A new noodle shop rooted in the pho stalls of Saigon opened its doors on Flagler Street in Downtown Miami earlier this month, bringing slow-simmered broths, phin-brewed coffee, and loose-leaf teas sourced straight from Vietnam to a stretch of the city still working through years of streetscape construction. Pho Nam, which opened on September 3, sits at 270 East Flagler Street and draws its menu from dishes chef Tam Pham grew up eating in Saigon.
Pho Nam was founded by chef Tam Pham and sommelier Harrison Ramhofer, the husband-and-husband duo already known in Miami for Tâm Tâm, according to Miami New Times. Tâm Tâm opened permanently in Downtown Miami in May 2023, and the outlet describes Pho Nam as drawing on the tradition of Vietnamese neighborhood pho shops, a more traditional noodle-house counterpart to Tâm Tâm's rowdier drinking-food concept.
Pham's path to Flagler Street started years before either restaurant existed. He emigrated from Saigon to the United States in 2008 and relocated to Miami in 2011, later earning a bachelor's degree in 2013 and a master's degree in 2017 from Florida International University's Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, according to background compiled on Wikipedia. Pham began cooking, per that account, out of a personal craving for authentic Saigon dishes after his move to Florida.
From a Home Supper Club to Two Restaurants
Pham and Ramhofer began their culinary partnership in 2019 with Phamily Kitchen, an underground home-based supper club that hosted sold-out events, per the same Wikipedia account. Ramhofer, a sommelier who had taught in Vietnam, brought his own expertise to the venture, according to reporting from Resy. Phamily Kitchen went on to host pop-ups at Over Under and Low Key before leading to a residency at Wynwood's 1-800-Lucky food hall, the New Times reports.
That residency built the momentum that eventually carried Tâm Tâm to its own address at 99 NW 1st Street, near the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, in a 58-seat space that had previously housed Diana's Cafe, a longtime Cuban restaurant. The accolades piled up quickly after that. Tam Pham won the Florida Young Chef Award at the Michelin Guide Florida 2024 ceremony that April, while Tâm Tâm itself received a Michelin Bib Gourmand designation the same year.
National Recognition Set the Stage for Pho Nam
The acclaim extended well beyond Florida. In September 2024, The New York Times featured Tâm Tâm on its list of the 25 best restaurants in Miami, and Bon Appétit separately named it among the 20 best new restaurants in America for 2024. The New Times describes Pho Nam as a new downtown Miami pho shop.
The new menu leans into Saigon-style pho and Vietnamese coffee, with phở bò served in small and standard bowls alongside phở gà khô, bún bò huế, and a vegetarian bún bò huế chay. Diners can add tendon, egg, brisket, or beef meatballs to their bowls. Starters include gỏi cuốn, chả giò, and gỏi gà bắp cải, while entrées stretch to bánh xèo, cơm tấm đặc biệt, broken rice, and a whole fried fish served with lettuce wraps. Bánh tráng nướng and desserts like chè thái and avocado mousse with coconut ice cream round out the menu.
Coffee and Tea Get the Same Attention as the Broth
Coffee is treated with the same care as the noodle bowls. Pho Nam brews standard Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk through a traditional phin filter, using Trung Nguyen coffee, and offers variations finished with salted foam, egg foam, or a coconut slushie. The tea program draws on loose-leaf teas sourced from Bảo Lộc in Vietnam's Lâm Đồng province, with options including jasmine oolong milk tea, soursop oolong with kumquat, genmaicha with miso cold foam, guava oolong with miso cold foam and guava jelly, and jasmine tea with coconut water, pistachio foam, and toasted coconut.
For now, Pho Nam is serving dinner Thursday through Sunday, with lunch service planned for later, per the New Times. The restaurant takes a limited number of reservations but holds most of its tables for walk-ins.
Opening Amid Flagler Street's Long Construction Push
Pho Nam's arrival lands in the middle of a multi-phase streetscape beautification project led by the City of Miami and the Miami Downtown Development Authority, whose overall budget is expected to be about $25 million, according to reporting referenced by Mana Common. The redevelopment aims to transform Flagler Street into a curb-less, pedestrian-friendly boulevard. To help merchants navigate the disruption, the Miami DDA operates a weekly Downtown Permit Clinic at 166 E. Flagler Street, offering permit and Certificates of Use assistance. According to a City of Miami streetcar corridor study, Flagler Street is programmed for streetscape and sidewalk improvements and conversion to two-way operation as part of the Flagler Marketplace project. The Miami Downtown Development Authority says the Flagler Street transformation includes widened sidewalks, enhanced lighting, and public art installations.
According to the Miami Downtown Development Authority, more than 101,000 people now call Downtown Miami home, an increase of nearly 68% from 41,000 since 2012. The Miami Downtown Development Authority reported a 2018 population of 67,879 for its area and a 2018 daytime population of 250,000, underscoring the gap between Downtown Miami’s residential and daytime audiences.
The opening also arrives against a demographic backdrop that helps explain why a restaurant like Pho Nam stands out downtown. Asian residents make up about 1.7% of Miami-Dade County's population, while 69.1% of county residents identify as Hispanic or Latino, according to Census Bureau data compiled on Census Reporter. Nationally, an estimated 2.3 million people identify as Vietnamese, the fourth-largest Asian origin group in the country, according to the Pew Research Center.
