Midtown Lunch

After noticing Chef’s Secret (formerly known as Thai Nam on 45th btw. Lex+3rd) was offering pho bo last week, I went back to try the Vietnamese beef and rice noodle soup to relieve my curiosity. They describe their new offering as “hearty beef broth scented with cloves and anise. Served with thin rice noodle. Choice of beef/chicken/seafood.” All for $9.50! OK, not the best deal in Midtown, but I figured it’s worth a try since they’ve pretty much plastered the NEW pho bo flyers all over their window, their sidewalk sign, and walls inside…

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I passed Thai-Nam (on 45th btw. Lex+3rd) the other day and immediately zeroed in on the tasty-looking photo of pho bo – Vietnamese beef and rice noodle soup – plastered on their window. They describe their new offering as “hearty beef broth scented with cloves and anise. Served with thin rice noodle. Choice of beef/chicken/seafood.” Food that’s scented with anything always sounds suspicious to me, but I love pho so will overlook their attempts at fancy language. Thai-Nam wasn’t well-received by Zach on his last visit, but I’m curious enough to give it a go. Have you had it? And speaking of pho, any suggestions on where to find a good bowl in Midtown East?

Lunch’er Larry, who tipped us off to the Thai-Nam/Chef’s Secret change over (on 45th btw. Lex+3rd), has forwarded a copy of the menu along with this message: “Stopped for a further inspection of the Secret on my way to Hop Won… So it was a new, separate menu wrapped around the old Thai-Nam menu. Attached is a scan of the Chef’s Secret menu. Special Roll #J41 sounds interesting, if not disturbing.”

Well call me intrigued… the menu, plus a close-up of the “disturbing” #J41 is after the jump.

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Thanks to Lunch’er Larry for forwarding along the photo

Just when you thought Thai Nam (on 45th btw. Lex+3rd) couldn’t get any worse… they’ve added sushi!  And changed their name to Chef’s Secret!  Which means that now this place serves *3* cuisines that are different from their own nationality (I’m pretty sure they’re Chinese, but don’t quote me on that.)

Related:
Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures: Thai Nam