Shadowing Practice: American Brother’s First Pho in Vietnam 🇻🇳 - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

This is my older brother, never been to Vietnam.

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This is my older brother, never been to Vietnam.

He's fresh off the boat and the only three things he knows about Vietnamese food is pho,

spring rolls, and then the banh mi sandwich.

So first off we have is jit ma.

And Chad, are you excited?

Yeah, super excited.

And for you guys, you're probably wondering,

he is my older brother.

He has a lot more white hair than me.

I do have a lot of white hair,

but white hair runs very early in my family,

but we have a lot of hair,

so let's get some pho.

So you guys, this is Kang.

He's the owner and main chef at the jit ma.

So yeah, I've been here before,

it's very good pho, but for my brother,

I want him to try something nice and special,

so for anybody who doesn't know what pho is,

can you give me like a one or two sentence answer what pho is?

Basically, it's the essence of Vietnamese cuisine.

It's very delicate while being also flavorful and with the herbs,

it's the whole Vietnamese experience.

How is your pho different?

The main thing is no MSG, man.

We don't do MSG here,

so how can we do it?

We cook with a lot more bones,

exactly four times more bones than the other fur shops.

And also we use some Western and modern techniques to make the fur more tasty.

My brother lives in the Netherlands.

So he's in Amsterdam and we went to like the top reviewed pho,

not pho place, Vietnamese restaurant.

It was the worst Vietnamese food I have ever had in my life.

Really?

Yeah, it was terrible.

We got a gai.

It was horrendous.

The pho was horrendous.

You got bún t'hè nèng àu.

I don't even know what these dishes are.

It's fully Vietnamese thaf.

I won't say the name,

but it was absolutely terrible.

So my brother has extremely low expectations.

I'm very happy for him to try something.

They're delicious.

The Amsterdam Vietnamese food is terrible.

I don't care what anybody says.

It's absolutely terrible.

So we'll get some pho and we'll probably order a few other things.

He's really excited.

He's tired though.

He's tired.

Northern pho or either Southern pho.

But here we give you not two but also three options.

You can take a look here.

And then for the meat options,

you get four meat options here.

All the stars are the recommendations.

And here's the Yotel or Y.

Which is the signature of a restaurant because we're the only one in Vietnam doing it with sourdough.

Okay.

Do you prefer northern or southern pha?

Northern for sure.

Really?

For me, northern.

Yeah, I'm a southerner.

But I love northern.

Yeah, I'm southern all the way.

I'm southern.

Are you southern?

I'm southern, I'm southern.

Yeah, we got everything from here.

So do you guys want to maybe we can do one of each?

Sure.

Is that okay?

So you can try the different flavors for them?

So for your pho, how long does it take to cook one dish?

We start from 5 a.m from this day,

then we finish 5 a.m the other day.

So 24 hours of cooking for making your pho.

Yes, correct.

For our pho, it takes 24 hours.

That's how we extract all the flavors because we cook low and slow.

We get all the flavors from the bones that we don't need to use the same machine.

But like I'm looking at the broth right now and they all look different.

So like this one is a little bit more golden,

this one is less golden,

this one is a little bit more fat.

Do you know which one is which?

I know it's labeled but like can you tell the difference?

I can tell it's different.

I can show you guys also.

So we have three kinds right?

The clear one so of course the clear one usually it's a lot less fat

and you can see it's almost like clarified yeah yes you can see the bottom of the fan

which part is this this is the clear northern part it's a northern part clear northern part

and then when you take a look then you see the fat yeah

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and those are the northern and the southern

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but then how you differentiate the southern will be more dark

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because we roast the shallots quite quite a bit so it will be more dark So now we can take a look.

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Yes.

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So here, you can see it's southern.

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Southern?

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Yeah, and here's the both northern.

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Okay. So northern.

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Yeah, so these two are northern indeed,

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and this is the southern one.

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Interesting.

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Yeah.

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You agree, I'm learning something new.

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I like this.

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I see there's a lot of marbling in your beef.

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What is, what's the difference with this?

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Yeah, so I tried a lot of beef.

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We did R&D for a year,

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trying to find the best beef for a pho.

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So it has to be Vietnamese beef.

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So after a while looking,

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we found this Vietnamese beef that is raised with Japanese technology.

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So it brings this beautiful marble into the Vietnamese beef,

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but while keeping the chewy and the sweetness of the umami of the beef.

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Uh, Keng, I saw you guys use this.

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What is this?

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Yes.

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So this is our phoam.

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So what we do with this,

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we emulsify, we blend some aromatic talons with our phoam broth to make a aromatic foam for the soup pha.

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So which pha is this?

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It's in northern pha.

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Northern pha, okay.

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That is the sound of it.

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Old John, I am oi.

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An F. Am oi.

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Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho.

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Oh, I'm filming too.

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Oh, it's okay.

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This is the old one.

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So, Kang, my brother's wife Tashina was asking what is the difference between Northern and Southern pho?

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Okay, so for the Southern pho,

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there's a bit more sugar and there's more of a spice in the bowl,

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so it has a more aromatic and more rounded filling.

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The Northern is usually more of a umami-forward taste.

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Yeah, like if I answer,

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I'd say Northern pho is less flavorful,

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and Southern has more flavor.

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In a way.

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No, that's a very controversial statement for Vietnamese though there's a lot of competitions with north and south.

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So northern pho here, northern southern,

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and then this was the stir-fried pho and then the pho spring rolls.

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Yes, the pho rolls.

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Yes.

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So if somebody likes pho,

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this is the dish to try. So everything.

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Everything pho, but a little bit modern.

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So like this one we put inside some it's good beef with pork

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and with homemade kimchi and some cilantro okay yes

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and for this one you can see it's a normal stir-fried pho

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but on top we use the very rare kind of beef

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it's a golden coin shin for one car is only 600 grams of golden coin shin

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and on the surrounding there's a which we use the block of the fat to make the foam more

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we got the stir-fry right here the spring rolls northern northern southern yeah also he calls these Pho rolls,

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not spring rolls Pho rolls,

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thank you

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I'm trying to taste the flavors that he was describing the umami

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So the biggest difference between this and say something cheap on the street,

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he doesn't use MSG

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So like the MSG does add like a flavor to it that's very unique and distinguishable So another northern

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Almost like a chicken.

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It tastes different, like less beefy for some reason.

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Okay, now I'm curious.

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I'm afraid I'm going to like the 7th one.

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Because that's what I think I'm used to.

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Yeah, I'm used to a little bit more sugar and things.

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Here, can you take it?

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I'll spill it.

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Okay.

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Actually, I think I might like this one a little.

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Really?

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Yeah, we'll see.

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I mean, when I try everything together because it's like all the vegetables and stuff like that too.

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There are slight differences.

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They're not like extremely different.

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So I'm gonna put things in kind of perspective for you guys My brother has not really had problems,

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and he's from Southern California But even the pho in Southern California,

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it's hit or miss I don't care what anybody says,

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the Vietnamese food in California It can be good and it's also really terrible For condiments,

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okay Yes Chili sauce?

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Chili sauce is homemade, we've been made for 7 days Oh, okay, okay Garlic?

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Garlic vinegar I'll change for you another one So the garlic vinegar we make from Hanoi beer.

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We ferment it inside for 15 days and then we put in the garlic.

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I'll change for you.

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I'm gonna do a broth taste test.

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We got southern.

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You try yours.

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Brother, do you want to help me with the northern one?

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How do I do that?

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I want to taste the broth.

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Am I gonna feed you?

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Yeah, this one has a lot more fatty texture to it.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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I'd always prefer southern, but if I were to have these,

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all three of them taste quite different.

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I don't know how to describe it.

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This one though has a bit more oily to it, but otherwise, yeah.

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And I'm a pho snob because I don't eat a lot of pho anymore, but it's good.

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Because since your pho is a little bit nicer and higher end,

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do you recommend still adding these condiments to it?

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Yes, of course, because in the traditional way of eating pho,

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we still put chili sauce and garlic vinegar into it.

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But I would not recommend too much lime or horsing sauce.

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I still put it there because it's a very frankfurt and sour thing.

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But to me, the best is still chili sauce and garlic vinegar.

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Okay, so yeah, so if you guys did chili sauce.

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Yeah.

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Thank you.

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Not pho, pho rolls.

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Yeah, I call them pho,

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spring rolls, but pho rolls.

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If you're somebody who likes pho,

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this is definitely going to be something up your alley.

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This is really good.

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This is really good.

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So, brother, you just had your first bite of proper Vietnamese food and Vietnamese food in Vietnam as you just arrived.

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On a scale of 1 to 10,

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how would you rate this pho?

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Well, I mean, it's clearly the best pho I've ever had.

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Exactly.

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But I think the biggest thing,

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actually, I'm noticing is the noodles are totally different.

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Yeah.

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The noodles back home suck.

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I don't know what it is,

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but these have a different texture.

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They're way better.

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I would absolutely agree.

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That's like my biggest issue.

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Like in Amsterdam, horrendous.

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Everything about that was horrendous.

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Yeah, they were nice.

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Horrendous.

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Even California, like I had pho with you before in California,

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and the noodles there are a little bit different.

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But do you remember me?

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I commented to them because they knew who I was.

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Oh, yeah.

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I was like, the pho is fine.

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It's just the noodles are different.

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So it's the best pho he's ever had in his life.

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Hands down.

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You know, before he came,

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he was giving me saying that he doesn't want me to take him to bad places,

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which I would never do.

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You told me that.

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I said, I don't want you to take me to like, sketchy food.

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Because I know you've eaten weird things in the past,

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so I don't want to eat the weird stuff.

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So this is brotherly love and good brother bonding time.

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So I'm glad you're enjoying the pho.

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So this is, so far,

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the best meal he's had in Vietnam,

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because he's been here less than 24 hours.

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I don't really eat anything but I'm glad you're enjoying this.

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So this is my pho.

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I like a lot of chilies.

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Oh my brother's trying the pho rolls.

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Good?

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Really good.

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It wasn't what I was expecting.

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I was expecting like a spring roll but it's definitely different.

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No, the texture of the rice paper is like it's a nice mouth feel when you eat it compared to it.

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But the meat in this is really good.

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Yeah, it's like the high quality meat that he's using.

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Proper bite of the pho.

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What?

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The meat.

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I feel like local people or countryside people would sometimes prefer the street pho

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because it's more of like a childhood taste because of the MSG umami flavor.

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Alright, stir fry.

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You're a brother.

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You're beating me?

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Yeah, I'm beating him.

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Mmm.

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Again, the meat's really good.

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Like good, good.

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Yeah, really good.

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I don't know what's in it, but it's really good.

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Yeah, because this foam was like the aromatic foam that he like bubbles with the...

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Or not bubbles, bubbles is not a good word to use for that.

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I don't know, he mentioned earlier on camera.

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No, that meat's really good.

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Right?

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That's really good.

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Because the noodles remind me of like a Pad Thai noodle, but better.

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Yeah, that's actually like.. if you like Pad Thai and that type of dish, this...

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So I've had a lot of pho in Vietnam.

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The one thing you can really taste the difference,

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especially the meat quality in this,

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and then also you don't have the MSG taste,

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which I like, and I think a lot of people in Vietnam would prefer that.

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I understand some people don't want to have MSG in their food,

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but I would think maybe some people from the countryside or who've grown up eating pho with MSG,

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they may prefer that taste

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but especially coming to a place like this i think it's like 150 to 200 000 vietnamese down so

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i'll ask him in a second

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because i forgot how much like six to ten dollars for

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a bowl it's a bit more expensive compared to stuff on the street

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but it's it's nice like my brother said it's the best good quality yeah you can taste it

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so how i i forgot to look at the menu on the cost

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so how much is What is the bowl of pho?

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The bowl of pho that you guys just had is $205.

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$205, okay.

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The basic one for one meat is $150.

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$150, okay.

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So yeah, so $150, so like $7 to...

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$6, yeah.

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Yeah, $6, $7 to $10-ish.

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Alright brother, we finished.

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What was your favorite thing?

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Actually I think it was the stir-fry of pho.

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That's what it was called I think.

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But I think it's because of the meat that's it the flavors

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and like I don't know what it was It was really good,

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but then actually I think why most my pho

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that I'll say it's from her pho and I tasted all of them

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But I think I maybe liked my pho the best which is the northern pho Yeah,

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that was it you can taste like the fatty flavor into it as well Yeah,

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and thank you Kang.

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Kang if people want to try your pho So it's Jimeh, it's in Taodian.

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Yes, please come here to Jimeh and try out our pho

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and also for the evening We have some more new contemporary Vietnamese dishes that we really want you to try out

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My brother let's go nice hat

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I'm trying to get him to wear these

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but I haven't got it yet It's very comfortably a pair

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I got the green ones you want the green ones at

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the house The hotel has something too These are blue but yours are like cheaper All right,

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we're taking a quick break Brother this is the salted coffee Okay,

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you got black coffee because yeah he's boring.

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That's really good.

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I told you it's good.

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Yeah.

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But I couldn't drink that much because I had a milk.

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I told him that.

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Yeah, you can't handle milk very well.

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That's good.

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Interesting.

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It's like a dessert though.

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Yeah, like the salted coffee,

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the milk coffee, the coconut coffee,

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later I'll have you try egg coffee.

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Did you have the avocado one?

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There's avocado coffee, there's coffee, coffee, everything.

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Vietnam coffee is top, like in the world.

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I gotta say that's the black coffee.

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Yeah, you can try the black coffee, but...

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It's black coffee.

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This is like a cold brew.

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Strong?

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Yeah.

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I mean, I'll start that to get dipped,

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so I think I need a coffee.

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Shadowing Practice: American Brother’s First Pho in Vietnam 🇻🇳 - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Shadowing Practice: American Brother’s First Pho in Vietnam 🇻🇳 - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Why practice speaking with this video?

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