After discovering the list of 7 Great Places to Visit in Vietnam for Foodies, let's look at more details of the most famous Vietnamese dishes to try once you are in Vietnam.
In recent years, the cuisine of Vietnam has become better known and appreciated by foodies for its diversity of choices and delicate tastes. It is a mixture of the quintessence of original Vietnamese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Khmer cuisine, Thai cuisine, and French cuisine, which are among the most famous in the world. And how is this mixed, it doesn't make a mess but represents a localized diversity worth tasting.
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Top Vietnamese Dishes
1. Pho - the most famous rice noodle soup
Pho is regarded as Vietnam's iconic soup that is the first thing all tourists want to taste on the first day of arrival to discover the country's cuisine and also the first thing every Vietnamese abroad eats when they return home. It is a noodle with fresh, very thin and fragrant rice noodles that is eaten with beef or chicken broth and other ingredients such as star anise, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger cooked for a long time.
How to eat?
Pho is normally served in a large bowl with all things together, decorated with green onion and herbs. You eat the Pho with chopsticks to catch the noodles and meat and with a spoon to take the broth. At the table, there is always vinegar, garlic, chili sauce, pepper, or lemon. People can eat the Pho to their preference.
Note that beef pho broth is distinct from chicken pho so choose the right place to eat well. The most famous cities for Pho are Hanoi and Nam Dinh where you can find good Pho everywhere.
Similar dishes
Good Vietnamese noodle soup is not only Pho. You can try noodles with broths that are famous and delicious in destinations such as Banh Da Cua - crab noodle broth, Bun Oc - sour snail broth, Bun Thang - chicken broth, Bun Rieu - sour crab broth, Bun Ngan - duck broth in Hanoi, Bun Bo Hue, Hu Tieu
2. Bun Cha - pork roasted and eaten with vermicelli noodles
The "bun" in the Vietnamese language means fresh rice noodles and the "cha" means pork fried or roasted in fire. The name of the dish shows all that is included. Bun Cha is always served with a bowl of mixed sauce of fish sauce, garlic, chilies, vinegar, sugar and each restaurant has its own secret ratio to attract eaters. In addition to a plate of bun and a bowl of sauce with meat in it, you may also see a plate of vegetables and raw herbs to eat together as a salad.
How to eat?
You take the bun and vegetables and then dip them in sauce and eat it all together with the meat
The most famous city for bun cha is Hanoi, where you can find many restaurants everywhere. Bun cha is usually sold for lunch.
The similar dishes
With the same way of soaking the rice part together with the soup, you can also find other dishes in the same way
- Cha Ca - noodles and fried fish that you eat with shrimp sauce, herbs, anito, and peanuts. If shrimp sauce is too strong for you, you can try it with fish sauce.
- Bun Dau - fresh noodles and fried tofu that you eat with shrimp sauce, herbs.
3. Nem - the fried rolls
The most important ingredient in this dish is "banh da nem" - rice paper. The other ingredients, including pork, soybean sprouts, black mushrooms, carrot, onion,...can be raw or already cooked and then are rolled with this paper. When all the rolls are already done, they are fried with lots of oil to bring out the yellow colours.
How to eat?
This dish is always served with sauce, which changes for each different type of roll. The way to eat this dish is that you soak the rolls in the sauce and enjoy. If the rolls are hot, you take them with chopsticks but if they are fresh, you use your hands.
Where to eat?
"Nem" is the way to call this dish in the North of Vietnam while in the South it is called "Cha gio" so you can taste these dishes anywhere in Vietnam. Of course, each region will have a different recipe but the taste does not change that much. The best "nem" are always those made at home by mothers, grandmothers,...
The similar dishes
- Goi cuon - fresh rolls, a perfect solution for those who want to avoid consuming too much oil. It should be noted that there is also raw vegetables so choose a safe restaurant to get it
- You can find these rolls all over Vietnam
- Nem lui - Hue rolls: all the ingredients are put in a tray and the eaters roll themselves and take what they want to make them just nem lui
- Banh cuon - although "dry rice paper" in this case is not really, it is made by the way of rolling steamed rice flour with the filling. You can taste it in Hanoi and Cao Bang.
- Pho cuon - instead of cutting in Pho into tight strands, you use the uncut Pho as a blanket for sautéed beef filling with garlic. You can find this dish in Hanoi
4. Banh mi - the Vietnamese baguettes
Taking the idea of the French baguette, the Vietnamese localized this dish with local ingredients. You can try baguettes with pate, with egg, with Vietnamese bologna but they are always served with cilantro or other herbs
Where to eat?
You can find Vietnamese baguettes everywhere country, from tourist areas to areas little touched by tourists. Over time, it has become a very popular and easy-to-find dish in Vietnam.
If you don't have much time, one recommendation is the banh my of Mr. Phuong or Mr. Lanh in Hoi An. With an herb and vegetable village Tra Que to its neighbor, the herbs inside baguettes in Hoi An are very diverse and fresh.
>> See more: Top 10 Popular Vietnamese Breakfast Foods
5. Cao Lau - the rice noodle with herbs
Cao lau is a type of noodle from Vietnam, the noodles of must be made with rice soaked in water containing ash from trees burned in Cu Lao Cham so that they retain their characteristic crispness and dryness. So in Vietnam, you can only find cao lau in Quang Nam province, where the ancient city of Hoi An is located.
Cao lau is served with pork and many kinds of vegetables from Tra Que village in Hoi An with little broth.
How to eat?
Cao lau is served in a large bowl with all ingredients then chopsticks are used to mix it all together with a little broth (already served in the bowl), leaving it for a couple of minutes then tasting.
The similar dishes
With the way of eating noodles with little broth like this, you can also find other dishes in Vietnam that are very good
- Bun bo nam bo - the name includes "nam bo" which means the south but it is a Hanoi specialty. It is rice noodles that are served with beef sauteed with garlic, raw salad, and fish sauce
- Bun thit nuong - you eat rice noodles with roasted pork, carrot and green papaya. This is a specialty of Hue.
- My quang - is a dish very similar to Cao Lau but the noodles are like yellow rice noodles, thinner like Pho
6. Thit Kho - Caramel pork stew
Thit kho or Pork Stew is a Vietnamese dish that is a localized dish from the Caramel Pork of the Chinese. To adapt to the local taste, the Vietnamese also put coconut milk or coconut water and good fish sauce into the stew to create the typical flavor. Pork and egg stew is also a traditional dish in the traditional meal of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year - the Tet to the South Vietnamese
How to eat?
People usually eat caramel pork stew with the original rice or sticky rice. This is a very popular dish in the daily life of Vietnamese people
Similar dishes
- Caramel fish stew: in North Vietnam, they make the stew with galanda, and lemongrass, in Central Vietnam, they put more pepper and chilies while in South Vietnam, they cook the dish with sagu and coconut water. Try it if you like fish!!!
- Beef stew: in North Vietnam, beef stew is simple by putting only salt and ginger while in South Vietnam, they cook it more complicatedly with 5 spices,...
7. Banh Xeo - the savory cake
Banh xeo is also called a Vietnamese pancake which is a dish made in the pot with soybean sprouts, beef/pork/shrimp,.... However, if your pancake is thin, Vietnam's Banh xeo is crispier.
How to eat?
You serve Banh xeo with a bowl of mixed sauce of fish, garlic, vinegar,... and raw salad
Where to eat?
You can find Banh xeo mostly in southern Vietnam; in Saigon and Mekong Delta
The similar dish
In Hue, you can find a similar dish called "Banh khoai"-happiness cake, though the flour part of "banh khoai" is less thin than Banh Xeo
8. Vietnamese Coffee
In Vietnam, we have famous coffee plantations that grow both robust and arabica coffee, among which robust coffee is most loved by Vietnamese people. Now though, so many coffee shops make a mixture of robust and arabica in secret ratio to bring the aroma
How to eat?
In Vietnam, they use coffee filters to make the original coffee. Then depending on taste, they put other ingredients. You can find these kinds of coffees in Vietnam
- Black coffee: the original one
- Brown coffee: you put more condensed milk
- Salt coffee: you put the condensed milk, fresh milk, and a little salt
- Egg coffee: they beat raw egg with condensed milk and sugar and then put hot black coffee. It is very famous and recommended to taste in Hanoi. Don't miss it!!!
- Coconut milk coffee: it is a type like a breeze or coconut slush with black coffee
>> See more: Vietnamese coffee - a Must Try for Food Lover
9. Vietnamese desserts
Vietnam has a very rich agricultural culture, so even for dessert, the locals use a lot of rice, beans, potatoes, corn, lotus seeds, coconut, and coconut milk-that is, ingredients that are easy to find throughout Vietnam. To avoid granulated sugar, they also substitute rock sugar. Try to taste those Vietnamese desserts:
- Sweet soup: such as che sen - lotus seed soup, che dau do - black bean soup,... you find soups like that, especially in Hanoi and Hue
- Banh Bo: cake made of flour, coconut milk and sugar, pretty and very good,... is the popular dish in the Mekong Delta
- Tofu soup- tao pho: mostly eaten in Hanoi and Hoi An
- Chuoi nep nuong- banana covered with sticky rice roasted then eaten with coconut milk, you can find this dish in South Vietnam
>> See more: Vietnamese Beverages : Top Local Favorite Drinks To Try
10. Cakes wrapped in the leaves
You can find these cakes in many places in Vietnam. They can be sweet or savory and different shapes but the common thing is the way of cooking it. Normally the inside is covered with banana leave, then they put the cakes to boil or steam them
Try to taste Vietnamese cakes:
- Banh Chung: the traditional cake of northern Vietnam in the Lunar New Year with sticky rice, green beans, and pork inside. It has a square shape.
- Banh Tet: the whole part is like Banh Chung but has a rolled shape, it is typical in the traditional Tet of Central and Southern Vietnam
- Banh bot loc: a Hue specialty, small with shrimp inside
- Banh Nam: another specialty of Hue
There are many types but the ones mentioned above are the most famous.
In this article, we presented you Top 10 Must-try Dishes in Vietnam. However, it is not only 10 dishes, there are also dishes with more or less similar ways of cooking (with lots of broth, with little broth, fried, stewed, steamed,...) so that you will have more choices during your trip to Vietnam. If you are a food lover, you can taste a hundred yummy Vietnamese dishes, and there are also somewhat strange dishes (Let's do this in another article soon!).
See more:
>> Traditional Vietnamese New Year's Food
>> The 10 Best Mekong Food You Should Try
>> The Best Cha Ca Hanoi You Have Ever Tasted
02 Comments
Singapore
We are traveling to Vietnam for 3 weeks. My children love Vietnamese street food. My family and I have done one tour with an enthusiastic tour guide in Hanoi on the arrival day. Fantastic!
Vietnam
Hi Lauren, we also organized an HCMC discovery tour on a Vespa with a special cuisine experience. You will sample some of the city's specialties. Please follow this link to see more details: https://izitour.com/en/vespa-tour-saigon-after-dark
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