My colleague KC most graciously and kindly took me to lunch today.  We went to a Pho restaurant near Broad Street, off Route 1/9 in Northern New Jersey. 

While Pho is a Vietnamese dish, this particular Pho restaurant has Korean ownership and management.  I like going to this Pho restaurant, but I have to go with a guide for two reasons, 1) I can never figure out how to get there, and 2) all the store-signs are in Korean and I cannot read anything.  My friend Ann laughs at me for this.  I think she thinks I am silly for needing such handholding…perhaps she is right.

Pho is a Vietnamese rice noodle soup served with various types of meats, like paper-thin beef, pork or chicken.  KC ordered the brisket Pho, which looked delicious, mixed with enoki mushrooms, rice noodles and thin sheets of beef.

I was temped… lured in… by the Shabu-shabu, which is a Japanese-style fondue.  However, rather than fruit dipped in cheese, one is served a metal pot with broth and several dishes.. each with a different category of ingredients.  First, I received a giant plate of bock choy, mushrooms, squash and other assorted greens.  Then they gave me a plate with thinly sliced beef and another plate with fresh, raw seafood, including littleneck clams, razor clams, squid, prawns and octopus.

The point of the shabu-shabu is to heat the broth to a slow boil and dip each of the ingredients into the broth to cook them.  You have to know exactly when to remove them so they do not over (or under) cook.  When I saw how much food they brought out, I enlisted KC to help me eat it!

We began with Vietnamese summer rolls with this amazing, delicious, fantastic peanut dipping sauce.  Then, I began cooking the veggies, fish and meats, passing about half of the finished product on to KC.  We happily talked, cooked and ate until we finished all the meats and seafood.

Just when we thought we could not possibly eat any more, the server came over to ask if we wanted rice or noodles to finish our broth.  Rice or Noodles?!?  How could we possibly eat more food!  We forgot all about the rice or noodles!  We opted to pass on the starches and finish our meals off with a nice cold glass of bubble tea to go.

Bubble tea is a tea served over shaved ice with large tapioca pearls in the bottom. The tea comes sweetened in various flavors.  KC and I both enjoyed Thai bubble tea.

Even though we ate a lot of food for lunch, I left feeling good—we ate lean proteins and vegetables in broth with relatively low fat and virtually no starches.  In addition, I felt full for the rest of the day.  Overall, Pho turned out to be a meal that fulfilled the body and the soul, and we completed it in enough time to make it back for my afternoon of marathon meetings.  Thanks KC!