Pho Aura, Westfields Boulevard in Chantilly

[jparrott]

Surprise! The Virginia Sign of the Whale has closed, and has been replaced by New Season which opened on October 10th. In early 2009, I believe Paya Thai offered the area's first induction "hot pot," and New Season is now the first I know of under Vietnamese ownership.

Pho Aura in Chantilly also offers Vietnamese hotpot. I haven't tried it.

[DonRocks]

Pho Aura in Chantilly also offers Vietnamese hotpot. I haven't tried it.

Jake are you sure about this? I couldn't find any mention of it on their website, but they apparently do serve dishes in a "hot clay pot" which as you know isn't the same.

(Incidentally the coupon on their website expired many months ago. More annoyingly, I tried to tell them this via their "Contact Us" section, and when I'd filled in the form and clicked "Send" I got a Not Found error - grrrr.)

[jparrott]

The last (food) page of the (regular) menu lists the extensive hotpot options. I wonder if they always have them in stock.

I've never seen their website.

I eat here about once a week, though almost always from the "Lunch Xpress" menu, which offers 1 "tapa" (single roll of various sorts, or a small papaya salad), plus pho, clay pot rice, a few other things, all for about $8. And it's good pho. Aura and Pho 98 are IMHO the best bowls in the Centreville/Chantilly area (Viet Crystal and Pho Duong next level down, Pho Bistro and Pho Bac bringing up the rear).

[DonRocks]

The last (food) page of the (regular) menu lists the extensive hotpot options. I wonder if they always have them in stock.

If they have the expensive hotpot tables in place, I can't imagine why they wouldn't - do you know if they're using induction heating?

[jparrott]

If they have the expensive hotpot tables in place, I can't imagine why they wouldn't - do you know if they're using induction heating?

I don't recall ever seeing hotpot tables, so I think they use tabletop burners.