From pho to garlic noodles, the Vietnamese menu at SAOLA, in Cottonwood Heights, is perfect in every way
At SAOLA New Asian, it’s nearly impossible to miss the contrast between East and West, and past and present — from the brassy Vietnamese rickshaw and 1960s album cover with the image of the owner’s mother to the sleek gray sectionals and neon pink lights.
Yet overall, there’s harmony inside this Cottonwood Heights restaurant.
Owners Diem Nguyen and Tuan Vu translate that vision just as flawlessly into the menu — a love letter to their Vietnamese heritage and the restaurant business they’ve built here.
The pho, for example, is one version of a recipe crafted more than 40 years ago by Vu’s uncle, who became world-famous for his Pho Thin restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam. It’s currently served at the couple’s Pho Thin Famous Noodle House in Sugar House. And the Saigon’s sizzling crepe first debuted at Indochine Vietnamese Bistro in Sugar House before they sold the restaurant in 2018.
With SAOLA — which means “rare star” — Nguyen said they wanted to do what they liked most before retiring.
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