The AnQi Phở is no piddling bowl of broth, noodle and tendon, gulped down in some Westminster dive at 2 a.m. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) This is phở of another caliber, and at a minimum cost of $5,000 per bowl, it’s definitely meant to be savored. Made with A5 Wagyu beef, white alba truffles, a foie gras broth, hand-raised bean sprouts and “noodles” created, through some sort of gastronomic wizardry, from rare blue lobster meat, it’s quite likely the world’s most expensive bowl of soup.
This staple of Vietnamese cooking, elevated here with luxury ingredients, will be auctioned off at the Bash Benefactor Dinner on Friday. Proceeds benefit the Children’s Hospitals of Los Angeles and Orange County as well as the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.
Bidding for the bowl of soup starts at $5,000, but will only go up from there. Don’t worry if you can’t attend the invitation-only dinner and auction, held at Tiato, a Vietnamese café opened last summer in Santa Monica as part of the House of An, the group that owns Crustacean in Beverly Hills (they also own the one on Polk Street). The $5,000 AnQi Phở will also be featured on Crustacean’s permanent menu with proceeds continuing to benefit the Children’s Hospital.