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15 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,January 10,2019 w aterloochronicle.ca KELLY & KatE FIELDS Call for our NEW 2019 Brochure 519-894-8687 UPCOMING TOURS (Overnight Tour prices are CDN $ based on 2 in a room) TICO #50021958 NHL in Ottawa! March 29-31 From $695! Looking for something NEW in 2019 Erie Beach, Pocono Mountain Getaway, Soaring Eagle Casino Resort, Savour the Flavours of Quebec, Chautauqua, Washington DC Buffalo-Wright Next Door February 5 $169 Mardi Gras at Caesars March 5 $55 Aga Khan Museum March 6 $130 New York City for March Break March 9-12 $1099 Myrtle Beach with Charleston March 23-31 $1650 Texas & New Orleans Mar 28-Apr 8 $2895 Picture Perfect Pennsylvania April 8-12 $1375 Derby Week & ARK Encounter April 29-May 2 $835 NCL Bermuda Cruise May 3-10 $1395 (Not Including Flights) www.fieldstrips.ca 2019 NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN Visit canadianimmigrant.ca/rbctop25 NOMINATE SOMEONE TODAY! Do you know an inspiring immigrant who has made a positive impact in Canada? Recognize and celebrate their achievements by nominating them for this coveted national award by Feb 27, 2019. Title sponsor: Presented by: Media sponsors: Take just about any Vietnamese menu, and you will find hundreds of items; many are variations and permutations of the same basic dish - noodle soup with rare beef, or noodle soup with rare beef and tendon, or noodle soup with soft tendon and well- done flank steak - but they are virtually all delicious. That's the case at the newest entry in the world of pho in Kitchener: Pho Viet- nam K&W Vietnamese Res- taurant, located, essential- ly, on Cedar Street even though the address on the menu is noted as King Street. The restaurant's resi- dence in the former K-W St. Clair Appliance building (where it did business for six decades) puts it, with no little pho coincidence, kit- ty-corner to where I had my first bowl of pho decades ago. I think it was a Ben Thanh then; today, it's the Kitchener Market. The basic dish - broth and rice noodles (banh pho) - has become hugely popular in Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo. Pho Vietnam K&W has about two dozen pho varia- tions but several other dishes among its 100 as well. Inside, the restaurant is bright, clean and stark and perhaps somewhat loud. I like the sleek compactness of the place, which has been open since the summer. There is seating for only a couple dozen; I've not been by the restaurant when there hasn't been someone eating. As for the dish named Hu Tieu My Ho, minus the digraphs and diacritics that characterize the Viet- namese language that's spoken by some 80 million people, the name breaks down into a basic noodle soup from My Tho, which refers to its city of origin, about two hours from Sai- gon. The broth in the dish is not the beef broth that is widely popular with the Vietnamese soups avail- able in the region, accord- ing to Thompson Tran, a Kitchener-based chef and owner of the Wooden Boat Food Company, with whom I sampled a few dishes. "It's pork broth, fried shallots, a little bit of finely minced lemon grass, fish sauce, scallions, cilantro and shallot oil," says Tran, who makes Vietnamese foods such as nuoc cham "dipping" sauce. Rather than rice noo- dles that characterize a bowl of pho, this dish is pre- pared with the less familiar - but equally delicious - tap- ioca starch noodles: they have a transparency and chewiness to them that I adore. The dish also has mung bean sprouts and a dressing of sugar, fish sauce and what Tran refers to as "gold- en mountain sauce," which is similar to the ultra-tasty and rich Maggi soy. "There is also a fried rice flour and turmeric flat- bread with prawn. Head on, of course!" exclaims Tran. I wouldn't want it any other way. Andrew Coppolino is a Kitchener-based food writ- er and broadcaster. Visit him at waterlooregioneat- s.com or email apcoppoli- no@rogers.com. DON'T SKIP THIS DISH: HUE TIEU MY THO AT PHO VIET KW Hue Tieu My Tho at Pho Viet KW. Andrew Coppolino photo OPINION DISH PREPARED WITH THE LESS FAMILIAR - BUT EQUALLY DELICIOUS - TAPIOCA STARCH NOODLES ANDREW COPPOLINO Column