I Tasted Phat Pho's Vietnamese Food and I Find It Delicious

It's time for an evening dinner. Rather than go to my usual "sweet spots"--I tried out Phat Pho of the Abaca Group. I got to taste what might be called "revolutionary food" because Vietnam is under a Communist regime. Well, Abaca Group is founded by is owned by Jason Hyatt and his Chinese wife Anna whom he met in Hong Kong. I tried eating Vietnamese spring rolls and Vietnamese steamed egg. I tried the Vietnamese Pho which is their soup.

I was craving some meat and I tried the ever-popular Pho special. It contains some shaved beef, braised beef, meatballs, and some tendon. It takes around 5-10 minutes to prepare to ensure that the soup is well-prepared. The noodles are a different variety from what I get from Chinese restaurants. Condiments are added so the customer can flavor the soup according to their preference. I guess one can say it's served without much seasoning. Adding condiments such as vinegar, chili paste, chili flakes, and pepper is needed. It's pretty much like how South Korean soups are served bland and the customers add in the flavors according to their own personal preference.

I ordered a small serving but I'd say it was quite heavy. It was a very filling meal. I added some siracha, lemon, and vinegar, and you may request pepper flakes and chili flakes. Those would help add the preference of the customer. As a soup person, I usually prefer to have my soup served without much seasoning and I would flavor it according to my preference. I enjoyed almost every bit of the beef pieces served with this delicious pho.

I ordered the Vietnamese rainbow shaved ice. Cal it Vietnamese halo-halo if you want. It had some leche flan which didn't taste much different from the leche flan prepared in the Philippines. The halo-halo contained some pandan flavor. Is that some peanut flakes on top? I think this is the Che Ba Mau or the Vietnamese three-color dessert. I heard the Japanese introduced shaved ice to the Philippines during the Japanese occupation. Vietnam probably got the idea later after the Second World War and maybe during the reign of Ho Chi Minh. Maybe, this was a dish that was introduced during the Doi Moi reforms. I can't be certain about that.

Just eating at Phat Pho might've opened new opportunities for me. I could say that I might want to try their barbecues next. Food can be rather expensive but justified by the price. I paid around PHP 700.00 (round off) but the price was worth it. I'm willing to recommend this because the price is right.

Honoring the Recently Deceased Jose de Venecia Jr. in a Business/Economics Perspective

That's right. Jose de Venecia recently passed away yesterday. As an advocate for reform, it's sad but true that de Venecia didn't win because he was boring . It was easy to think of him as a boring guy. I remember the time when he was called in ISPUP as Yoda De Venecia (after the Star Wars character). I was just a clueless college student at that time when the ISPUP episode was shown. I was only 13 years old when de Venecia ran for president. It was also that era when Joseph Estrada (who's now 88 years old) ran for president, and it was that time when Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. (who turned 90 last year) became the chief justice. Just recently, I found this eulogy for JDV. I will not post the whole eulogy, but only the one from the one that would "fit better" for a business-economics blog: He helped advance policies that enabled major infrastructure projects through public private partnerships, converted former military bases into thriving economic centers...

Yes to Filipinas Marrying Foreign Men, No to 100% FDI Shares Ownership?!

Today is Valentine's Day. I feel Valentine's Day is plain overrated. Some people just get a date for the sake of it--even if it means enduring that materialistic girlfriend or abusive boyfriend! Isn't romance a year-round thing? A few Valentine's Day ago, I wrote about Filipinas marrying foreigners and that FDI doesn't include Filipinas dating foreigners . This time to add some comedy, I wrote this post. It's something to say, "Yes! Somebody is married to a foreigner!" It's the hype to get job opportunities abroad or to marry a foreigner. Blossoms Why do Filipinos want to marry foreigners? The Blossoms blog writes down the following: Love and Affection: Love is often the primary reason for marriage, and Filipinas who marry foreigners may do so because they have fallen in love with someone from another country. Financial Stability: Some Filipinas may marry foreigners because they believe a foreign husband can provide financial stability and secur...

China's Real Great Leap Forward and Economic Cultural Revolution Under Deng Xiaoping

Nobody can dare deny that China has become a big superpower. I remembered I went to China last 2007 (which would be more than 10 years ago). China had become such a huge metropolis of power that I'm amazed at it. I was thinking about how Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing were truly magnificent cities before the pollution problem (which should call for eco-capitalist measures). I was thinking about how I never realized China was once dirt poor. Did you know China used to be so dirt-poor? The "economic legacy" of Mao Zedong was a disaster with the so-called "Great Leap Forward". It was a great leap forward all right--a great leap forward to ruin. Mao seeking to avoid the use of foreign resources to launch China proved disastrous. The 1970s would see a dramatic change when Deng Xiaoping finally took over the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The beginning of the rise of Communist China under Deng's new political policy would pave the way to China becoming a great s...

Should Noynoy Aquino be a Valid Excuse to Reject Econ Cha Cha?

Philippine Star Updated January 25, 2025 This may be a touchy post. Politics is often a source of fights during parties. That's why we're told not to talk about politics during parties. Unfortunately, some people on Facebook are now using the late Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" C. Aquino Jr. as an excuse not to execute even economic charter change. Never mind that blatant supporter of Atty. Maria Leonor "Leni" Gerona-Robredo, Andrew James Masigan, supports economic charter change . The late Charles Edward P. Celdran was also an anti-Duterte critic. As I looked at some okay boomer posts, I'm not surprised at people who still use Noynoy as an excuse to shout with all their might, "No to economic charter change!" Somebody posted on Facebook the following. As always, I won't publicly shame anyone. If possible, I will only refer to them by codenames or use the name Anonymous. I want to remain as professional as possible. This person said that under N...

Teaching Mandarin by Recalling How Much Chinoy School Students Complained, "Hay, Chinese!"

It's time for a bit of Chinese language Throwback Thursday. I remember how the Chinese school can be summarized as students memorizing without understanding . The problem wasn't the Lǎoshīs (老師) but the system that ran them as persons . I decided to write this article to " bring up a trauma " associated with the Chinese education system. From Kiko Chinese, this picture shows the common complaints from children. Standard Chinese is so hard! The Chinese schools tend to lose students because they keep failing in Grade 2 or Grade 2 in Chinese. In fact, I remember someone failing Chinese four times back in the 1990s. Another one was three years in Grade 3 Chinese, where the Chinese teacher was even stricter than the Grade 2 Chinese teacher. The real issue was that there wasn't any real learning because the old traditional Chinese system wasn't doing anything right . People were treated as if Hokkien were their first language. However, we realize that people can...

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