{"id":3756,"date":"2026-07-13T00:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T15:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/news\/pho-ho-loi\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T00:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T15:38:09","slug":"pho-ho-loi","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/news\/pho-ho-loi\/","title":{"rendered":"WINNER hunted down the ultimate pho\u2014an unmarked West Lake spot's 18-hour simmer"},"content":{"rendered":"

WINNER's Lee Seung-hoon visited Hanoi in early July and asked fans on social media, \"Where's the best pho in Vietnam?\" The answers converged on a single shop name \u2014 one in a working-class part of the West Lake (Tay Ho) area,Ph\u1edf H\u1ed3 L\u1ee3i<\/strong>is. With no real sign and open only in the morning, this shop drew sudden attention on a word from a Korean star. Hanoi's pho is alreadyAn upscale spot on the Michelin list for its 17-hour-simmered chicken broth<\/a>have even emerged, but the reason H\u1ed3 L\u1ee3i draws people is the opposite: its lack of frills. Here's a breakdown of where travelers actually go, what they pay, and how they enjoy it.<\/p>\n

\"Where's the best pho in Vietnam?\" \u2014 sparked by one question from WINNER<\/h2>\n

It began at \u201cKBEE & ASEAN K-Food Fair 2026,\u201d a Korean brand fair held July 2\u20134 at Hanoi\u2019s National Convention Center. Timed to this event, which drew over 20,000 people in three days, WINNER\u2019s Lee Seung-hoon and Kang Seung-yoon came to Vietnam and headed straight to a local pho shop right after arriving.<\/p>\n

The two polished off steaming bowls at the long-established Ph\u1edf Th\u00ecn in the My Dinh area and filmed themselves for an Instagram post. In Vietnamese, they added, \u201cWhere's the best pho in Vietnam?\u201d Born in 1992, Seung Hun calls himself a \u201cson-in-law of Vietnam,\u201d a Vietnam-savvy figure who has won local fans with fluent Vietnamese and local references. To his question, the comments returned the same shop name as if stamped from a mold. It was Ho Loi.<\/p>\n

A signless neighborhood shop: the true story of Pho Ho Loi<\/h2>\n

The shop sits deep in an alley in the Ph\u00fa Th\u01b0\u1ee3ng area on the north side of West Lake. It began in the 1990s as a small business a proprietor named L\u1ee3i started from a single bowl at a street stall, and from there it took root across generations as a Hanoian \"regular haunt.\" It barely appears in guidebooks and puts out no prominent sign. Even so, local customers line up from morning\u2014a classic \"known to those in the know\" spot.<\/p>\n

Its selling point is a clear broth drawn slowly from beef bones. According to the original article, the simmer runs 18 hours, with grilled ginger and onion added to keep off-flavors down. It's a refined, northern-Hanoi style of flavor-making that doesn't lean on excessive seasoning, served with thin-sliced beef and freshly fried quay (fried dough). It isn't a shop that competes on flash; it has kept customers coming on the strength of its broth alone.<\/p>\n

From 30,000 dong a bowl: a guide to the menu and prices<\/h2>\n

The price you're curious about is reasonable. A bowl is generally 30,000 to 80,000 dong. In yen, since 10,000 dong is about 60 yen, it runs from around 180 yen to under 500 yen at most. It breaks down finely by cut and preparation; the shopfront guide is as follows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Menu<\/th>\nDetails<\/th>\nPrice (dong)<\/th>\nYen guide<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
pho bo tai<\/td>\nRaw beef (rare)<\/td>\n45,000\u301c50,000<\/td>\nabout 270\u2013300 yen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pho bo gau<\/td>\nThe fat of pork belly<\/td>\n50,000\u301c55,000<\/td>\nAbout 300 to 330 yen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pho Bo Nam<\/td>\nBrisket<\/td>\n50,000<\/td>\nAbout 300 yen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pho bo sot vang<\/td>\nBeef braised in red wine<\/td>\n60,000\u301c65,000<\/td>\nAbout 360 to 390 yen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Vietnamese pho holds a class of its own worldwide, and in the 2026 TasteAtlas global rankingPho was ranked the world\u2019s No. 2 noodle dish<\/a>. Getting an authentic bowl for a few hundred yen in its home ground is reason enough to make the trip out to West Lake.<\/p>\n

Locals and fans on the pull of this bowl<\/h2>\n

Gather the voices about H\u1ed3 L\u1ee3i, and the talk turns less to the taste itself than to \"the reason people keep coming back.\"<\/p>\n