Phởcific Standard Time

Phởcific Standard Time, known as PST, is a hidden cocktail bar and restaurant above Phở Bắc on 7th Avenue in downtown Seattle. It sits in the Denny Triangle, above a phở shop with bright fluorescent lights.

The sisters Quynh and Yenvy Pham opened it in 2021, together with the new downtown Phở Bắc below. Their family business started in the early 1980s as Cat's Submarine Sandwich Shop in what became Little Saigon, and it switched from sandwiches to phở within months, when members of the Vietnamese community in Seattle asked for the soup. The Pham family later added more Phở Bắc locations, the Phở Bắc Súp Shop and the red boat-shaped original known as The Boat.

Cocktails at PST are built on Vietnamese flavors such as pandan leaf and coconut, and even phở broth. The Trung Muối pairs Japanese whisky washed in phở fat with cream sherry and salted egg yolk. Dừa Dừa is an arrack and absinthe drink with coconut milk, lime and basil seeds, while the Cà Phê Tini is an iced coffee martini that sweetens cold brew liqueur and Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk under a dusting of pandan. Everything is served at a small counter with three sides, so the bartenders work in the middle of the room.

Food at the bar follows the same idea. A trio of pâtés made with phở fat, mushroom tofu and tinned fish in tomato comes with sesame crackers and pickles, and a hot dip of crab and prawns with Vietnamese mayonnaise and melted cheese, topped with basil, is eaten with crackers. Spicy tapioca dumplings and bánh mì sit on the same menu as phở cups modeled on instant noodle cups. Bon Appétit put PST on its annual list of the best new restaurants in America, and in 2023 the Pham sisters reached the semifinals of the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurateur with PST, the Súp Shop and The Boat.