Cafe Diem

[mattohara]

You really can't beat two amazing meals (healthy, even!) for $7.50.

I just went back again. I work until 6 usually but I remembered to call in at 5:45. The pouring rain and waiting pho combined were a good excuse to take a taxi. I live a couple of blocks north of Cafe Diem so I ran home through the rain. I was sopping wet but the soup warms you from the inside.

I never eat *in* the Cafe though. Does anybody want to join me some time to try some of the other specialties?

[KatieLoeb]

Is it even possible that none of us have been to Cafe Diem in almost 1 year?? After leaving an early afternoon cocktail photo shoot at James (courtesy of our friends at Philadelphia Distilling), I had just enough time to kill to grab some lunch before I had to be at work a few blocks north. I remembered Cafe Diem was just down the street and was dying to try the Bun Bo Hue after you'd all raved about it. Last time I'd had this soup was west on Washington Avenue at Pho Viet Huong. It was OK there, but had cubes of blood in it that pretty much tainted everything else in the bowl. I just can't groove on that "sucking-on-a-papercut" flavor of blood anything. Not a big fan of blood sausage either. :shudder: Back to Cafe Diem - I first inquired if the blood cubes were in their version of Bun Bo Hue and they told me it was just flank, brisket, tendon and pig's foot. Now there's some protein choices I can get behind. It was delicious! Spicy but not too much so, lots of meat, tons of noodles (I'm an equal opportunity noodle lover - the round noodles were fine) and a big honking plate of sprouts and basil. I was delighted. A delicious and quick lunch that was filling and a bargain to boot. I'll probably always have Cafe Diem as my default for Bun Bo Hue in the future. Their version is the best I've tried thusfar.

Edited March 13, 2009 by KatieLoeb (log)

[Andrew Fenton]

I eat there pretty regularly, every couple of months. Still good, though I always stick to the bun bo hue or pho dac biet. Is there anything great on the menu that I'm missing?

[rae]

You call regularly every couple of months! We go about every 10 days at max, usually every week. On Friday they make pho ga, which is great (there a lot of chicken bones to sift through, but it is worth it), but they generally only have it on the weekend (fri, sat, and sun). There is another soup that is really good with shrimp in it, but I tend to go for the pho dac biet over that. Once and only once they the most amazing beef stew, but every time I ask for it now they say they don't have it. It was kind of like the beef stew hoagie over at cafe nhu y (only replace the hoagie with noodles), but different enough to make me crave it. Basically everything we've had there has been great. We even go for the pork chop w eggs on rice once in a while and it rocks!

[Andrew Fenton]

Ha, I didn't say "often", I said "regularly." Maybe I'll try some of the pho ga today... sounds great!

[KatieLoeb]

So everyone's been holding out on the secret Cafe Diem specialties info then?? I'm sorely disappointed...

[dagordon]

The bubble tea is also good

Agreed about the pho ga, it's remarkable.

[podunkom]

Been going to Cafe Diem for a few years now, and have never come across better Pho, except San Fran once, but i get there once a decade. While reading over this post, I've never had Bun Bo Hue, so did a bit of investigating and found this site.

http://wanderingchopsticks.blogspot.com/20...style-beef.html

Wow! A great read, and I trust next time I get to Cafe Diem, a great soup!

[philadining]

Pho Dac Biet

A very delicious bowl of Pho, I'd rank it as my favorite in the city.

However, depending on how important this stuff is to you, your own opinion could vary: there's not as much ability to customize your ingredients as there is at, say, Pho75; there's no raw beef, still cooking in the hot broth, like you'll get some places; the soup is a little oilier than some.

That said, the broth is quite delicious, the dac biet version has loads of stuff in it (although I think it may vary depending on what's around, for instance, we didn't have any tripe in this latest bowl.) Similarly, basil was the only herb provided for adding to the soup this time, but I've gotten a variety in the past.

The Bun Bo Hue was also very good.

After reading the Wandering Chopsticks rant, I realize that my preference for square noodles is effectively wishing for a different soup, but hey, I've gotten it that way and just happen to like it better like that. But these round "bun" are fine, the broth is good, and the meats in there are great.

The menu here is not especially broad, but then I'd be OK if they just had those two items on it. And I wish they were open later, but I'll take what I can get.

[Tim Dolan]

Stopped by Pho Saigon in the shopping center at Washington and Delaware Ave yesterday just to roll the dice and see how it was. Had to order the Bun Bo Hue because of this thread, and I thought it was very good. Of course, since I have never had this before I don't have any point of reference to judge it against, so take my word with a grain of salt.

The place was very clean, patrons were 90% Vietnamiese, and the soup hit the spot. A giant bowl of hot, spicy (but not too spicy) goodness. The meat was fairly safe, nothing with a bone still attached, and no tendon (I think). But they did throw in some flank, a few pieces of fatty pork belly (I think), and two pieces of grayish porkroll-esque type of meat. They weren't the prettiest looking meat products I've ever had but were tasty nonetheless. Noodles were round, slippery, and chewy. The broth was very flavorful and in the medium area on the spicy scale. A few spoonfuls of chili oil and a few healthy splashes of Sriracha really brought it to where I wanted it to be. Like I said, I thought it was very good and was totally content with it. Add in the fact that they're open from 9am to 9pm seven days a week and they're at an easily accessible location, and I'm a happy dude. However, if there are places out there that are doing Bun Bo Hue much better, I can't wait to try them!

[Tim Dolan]

Also wanted to add that my gf got the pho here, and she said that she liked the pho at Pho Hoa on 11th St. better. I thought the pho at Pho Hoa was good, but not really worth the trip. I would easily make the trip back to Pho Saigon for the Bun Bo Hue, for whatever that's worth.

[philadining]

Also wanted to add that my gf got the pho here, and she said that she liked the pho at Pho Hoa on 11th St. better. I thought the pho at Pho Hoa was good, but not really worth the trip. I would easily make the trip back to Pho Saigon for the Bun Bo Hue, for whatever that's worth.

Just to clarify, by "here" you mean Pho Saigon, right?

Like for you, Cafe Diem's hours make it tricky for me to get to, but whenever I can be in the neighborhood when they're open, they're my first destination for either Pho or Bun Bo Hue.

For what it's worth, according to Meal Ticket, the original Pho Saigon staff left recently, (who were previously at Pho Ha) and set up as Ha Saigon, at 320 Oregon Ave (in what used to be Kavei.) Dizzy yet?

[Tim Dolan]

That is correct, by "here" I meant Pho Saigon. She preferred the pho at Pho Hoa to the same offereing at Pho Saigon. I thought that there wasn't much of a discernable difference between the two. To throw an apples/oranges compasrison in there, in my humble opinion the bun bo hue at Pho Saigon was much better than the pho at either place. For my tastes I would order bun bo hue 99 times out of 100 if both soups were on the same menu.

I'm shocked that I've been able to keep everything straight up to this point. Looks like Ha Saigon will be the next trip unless I'm near Cafe Diem during their normal operating hours.