EAST WILLIAMSBURG — Pho-lé!
Falansai Vietnamese Kitchen, located at 112 Harrison Place, is kicking up its classic pho by adding sauces from around the world, including a chocolate-based mole sauce that gives the pho some Mexican flavor.
Chef and owner Henry Trieu was experimenting with different sauces that have many ingredients in common with traditional pho to add the umami — or savory — taste, he said.
Mexican cuisine has many of the same ingredients as Vietnamese cuisine, like cilantro, onion and lime, Trieu said. So making a Mexican pho by adding a mole sauce made sense, he explained.
"It's a simple idea," Trieu said. "It really changes the taste of these phos completely."
The mole poblano sauce is made from three different chilies, onions, almonds, sesame and chocolate. Adding it to the pho makes the broth slightly thicker than usual, but the end result isn't as thick as traditional mole dishes, Trieu said.
Aside from Mexican pho, Falansai is also offering a Peruvian pho, which adds a sauce made of aji amarillo peppers, queso fresco, garlic, onions and lime; and a Southeast Asian pho, which adds a sauce of dried shrimp, Szechuan peppercorns, galangal, sesame and peanuts.
The variety gives regulars — who make up about 70 percent of the restaurant's weekly customers — a chance try different options, he said.
Eventually, Trieu hopes to add an Indian vindaloo pho, a Thai tom yum pho, a Chinese pho and a Korean pho.
"We want to do a whole line where you can take a trip across the world without leaving your seat," he said.
The meat-based phos cost $11. Seafood-based phos cost $13, and vegan phos cost $10. Adding a special, international sauce costs an additional $3.
