Savored a $9 bowl of pho in a tiny shop instead of the $25 sit-down place with a line around the block

Hit a market day in Portland last month and walked past this trendy Vietnamese spot everyone raves about. Found a hole-in-the-wall two blocks away with plastic stools. Bowl was huge, broth had real depth, and I wasn't stuck waiting 40 minutes. Which hidden spots have you lucked into that beat the popular ones?

2 comments

2 Comments

wendy721mo ago

Right? The line is ALWAYS a dead giveaway that you should turn around and walk the other way. What was in that broth that made it so good though - did they use like a charred onion or was it more of a star anise heavy thing? Because that makes all the difference between a bowl that fills you up and one that Actually makes you feel something.

oliver7191mo ago

Oh man I had almost the exact same thing happen last week at this noodle spot that everyone was hyping on TikTok. There was a line down the block and I waited like 45 minutes and the broth was just salty and oily with no depth at all. But a place I go to in Chinatown where the line is never more than 3 people uses this really rich charred onion and ginger base that tastes like it was simmering for days. That's the kind of broth that actually warms you up from the inside instead of just sitting in your stomach like a rock.