Pho From The Banh Mi Cart Is Mostly Pluses With A Couple Of Minuses

Last week the Banh Mi Cart at Hanover Sq. and Pearl started serving beef noodle soup (aka, pho) which was a departure from their roster of sandwiches, spring rolls and drinks. This is kind of great news for the winter months when a heart soup may sound better than a sandwich, but could pho from a cart be any good? The answer is yes, but with some caveats. 

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The pho is $9 which I feel should be a little cheaper since it’s from a cart and there’s no option of eating it indoors from an actual bowl. Another concern that registered was that the “fixings” that usually are given to you on a plate or, at the very least, in a separate container were nowhere to be found. Later, I would discover that the basil, lime wedge and bean sprouts had been pre-deposited in the bottom of the container along with the beef.

That being said, the broth was strongly flavored due to those additions, and wasn’t as weak and watery as some versions I’ve had. You get plenty of thin rice noodles and if you dig around in the bottom you’ll find deposits of (mostly) thinly-sliced beef. If you think of this more as noodle soup and less as pho, you’ll be less disappointed. And don’t be alarmed if you’re fishing around at the bottom of the container for beef and come up with a slice of lime.

Banh Mi Cart, corner of Hanover Sq. & Pearl St., (646) 996-8990

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