An Un-Pho-gettable Restaurant

By Julius Hendricks

It was an ideal spring day when I was walking down Tompa utca (street) to interview Dat, the manager of my and my friend’s favorite restaurant, Pho 1993 (Tompa utca 21, 1094). The trees were full of bright leaves, illuminated by the rays of the late-afternoon sun. We made remarks about how this weather was a reward for all the difficult winter days of trudging through slush and snow on the unshoveled sidewalks and the freezing wind. But today, people were walking their dogs, and children were walking home from school. The thick jackets and sweaters of the past five months were gone, and people were wearing shorts and tees. It seemed like everyone felt the refreshing change of seasons and embraced the weather.

The first time I ate at Pho 1993, it was a cold October night. I had been dealing with a stubborn cold (typical with the weather at the time) and craved a warm soup to warm me up. Pho soup with beef seemed to be the perfect remedy. I was with a couple of my friends and decided it would be a good idea to try to order in Vietnamese. So, I pulled up Google Translate and (barely) memorized “Cho tôi gọi món phở bò với nước lọc ạ” (Can I please order the beef pho and a still water?), followed by “Cảm ơn” (Thank you). Our waitress, Minh, was extremely friendly and chuckled at my broken Vietnamese. From that day on, my friend Dani and I became regulars there. We even made a food review TikTok account where our first (and only) video was a review of our meals at Pho 1993, filled with praise (of course).

That beautiful spring day, I stopped in the restaurant for a quick interview with Dat, the manager, only after saying hi to the always-friendly staff. The terrace was buzzing with patrons relishing the long-awaited spring sunshine, and the inside, where I spoke with Dat, had the ambiance of small conversations and clinking utensils of those who decided to enjoy their food inside. Whenever I’d visit Pho 1993 in the winter, the terrace would be empty, but the inside would be packed with people escaping the cold and looking for some warm, comforting food.

A waitress at Pho 1993, Minh, helped translate my questions for Dat. She had been our waitress the time I attempted to order in Vietnamese, and she is always friendly, especially when I played this one Vietnamese song I had heard on TikTok, “Con Gái Miền Tây”.

Dat had moved to Budapest 13 years prior with his wife, Mimi. When I asked why he chose Budapest Dat said it was because he had relatives already living here, and it was easier to move to a new country when you already have connections to help you adapt to a new environment. Dat and Mimi opened their first location in 2023, naming it “Pho 1993”. I had thought 1993 was the year the restaurant opened, but Minh corrected me that “1993 actually was his birth year, together with his wife. They’re the same age”.

Dat told me that it took around half a year for their restaurant to get a solid foothold and then another six months for it to really start to take off. If you look around the restaurant today, you can see that the business really did take off.

Each time I went to Pho 1993, I would order something different off the menu, and everything was fantastic. The curry with rice is perfectly sweet with a comfortable amount of spice, the fried wontons have the best crunch, and the shrimp soup dumplings are incredibly tender and are the best appetizer to order to start your meal. Personally, I love the pho soup with beef, which also happened to be Dat’s favorite. “That’s classic,” Minh added to that remark.

When asked about what the hardest part of starting a business is in Budapest, Dat answered that for him, “the hardest part is how to manage human resources, how to find trustworthy people and trust them on a daily basis”.

Dat said with a smile that his favorite part of owning a business is “when he receives a good positive review on Google Maps”. Sitting at an impressive 4.9 stars, Pho 1993 has close to 950 glowing reviews citing the exceptional staff, delicious food, and praise-worthy service (all descriptions I also attest to).

On November 21, 2025, Pho 1993 opened its second location near Kálvin tér (square) (Kecskeméti utca 9, 1053). While I have yet to visit this location, I have a feeling it is just as good as my regular spot on Tompa utca.

Every experience at Pho 1993 is memorable. Whether you’re grabbing lunch alone between classes or going out for dinner with friends, it’s the perfect place for great food and even better service. Make sure to check out either of its locations, on Tompa and on Kecskeméti utca.

Photos by Julius Hendricks