>

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / Gretchen Ertl

In a Vietnamese crepe, above, the traditional mixture of shrimp, pork and bean sprouts are baked into a rice powder pancake and served with a delicate sauce, above. In pho, the soup at left, a hot broth is poured over the beef, cooking it to perfection.

Pho Horn’s head chef Jimmy Le carries out a bowl of beef noodle soup with its side of sprouts, basil and lime for squeezing.

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / Gretchen Ertl

When the time comes to review a Vietnamese restaurant, I enlist a group of diners including my friend M. Her late mother was a native of Vietnam and an outstanding cook, so who better than M to judge a spot pledging authentic Vietnamese cuisine?

We convened at a large table at Pho Horn’s in Shaw’s Plaza, which straddles the Providence-Pawtucket line off North Main Street. The menu is almost overwhelming for diners. With more than 100 dishes, from appetizers to vegetarian specialty items to Vietnamese-style coffee (made with sweetened, condensed milk), we braced for a long read.

But almost immediately M saw a must-have, a Vietnamese crepe ($8.25). Her late mother often made them and she never, ever sees them offered in restaurants, she said. This is comfort food of the highest order, she added — a dish made in a fry pan and served at the kitchen table.

The very concept of a crepe seems like a legacy of France’s colonization in Southeast Asia. But when it arrived, it looked less French and more like a large omelet. Its yellow tones and shape make a diner think of eggs, but there are none. This is a rice flour pancake made to order and stuffed with shrimp and pork. Scallions and bean sprouts are also folded in.

M pronounced it very much like her mother’s. It had plenty of bean sprouts, just as she remembered. But she thought it went one better, with a less pronounced coconut milk flavor than her mom’s. For most of us, a little coconut milk goes a long way.

In an interview after the meal, co-owner Teven Tran explained the flavor profile when he said they mix the coconut milk with a bit of half-and-half for the crepe. That is a fine adaptation.

For the rest of us, the crepe was a new taste experience and a welcome one at that. The crunchiness of the sprouts balances with the softness of the pancake. The preparation is such that the pork is part of the pancake rather than just stuffed inside it.

Equally as successful a dish to bring back memories of home cooking was the bowl of pho, beef noodle soup ($5.95 for the table). Vietnamese soups are served with a side plate of bean sprouts, lime and basil. A squeeze of the lime into the broth makes for a pleasing combination.

Pho has an aromatic beef broth that is poured over very thin, raw slices of beef. M asked for flank. The hot broth cooks the meat. As the bowl arrived at our table, the meat was still pink but in no time at all, it cooked right through.

M’s mother often served pho, and she welcomed the familiar taste of her mother’s soup. Anyone would welcome the flavor with a clean-tasting broth, tender meat and fresh lime flavoring. In the bottom of the bowl, rice noodles were satisfying and light. We only wished we had a ladle for easier serving of individual bowls from the one big bowl of soup.

While M remembered her mother’s kitchen, J and I were remembering our favorite dish from another Vietnamese restaurant and wanted to try Pho Horn’s version. The dish is a cold chicken salad ($6.95), and Pho Horn’s is a delight with bright flavors, crisp, vibrant vegetables and greens. Chicken slices are paired with shredded carrots, cabbage, fresh mint, slivers of roasted peanuts, onions and a light vinegar-based dressing. The dish is served very cold, and the crunchiness is just wonderful. The lightness of the meat and the dressing leaves the palate refreshed.

D, meanwhile, couldn’t resist trying an appetizer of roasted quail ($8.95). Two pieces were marinated in a honey and fish sauce. Fish sauce is a seafood base in Vietnamese cooking with the texture and flavor of a thickened broth. A bit of vinegar made this a tasty sweet and sour delicacy.

By the time our bun dish arrived, we were glad to have the lazy Susan in the middle of the table for ease of sharing the dishes.

Bun refers to Vietnamese dishes that include rice vermicelli, long thin noodles made from finely ground rice and water. We had the grilled beef bun ($6.50), which was enjoyable, with the barbecued pieces of meat paired with lovely flavors of lemongrass and served over the nice fresh noodles.

Everything at Pho Horn is served with nuoc cham, the Vietnamese dipping sauce made with fish sauce, a little garlic, sugar, chili sauce and lime juice.

We had been tempted to try a beef fire pot, but our server said it was similar to the soup except that diners cook their steak in their own hot broth. We were satisfied with our number of choices for four diners.

The restaurant has been open for just more than four months and is the first for Teven and his co-owners Eric Bui and Jimmy Le. The restaurant still has the red and green tiles from when the building housed a sandwich shop several incarnations ago. They have a full liquor license but have started with wine and beer for now. They also offer the non-alcoholic bubble teas ($3) with fruit pulp layered with tapioca pearls. There’s something so pure and clean about the flavors of Vietnamese cuisine that pairing the dishes with anything but water seems unnecessary.

The tastes of Southeast Asia are indeed lovely and done nicely at Pho Horn.