Located on Hang Vai street (Hang Bo ward, Hanoi), Pho Khoi Hoi is one of the long-standing pho restaurants attracting a large number of diners, and is also listed in the Michelin Bib Gourmand list in 2024 and 2025 - a category honoring addresses with good quality and reasonable prices.
With more than 30 years of operation, the restaurant has become a familiar name to people in the Old Quarter. The space is imbued with the characteristics of Hanoi eateries: simple tables and chairs are arranged along the sidewalk, customers sit close together, stretching along Hang Vai street.
This pho restaurant has welcomed coach Park Hang Seo many times, and his image is hung right in the restaurant space. Therefore, some Korean TV shows have introduced this as "coach Park's familiar restaurant".
Two Korean artists, Kim Min Seok and Park Jae Min, also visited Pho Khoi Hoi when filming the Battle Trip program. Both highly appreciated the flavor of the pho. After enjoying pho with vang sauce, Kim Min Seok continued to order another bowl of traditional beef meat pho for comparison.
The point that makes the restaurant famous is the crispy beef brisket pho - a not-so-popular combination but creating a unique impression. The beef brisket is the meat part located at the hind legs of the cow, with beautiful interspersed tendons, almost without fat, requiring selection and meticulous processing. The core is quite small, so the price is almost double the price of regular beef.
At the restaurant, the meat is sliced directly when customers order to ensure freshness. Thin slices of beef core, stacked neatly on a bowl of pho, retain their softness and natural sweetness.
When eating, diners can clearly feel the characteristic light chewiness of the meat, blended with the crispy, crunchy, fatty but not greasy belly, creating an interesting balance in texture and flavor.
The broth is also an important factor contributing to the quality of the pho bowl. The broth is dark brown, clear, shining with a thin layer of fat, and is simmered from bones for many hours. According to the shop owner, this recipe has been around since the Mau Dich period and is still preserved to this day, creating a rich flavor, bearing the very unique "pho quality" of Hanoi.
A full bowl of pho cannot be without hot spring rolls, herbs and minced garlic - familiar ingredients that help increase the depth of flavor. The soft and chewy pho noodles, combined with beef and hot broth, bring a complete experience, enough to start a new day.
The price at the restaurant ranges from 50,000 to 90,000 VND per bowl, which is considered reasonable by many diners compared to the quality and location right in the old town center. This is also one of the factors that helped the restaurant be selected by Michelin for the Bib Gourmand list.
Tran Thi Dieu Linh (Hanoi) shared that she was impressed with the fresh, sweet beef core and the way it is combined with crispy belly, which is quite unique. However, because the restaurant is always crowded and the sidewalk space is quite limited, finding seats during peak hours may take quite a long time to wait.
If you choose to sit on the sidewalk opposite or next door, diners need to order more drinks from stalls that lend chairs and tables to eat pho.
Currently, the restaurant is open from 6 am to about 9 pm daily, serving both breakfast and dinner customers, peak time is from 9 am to 2 pm daily. Although there is no luxurious space or elaborate service, Pho Khoi Hoi still maintains its own appeal thanks to stable quality and unique flavor.
