Viet ham, ready for a dip in peanutty plum sauce. Bonus: The joint often plays Viet karaoke videos on its TVs so you get to watch pretty Asian people walk along a windswept beach and cry while you slurp your salted lemonade and soup.
WWeek 2015