I decided it was time to venture to Little Saigon in the Tenderloin for a good old fashioned bowl of pho. I consider myself to have pretty good luck with pho. Most of what I’ve had before were on par, and I only had one bad incident. But the problem is, I’ve never really been blown away by pho before. I had heard good things about a place called Turtle Tower, and was anxious to give a review.

We arrived at Turtle Tower just in time for the lunch rush of local patrons seeking their pho fixing. I ordered my usual: a large bowl with rare beef (they didn’t have meatballs, which was disappointing).

Clean. This is only the word that comes to mind when eating Turtle Tower’s pho. I was simply amazed by the clarity of the broth when the steaming bowl arrived–you could probably read the date off of a dime at the bottom of a gallon of it. In other words, clear as consomme. This is typical of the northern Vietnamese pho, which is said to be the original and more minimalist than the richer southern Vietnamese tradition. I liked the clean taste, but I can also appreciate a more flavorful and complex broth.

The condiments were also sparse. If you’re used to Hoison sauce and plenty of green basil leaves with your pho, you’ll be disappointed. This is a no fuss operation–the only condiments were limes, sriricha, fish sauce and vinegar. I usually mix Hoison with sriricha, which I then use to dab the noodles and beef. But this time, I mixed some sriricha, vinegar, and fish sauce for a tasty combination. Although, it really wouldn’t kill them to have a bottle or two Hoison around.

The noodles were homemade and excellent. I’ve never had homemade noodles in pho, so this was quite a treat. They weren’t clumpy at all, and were tender and fresh tasting. The beef, however, wasn’t what I expected. Usually, rare beef means thin slices of sirloin, but this seemed to some sort of mashed up chunky sirloin. But the quality of the other ingredients did a good job in offsetting the beef. Perhaps this style is traditional? Does anyone have any idea?

If you’re in the mood for a nice clean bowl of pho, try Turtle Tower. As usual, the servings are huge, fast, and steaming. However, if you like a darker and more pungent broth, or, if you’re a condiment nut, you probably won’t be impressed. Their chicken pho also looked really nice, and seemed to be popular with the other patrons.

Turtle Tower Restaurant
631 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 409-3333

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