We’d been hearing a lot about Xinh Xinh, a Vietnamese eatery in Chinatown just a few doors down from the more prominent pho spot, Pho Pasteur. On a recent afternoon chilly enough for soup to be enticing, we headed to Xinh Xinh. Evidencing pho’s mysterious hipster appeal, no one in the restaurant was over 35, and no one was dressed for the office. The decor was spartan, but the menu, long, giving us ample opportunity to second-guess our choices (thin noodles? thick noodles? in-between noodles?). We were thrilled with the chicken curry pho, which proved to be the consummate chicken noodle soup for grownups: A deep yellow broth with floating bits of tender chicken, still on the bone, and mounds upon mounds of noodles. We couldn’t finish half of it. Xinh Xinh has plenty of options for the daring (pig livers, for instance) and tofu-and-vegetable soups to keep non-meat eaters happy. If you want to make your soup extra-healthful, you can add a handful of the mung bean sprouts the waitstaff sets on the table. At any rate, we’ve made it our mission to try as much of the menu as possible (especially, next time, the avocado shake).
Xinh Xinh [Eat & Destroy]
Xinh Xinh [MenuPages]
Pho Pasteur [MenuPages]
