Homemade pho. Broth was made with ox tail, T-bone steak, ginger, Chinese five spice powder and fish sauce. Real pho broth would have had cardamon and at least one whole onion, peeled but not cut. The pho noodles were Chinese rice sticks. Thicker, they're more appropriate for stir frying.

What makes Vietnamese cooking distinctive is the combination of cooked and raw ingredients in nearly every dish, so with pho, one should have fresh mint leaves and cilantro, at least, and lime wedges to squeeze into the broth. Many people also require fresh bean sprouts. At the Checkers Supermarket here, they sell potted mint plants for just $2 each, but I thought it silly to buy one just to pluck the leaves. The hot sauce for pho is sriracha, but I used peri peri instead.

In Cape Town, I lived one block away from a Vietnamese restaurant, Saigon, which made excellent pho, but I only ate there three times in three months.