Ten minutes. One large bowl of pho, one spring roll, one salad roll. Go.
That is the qualifying gauntlet at Pho Wars, the eating competition running at Pho Kitchen on Hebb Avenue in Vancouver, with $2,000 cash waiting at the end.
The format is a summer-long tournament.
Five weekly speed rounds run on Sundays, started July 26, with the remaining qualifiers on August 9, 16, and 23.
Entry is $100 a shot.
Finish the meal inside the 10-minute limit and your time goes on the leaderboard.
When the five weeks wrap, the top 6 fastest times across the whole run advance to the finale: a 3kg bowl of pho, showdown scheduled for August 30 at 2pm.
Win that, and the $2,000 grand prize is yours.
There are wrinkles built for the competitive eater’s mindset.
Nothing locks until the final week ends, so anyone outside the top 6 can buy back in during any remaining speed round week for another $100 run at the leaderboard.
And the field is open: minors are welcome to compete with a guardian present, per the restaurant.
Enrollment runs through a DM to the restaurant.
Pho Kitchen opened back in 2019 and has done pho eating challenges before.
But this is the first time they’ve done this tournament style.
For spectators, the math is the fun part.
A regular bowl in 10 minutes is a brisk lunch; 3 kilograms of pho is another sport entirely, and the finale is built to be watched.
Vancouver has flirted with food challenges for years, but a multi-week tournament bracket with a cash purse is a step up in production value for the local scene.
If you’re looking to take a crack at this challenge, the next days to take part are August 16 and 23rd.
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Address: 2915 Hebb Avenue, Vancouver BC