Vietnam (by way of Ireland)

When I left the house today for lunch it was to have a taste of Ireland in honor of St Patrick’s day.  My destination was Belfast Mill located in Charlotte’s Brevard Court.  Guess when Charlotte’s St Patrick’s day parade was?  Guess what was very close to the parade route?  That’s right, Today & Belfast Mill pub.  Undeterred I worked around the closed streets and found a parking deck a couple of block away that was reasonably priced.  On the way over I came across the streets closed off and covered with vendors of such Irish treats at funnel cake & fried what nots and a stage where some troubadours were belting out Star of the County Down.

Short walk later I head into the Belfast Mill.  The bottom floor is a smallish pub with a bar area and there are some stairs going up to two other rooms with bars.  One had some folks watching soccer, excuse me, football to them, and the other just a bar and a few tables.  As I bellied up to the bar and ordered meself a pint I found out two things; they don’t serve food any longer and they are renovating the place.  I had brief chat with the bartender, knocked back the Guinness and headed out in search lunch and as luck would have it Brevard Court offered me some options like the Pho Plus noodle restaurant.

The Pho Plus is a nice place right across from the cupcake shop (I pointedly ignored the siren’s call of those evil baked goods).  There weren’t very many people in the place when I got there, in fact the staff outnumbered the patrons at that point.  That worked in my favor since I told the guy I had never been to a pho place before and asked for recommendation.  He hooked me up with the beef pho and explained the condiments you could just dump in what you liked and helpfully pointed out the sriracha and hoisin sauces.  He did tell me if I didn’t add any of the other condiments I should at least squeeze the lime into the soup.

The soup was delicious.  I don’t know what was in the broth but it was good by itself and then the beef strips and chunks of beef ball (I didn’t ask too many questions) plus the bean sprouts, cilantro and peppers thrown in with the noodles plus that squeeze of lime and you had a hearty meal.  I didn’t have any of the tea options they offered but they did have a number of hot teas, cold teas, teas with milk plus some beer and soft drinks.  If I go back, and that’s very likely, I think I’m going to try the passion fruit tea.

So while I didn’t start out for Vietnamese I’m happy that circumstances led me to the Pho Plus Vietnamese Noodle restaurant and Brevard Court.  Below is the link to their website and don’t forget to check out Tell Me More for bonus content on Vietnam.