It has been a while since I made this trip to Phoresh Noodle & Street Fare (https://orlandophoresh.com/) with a former co-worker from my previous job, and since then, both of us have moved on to bigger and better things. It is one of the few Vietnamese restaurants on the east side of Orlando, located at 2751 S Chickasaw Trail #107, Orlando, FL 32829, just south of Curry Ford Road.
Phoresh is a casual restaurant with counter service:
I ordered a Vietnamese iced coffee, which I like the way I like my women: sweet and strong. But since I so rarely drink coffee, it made my heart race for the rest of the afternoon (women often have that effect on me as well). Next time, I know I would be better off with just water.
When you order the “pho it up,” you have a choice of beef, chicken, or vegetarian broths, with different proteins available for each. I ordered the beef broth, and I paid a $4 upcharge for the “combo” with all four possible proteins: paper-thin slices of raw eye round steak (they cook in the hot broth, but I like my steak rare no matter what), beef brisket, beef flank, and dense, chewy meatballs (nothing like Italian-style meatballs). 
Here it is after a bit of stirring, to make the rice vermicelli noodles visible:
It was a super-solid bowl of pho, and I can’t say anything bad about it, but I have yet to find anything to dethrone my favorite, Pho Huong Lan.
My colleague ordered pho with just brisket. We shared the plate of herbs, but I don’t like bean sprouts, so he got to have them all. I love putting basil, lemongrass, and fresh jalapenos into my pho. 
He got an order of pork belly bao, and we each had one. It was AWESOME. Looking at the current menu, Phoresh lists grilled pork as the only pork-related option for the bao, and I’m guessing that would be different than the pork belly we ordered, admittedly a while back. 
I, in turn, got the tempura shrimp bao, and we each had one of those too. I loved them as well. The cool, crispy, slightly sweet pickled vegetables on the top, which would not be out of place on a banh mi sandwich, really made the bao sing. 
Finally, I got an order of two roti paratha cakes for us to share, but my colleague wasn’t into them, so I had most of them with the spicy curry sauce they came with. I’m guessing these were pre-made and frozen, then heated up on the grill, not unlike the roti I used to buy at Asian markets to keep in the freezer at home. But I’m guessing even Hawkers Asian Street Fare doesn’t make their roti from scratch (or could this be me picking a fight with Hawkers? I’m guessing they won’t notice or care.) Anyway, these things are are always good, so no complaints. Like I always say, imagine the love child of a fresh, fluffy flour tortilla and a flaky croissant, and you’ve got roti and/or paratha.
So that was our visit to Phoresh Noodle & Street Fare. If you live in Orlando, you probably have strong feelings about the best places for pho, and some might offer more pho options, larger menus, and/or table service. But like I said, there aren’t many Vietnamese restaurants in East Orlando, so if you live out that way, you should definitely give Phoresh a try.
The Saboscrivner 