Place the bones and soup meat with the onions, ginger and all the spices in a saucepan with 3 liters of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer gently for at least 6 hours. Skim off every now and then.
Soak the rice noodles for about 2 hours in lukewarm water, then boil them in boiling water until soft, drain and rinse with cold water.
Freeze the beef fillet for about 30 minutes and then cut into wafer-thin slices.
Arrange the beef fillet slices, spring onions, white onions, tomatoes, chillies, bean sprouts, rice noodles, lemon wedges, basil or coriander greens on a platter decoratively.
Pour the soup through a sieve lined with a cloth. Heat again and add salt if necessary.
Each guest now takes noodles, vegetables and meat in a soup bowl or cup, scoops hot soup over it and spices it up with herbs, chilli, lemon juice and fish sauce according to their own taste.