Introduced to Pho in Cholon many decades ago, I continued to be amazed at the differences in ingredients, composition and flavor based on the origin of the chef. I suspect that Vietnamese cuisine was/is as regionalized in its own way (small regions?) as is Chinese food. In our only local noodle shop, the owner's wife is from the North, and her Pho tastes quite different than what I was used to - not bad, but far sweeter and heavier.

One friend, an old SEA hand, claims that in California, the Pho has become as "Americanized" as US resturant Cantonese food, a far piece from the quays along the Whampoa or something.

Then there's FrancoViet food, including that strange semi-military dish apparently once popular among Legionaires deployed to Indo China, sauced cooked beef atop "Frites".