By Gina Jeong ’25
Living as an international student CC, I had to go through many trial and error to find the perfect Asian restaurant to my taste. Having spent a good chunk of my childhood in Laos, my family’s Sunday brunch was always Vietnamese Pho. Turns out that such family tradition has led me to crave Pho no matter where I am.
Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup that consists of meat broth – usually beef, sometimes chicken – and rice noodles of different widths. Today, Pho has become a very popular dish worldwide. Pho is often served with a plate of fresh veggies that contains bean sprouts, coriander, lime, and Thai basil. Sometimes, you can add fried bread on the side to soak up all the good stuff from the soup. Pho restaurants will always have a tray of different sauces: chili sauce, soy sauce, pickled chili, and many others kinds depending on the restaurant and the locals’ preference.
In this article, I would like to introduce the Pho restaurant in the Springs that has really made me feel both at home and in America. Pho-King-Wing is a Pho restaurant up in northern Colorado Springs. It is run by Edward, who has been running the restaurant for many years now. He ended up with a Pho restaurant when his business partner, who was already running a Pho restaurant, decided to pass down the business to him. He has added many creative touches to the restaurant’s menu, one of them being his signature fried wings selection. My favorite menu here is the medium Pho-Tai (rare steak Pho) and chicken wing combo. First, the chicken wings stimulate my taste buds with their flavors, and then a sip of the Pho brings me a sense of calmness. The restaurant offers a variety of Pho and chicken wings. They always serve a plate of fresh vegetables too, which I always pour when the Pho is just served, so that the broth can really soak in the flavor and aroma from the vegetables. When you are heading out, don’t miss out on the baked goods because they are very delicious, too! My favorite is the ganache cake; it has just the right amount of chocolate in it.
Pho-King-Wing truly is a beautiful amalgamation of Vietnamese and American cuisine. Without having been here, I would have never known that Pho and chicken wings paired up so nicely. This reminds me of the beauty of different cultures meeting and excites me to discover more restaurants as such.