Place: Huong Tram (Washington Ave, South Philly)

Huong Tram is located in the shopping complex in South Philly right off of 16th and Washington Ave. It's a nice sized location and the interior is very neat and clean. The servers are attentive but that might also be because that it was almost empty when we arrived at around 7:00pm.

The broth was flavorful and tasty.  You could immediately smell the spices, clove, star anise, cinnamon, etc. . It wasn't very salty but there seemed to be a good amount of MSG which ends up making you incredibly thirsty after about an hour. Although they make plenty of other Vietnamese cuisine, it really seems as though they spent time to make sure that they have a quality broth.

The meat quality was good. I got the Pho Dac Biet which included flank, brisket, steak, tendon, meatball, and tripe. All of the meats were cut very thinly except the tripe... which was husky for no apparent reason. The flank was fatty and so was the brisket. The meatball had a spongy like consistency but overall it was good.

The vegetables were fresh they gave you a great assortment of basil, lime, bean sprouts, and jalapeno. One thing that stands out from other places is that the basil was dry instead of slightly wet. I prefer it that way. The noodles were stuck together and slightly overdone but they gave you plenty of noodles.

The Pho looked beautiful. One of the things that I like in a bowl of Pho is a slight sheen of oil (typically from the beef/brisket/flank cooked within the broth with other beef bones) that shines. However, the sheen of oil on here was more like an oil slick. There was so much oil that it was a big much to handle. The more you ate, the more oil coated your lips. As I type this, I still feel as though the oil is there. You can see what I mean by looking at the picture of the spoons below... see how the oil is just coated the spoon?

It was very affordable the Dac Biet was 8.50, they only have one size.

I have come here to eat some of their other food, which I would definitely recommend, but if the Pho is oily like this all the time. I would not recommend coming here just for that.

Ratings:
Broth - 3/5 (too much msg and too oily)
Meat: 4/5 (all the meats but lots of them fatty)
Vegetables: 5/5
Presentation: 5/5
Affordability: 5/5
Return: 3/5
Recommend: 3/5

Overall Rating: B-