Rice can be noodles or spring rolls. How? Well, it’s a secret that Pho Saigon’s head cook, Phuo Ng Mai Nguyen, has been using on the delectable food that she cooks and serves at the restaurant ever since it opened nine years ago.

Owned by Rudy Yu and Richard Ng, Pho Saigon sprung forth from these two men’s passion for Vietnamese food. Well, in the beginning their taste buds were not yet exclusive to what is now served on the dining table of a typical Vietnamese home but that changed after their visit to Ho Chi Minh City.

"Before Pho Saigon came to be, my friends and I loved to go out after work and eat; we especially loved, and still love, noodles. Then Richard happened to have a Vietnamese friend who invited us to his place in Ho Chi Minh City and since then, no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t forget the taste of the noodles that he served us in his home," recounted Rudy.

Rudy did not stop until he discovered who was responsible for the extraordinarily delicious noodles that he ate in Vietnam. And that’s how Phuo Ng Mai Nguyen landed in his kitchen.

"Mai, the sister of our friend, has been cooking for her family for a very, very long time. I wanted somebody who could cook authentic Vietnamese food and nobody could be better than her. She makes use of wet noodles which come straight from Vietnam. She is that particular with the type of noodles that she puts in her cooking and is very good at reinventing her recipes. I don’t know what her secret is but she really cooks very tasty food without the use of MSG. That’s our selling point — all our ingredients are natural and healthy," added Rudy.

Since pho means rice in Vietnam, Rudy thought Pho Saigon is a perfect name for his restaurant which serves a wide variety of rice noodles.

Pho Saigon’s noodles come in three sizes and are quite affordable. For P100, you can already fill yourself with a small serving of its special rue beef, well done flank, brisket, tendon and beef ball. It’s got a long name because that special bowl of noodles contains all types of meat to satisfy the craving of the carnivorous without compromising their health.

Noodles in a medium–sized bowl only costs P120 while the largest, which can be enough for two persons, is priced at P140.

"Our motto is: Our customer’s satisfaction before profit. That’s the reason why we offer everything here at low prices. We’re not after the profit because the only reason why we have this restaurant is because we love to eat. After work, my friends and I don’t have to roam Quezon City anymore to find a place that will not only satisfy our stomachs but can serve as a hangout as well without us having to worry about the closing time," said Rudy.

Spring rolls, which are made from rice paper, rice toppings, and steam boat (synonymous to shabu–shabu) eventually found its corresponding places on the menu a few months after Pho Saigon opened and after Rudy realized that not everybody digs noodles.

"Of course we had to put in something else to offer a variety of food otherwise people will get tired of eating noodles everyday. But these other food items are cheaper than the noodles because the latter is really our specialty," explained Rudy.

Among the favorites of Pho Saigon’s regular walk–ins are green papaya salad with pork and shrimp, spring rolls with shrimp or crab, shrimp and pork rolls, pork and shrimp omelet, fried goat’s breast, with bean curd sauce, fried yellow noodles, shrimp potatoes, and the Pho Saigon Sandwich.

Students who come over at Pho Saigon for lunch can’t get enough of its rice toppings because it doesn’t only come in at an affordable price of P95, it also has considerable variety. The bestsellers, however, in the rice toppings category are the steamed rice with pork and shrimp omelet, the spicy chicken, and rice with chicken in fish sauce.

Pho Saigon also serves pork chops minus the fatty portion which is, indeed, very Vietnamese. According to Rudy, the Vietnamese are very health conscious thus explaining their addiction to herbs and leafy vegetables. They refuse anything that’s fatty.

Isn’t it that eating too much rice can also add inches to that waistline and before you know it you’re as big as your fridge?

"Noodles are just like rice, which is carbohydrates. Our body needs that for energy. People in Vietnam live a very active lifestyle that’s why you will hardly find a fat Vietnamese. Now, unless you’re not busy with anything, you should not really worry about eating too much rice. It’s good for the body," rationalized Rudy.

Now, before you get up from that table help yourself to the Poor Man’s Coffee. It is drip coffee mixed with condensed milk and stirred in hot or cold water with ice cubes.

Now if that’s not fine Vietnamese dining, get that think tank of yours working to come up with a better description of Pho Saigon.