Laos Pho
Pronounced “fer,” this hugely popular dish is, perhaps unsurprisingly, similar to the famed Vietnamese soup, but made with a different grab bag of spices and herbs flavoring the broth.
Other common ingredients include fish balls, pork balls, Vietnamese sausage and sliced pork, and, in this case, crispy puffed rice cakes that we were instructed to crumble over the soup. Like khao pun, pho is served with a separate plate of raw vegetables and herbs to munch on. Some pho vendors also distribute little bowls of homemade peanut sauce to dip the raw veggies into.