Phở Rolls — a Vietnamese kitchen in Renton, Washington

Phở Rolls began the way most Vietnamese kitchens do — with one mother, one broth, and an apartment that smelled of star anise from morning to night. After thirty years of refining, our mother brought the recipe to Renton in 2018. She still toasts the spices herself, and the rest of the family takes their turn at the stove.

We do three things, and we try not to do them poorly. We simmer beef bones with charred ginger and onion for twenty-four hours, until the broth is clear, sweet, and unmistakable. We toast our baguettes to order, sourced from a small bakery on South Jackson. We pick our herbs the morning they are served — Thai basil, sawtooth, mint, cilantro — never the day before.

The menu is short by design. If you have eaten phở elsewhere on the Eastside and felt that something was missing — a salt, a depth, a fragrance — we would like a chance to feed you.