Pho Saigon Springs Into Spring With Spring Rolls

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) –When Bruce Nguyen and Jane Tieu left Vietnam and moved to Macon about 11 years ago, cuisine from their motherland became difficult to find.

“I had to travel to Atlanta just to have a bowl of soup, so I thought why not bring a Vietnamese restaurant to Macon,” says Nguyen.

In 2008, the married couple decided to open up Pho Saigon on Riverside Drive in Macon.

Nguyen says, “We can have it everyday and we can introduce our Vietnamese culture to the Macon community.”

Vietnamese dishes are known for it’s fresh ingredients, very little oil, and various herbs and vegetables.

Orlando Valdaz says he eats lunch at Pho Saigon at least two to three times a week.

“You can come here and get a lot of food, with a little bit of money and have a very nice experience with some very fresh ingredients and good quality food,” says customer Christopher Haun.

Fresh spring rolls are a popular snack item in Vietnam and they’ve become a hit at Pho Saigon. The rolls are wrapped in rice paper and stuffed with vermicelli, shrimp, and lettuce. Customers claim the food is light, yet still very filling, and the best part, it doesn’t take a lot to get you full.

Haun says, “I think bringing the East this far in the Southeast is a great thing, I think it’s important for people to be exposed to this kind of food.”

Pho Saigon is located at 3076 Riverside Drive in Macon.

Pho Saigon Spring Rolls
Ingredients:
2 tsp peanut butter
1 tsp sugar
1/3 cup coconut juice
1 cup Hosin sauce
1 bag thin vermicelli
2 tsp vinegar
green leaf lettuce
bean sprouts
rice paper
shrimp or pork

Directions:
Cook vermicelli for 10 minutes; drain in cold water
Combine peanut butter, sugar, coconut juice, Hosin sauce, vinegar; cook for 10 minutes
Dip rice paper in warm water, add lettuce, vermicelli, bean sprouts, and shrimp/pork – then roll.