The meaning of pho xao (lan) & pho sot vang

@Marc: In Vietnamese there actually are several meanings for phở: phở the noodle and phở the noodle in pho broth dish. The noodle, called bánh phở (see Banh Pho (Bánh Phở) – It’s All About the Square Noodles, can be used as the starch in many dishes that are not considered the Phở soup noodle dish.

This is exactly the case with the dishes in your question. Both of these use bánh phở as the starch element in the dish. I'm not sure what "lan" means in this context (it could be lăn which is a stir fry method where you toss and roll ingredients in the pan as you cook,) but "phở xào" is just stir-fried pho noodle with a variety of meats and/or vegetables. An analogy is the Chinese chow fun or the Pad Thai dish, both of which use banh pho rice noodle of varying widths.

Regarding Phở sốt vang, I think this is a popular dish in North Vietnam consisting of beef and lots of tendons in sauce/broth. In the context of this dish, sốt is the Vietnamese half-translation of the word "sauce", while vang is the wine used in making the sauce. I have never had phở sốt vang or even seen it, and cannot confirm if this is a stew or a broth. In Vietnamese cuisine, we do have "bò kho" which is a very tasty beef stew that can be enjoyed with white rice, vermicelli rice noodle, banh pho noodle or banh mi bread. Phở sốt vang may be more similar to bò kho than the pho noodle in broth that we all know, as I've seen photos of it served not only with banh pho but sometime with banh mi as well. The latter is called banh mi sot vang. This leads me to believe bò sốt vang is another beef stew with a wine sauce.

Someone more knowledgeable about this sot vang business please share with us your wisdom. Many thanks. And thanks for an interesting question. Did you have pho sot vang, and where did you have it?