Description
Hoang Lan is everything a noodle house should be: tiny and marginally clean, with Vietnamese variety shows on the TV and a few families intent on vacuuming noodles out of bowls of red broth. It's the house specialty, bun bo hue or Hue-style beef noodle soup, and it may be the best version you'll taste outside Vietnam. You have to dump everything on the plate that comes with your order—shredded cabbage and bean sprouts, all of the different herbs—into your bowl, squeeze lime over top, and mix in a little of the housemade chile sauce. As the vegetables and herbs melt down, start slurping the rice noodles, lacy slices of steamed pork, jiggly cubes of congealed blood, long-braised beef, a pork hock added for good luck. The bun rieu, or crab noodles in a spicy broth, also has its fans.
