Vietnamese Food

Vietnamese food - Banh Chung" (Chung cake) is a traditional and irreplaceable cake of Vietnamese food  in the Tet Holidays and King Hung’s anniversary (10th March Lunar). For the Vietnamese food , making "Banh Chung" is the ideal way to express gratitude to their ancestors and homeland.

The legend of " Banh Chung" - Vietnam Food culture

Vietnamese food - Chung cake was invented by the 18th Prince of Hung Emperor in the contest of looking for new Emperor. According to the legend, 3,000-4,000 years ago, Prince Lang Lieu, made round and square cakes, the round Day cake symbolizing the sky and the square Chung cake symbolizing the Earth (under the ancient Vietnamese perception), to be offered on the occasion of Spring.

In the ancient conception, the Earth is square, hence Chung cake's shape is square, too, to reflect the Earth shape. Since the cakes he offered were of special meaning and delicious taste, Lang Lieu was selected to be the next Emperor. Since then, in honor of this 18th Prince, Vietnamese people always make and have Chung cake in the Lunar New Year. Up to now, Chung cake has become the most famous and irreplaceable traditional Vietnamese food in Tet Holiday. This legend aims to remind the next generations of the ancient tradition as well as the primary of Chung cake. Besides, it emphasizes the important role of rice and nature in water rice culture.

How to make a "Banh Chung"?

In contrast to the fast food in modern life, the process of making Chung cake is time-consuming and requires the contribution of several people. Main ingredients are glutinous rice, pork meat, and green beans wrapped in a square of bamboo leaves that will give the rice a green color after boiling. The sticky rice must be very good and was soaked in water in the previous day. Rice cake is wrapped in square shape, and the wrapping power must be neither tight nor loose. Then the cake will be boiled in about 12 hours by wood. The Green Chung cake has nutrition with an original tasty flavor and may be kept for a long time. Eating Chung cake with vegetable pickles will bring you unforgettable taste!

In the traditional conception of Vietnamese people, the process of making Chung cake - vietnamese food  is the opportunity for family to come together. Sitting around the warm fire, all members in the family tell one another the past stories and are ready for a New Year with wishes of best things. Nowadays, in some big cities, the business lifestyle of modern society prevent people from preparing the cake, however, the habit of worship ancestors with Chung cake never changes. It is the evidence of the Vietnamese loyalty and deep gratitude to ancestors.

In Hue city, the former citadel of Vietnam, it doesn't take you a lot of money to dine like a King!

Vietnamese food - Hue beef noodle takes its origin from the Royal Hue City of Central Vietnam. The broth is from cooking beef bones for a long period of time as well as a variety of different spices including lemongrass.

How does it taste? Well, having a bowl of Hue beef noodle, you will easily recognize that it is completely different from Pho since the former’s beef broth is much more spicy.

How to make it? Learning how to make a clear broth from bone and meat is quite a difficult task. After being selected from the market, the fresh beef will be shredded, boiled and taken out of the water to obtain a delicious clear broth. A typical version of Hue beef noodle must include pork, roast beef, pig’s blood, Vietnamese salami, Hue’s style salami, shrimp sauce and chopped lettuce.

The interesting thing is that, the amount of salt put in the beef noodle recipe varies between seasons. For example, during summer, Hue beef noodle soup is served with soy bean, mint and different kinds of lettuce while in the winter, the recipe is saltier added with lemongrass and fish.

Vietnamese food - The best Hue beef noodle comes from the street vendors who work from dawn to early morning. In Hue, when night lights are on, you can enjoy a good bowl of this noodle soup at restaurants in front of No. 84 Mai Thuc Loan Street. This hot dish represents just a few of the treasures of Hue's traditional cuisine. Clam-rice and the flour pies like beo (streamed flour cupcakes), nam (wrapped shrimp pies) and loc (tapioca and shrimp pies), for examples, are part of the vietnamese food

Where to have Hue’s beef noodle in Ha Noi?

You are in Hanoi, and wondering if such a Hue’s specialty appears in Hanoi or not. Don’t worry, Hue beef noodle come up quite often in many streets of Hanoi from morning till night. It’s better to ask your hotel to recommend a place nearby or you can refer to the following reliable addresses:

 No. 4 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, Hanoi
No.467 Đoi Can Street, Hanoi
No.7 Thai Phien Street, Hanoi
No.22 Phan Boi Chau Street, Hanoi
No.175 Lang Ha Street, Hanoi
No.G23 Huynh Thuc Khang Street, Hanoi

Banh xeo” is Vietnamese  food style crepe with whole shrimp, thinly sliced pork and bean sprouts.

Like the salad roll, the “banh xeo” is a do-it-yourself dish that involves the messy but delicious process of wrapping the crepe in lettuce with cilantro and basil. 

Different styles of “banh xeo”

“Banh xeo” is prepared differently throughout the country. Tourists traveling about in Vietnam are sure to encounter a different recipe, and sometimes even a different name, for “banh xeo” depending on which region and province they are visiting.

These are a pale yellow spicey Vietnamese food style crepe. One piece on the bottom, and another on top encase what is usually a salad consisting of been sprouts, prawns, boiled pork, taro and carrot. Drenched in fish sauce, and you have a deliciously messy slice of fine pleasure. The dish is round, and you cut it into slices, like a pizza, so it resembles a triangle on the main platter, but usually by the time it arrives on your plate, it could resemble anything really.

In the Southern region, the “banh xeo” is the size of a large dish and yellow in color due to the employment of turmeric powder. The Southern people always add coconut milk to the rice flour to make the crepe extra delicious. The crepe is stuffed with bean sprouts, mung beans, shrimp and pork. A sweet and sour fish sauce and fresh vegetables are used as accompaniments.

In the Central region, “banh xeo”- vietnamese food culture cooks make a smaller crepe that is white in color. In Hue, the crepes are called “banh khoai”, which is similar to “banh xeo”, but smaller in size and stuffed with fennel, sour star fruit, green banana and a thick soy sauce.

In addition to selling the crepes to patrons, vendors also prepare them en masse for birthday parties and festivals. Northern preparations of “banh xeo” are similar to the ones down south, but include special fillings like slices of Indian taro and manioc. In some regions, “banh xeo” is prepared thick, but Southern crepes are characteristically thin, crispy and served fresh out of the frying pan. The secret to extra-thin crepes is a deep frying pan and a quick wrist to coat the frying pan with the batter before it starts to set.

Where to enjoy “banh xeo”?

In Hanoi, there are a lot of addresses for you to enjoy “banh xeo”, such as 22 Hang Bo Street, “Quan Ngon” restaurant at 12 Phan Boi Chau Street or “Chin Tham” restaurant on Thai Ha Street.

In HCMC, southern-style “banh xeo” can be found at Banh Xeo 46A on Dinh Cong Trang Street, District 1 or An la ghien Restaurant at 54A Nguyen Van Troi Street, Ward 15, Phu Nhuan District. Those seeking a meatless version of “banh xeo” can find them at vegetarian restaurants on An Lac Restaurant, 175/15 Pham Ngu Lao Street, District 1, and Thien Nguyen Restaurant, 174 Calmete street, District 1.

Vietnamese food - Nem chua is a meat roll with a sweet, sour, salty and spicy taste which makes the mouth salivate with each bite. Nem chua possesses the local character of each region of Vietnam, due to the differing ingredients and sauces used. Most versions of Nem chua can be distinguished by their name, which is usually named after the area it originated from, such as nem Thanh Hoa, nem Dong Ba in the ancient royal capital of Hue, and nem Ninh Hoa in Khanh Hoa Province, nem Yen Mac in Ninh Binh Province, etc.

Traditionally, to make Nem chua, the main ingredient is pork thigh. Nem chua is made from minced pork, sliced pigskin and a mixture of seasoning and garlic. These contents are mixed thoroughly before being wrapped with aromatic, fresh leaves (usually in banana leaves) into small, boxy rolls before being stored for natural fermentation process for three to five days in a cool place before eating.

The northern areas also create their own favorite varieties of Nem chua - vietnamese food . The famous one is Nem Yen Mac, which has been made for a long time in Ninh Binh Province. The number of locals in Yen Mac who can make this kind of Nem chua is small because the work requires not only secret formula but also passion for the work. Nem Yen Mac is eaten with guava leaves, fig leaves and aroma vegetables dotted into nuoc mam (fish sauce) which is mixed with mingled with garlic, lemon juice, pepper and chilli.

While many people prefer the more traditional method of preparation for Nem chua- vietnamese food, others enjoy a grilled and unfermented variety of Nem chua. Both traditional and grilled Nem chua are usually served with uncooked sliced garlic and nuoc mam (fish sauce). Whereas nuoc mam adds saltiness and spiciness, some other  prefer to use chili sauce instead.

This simple dish sold in country markets has become a favorite breakfast of many vietnameses food. People can find this dish in small stands o­n any street in Hanoi. The stands are always crowed with diners. Hanoians can enjoy this dish at any time, at breakfast, lunch or post-lunch.

Although pyramidal rice dumpling is simple, it is very good and healthy, especially its appealing fragrance. This white and smooth dumpling is wrapped in green banana leaf, which is regarded as the quintessence of heaven and earth.

The pyramidal rice dumpling is made from a few ingredients including plain rice flour, minced lean meat, cat’s ear, onion and mushroom. The process of stirring and kneading flour is the most important, which decides the deliciousness of the dumpling. Processing the dumpling flour is a secret handed from generation to generation. Some famous makers of pyramidal rice dumpling said that they bought flour in Ha Dong District but still kept secret what kind of flour was. Therefore, it is not easy to make delicious rice dumplings.

After soaking in water, flour is dried, which is similar to the kind of “banh te” (rice cake). This flour is continously dissolved in water when being cooked. After 45 minutes, the flour turns pure white and viscid, which means it is well-cooked. Then the flour is placed o­n phrynium leaf and wrapped with meat. These rice dumplings are then put into the boiling water for 20 minutes. After that, pyramidal rice dumplings are picked up. People can feel the fragrance of the filling, rice flour and the special smell of phrynium or banana leaf. It is so great to serve this dish with sour vegetable pickles, which makes good taste; therefore, some people can eat two or three dumplings at a time.

The cake is a rice ball made of glutinous rice mixed with cudweed (khuc)-most important ingredient and filled with green bean paste, pork, and spices.

Cudweed grows during lunar January and February, when the drizzling rain lasts all day, and it can be found along the edges of rice fields. There are two kinds: “nep” and “te”. The latter is more flexible and fragrant and is preferred for making the cake.

First, the cudweed is washed, ground and then mixed with husked glutinous rice. Green beans, that are flayed and turned into paste after being cooked, are then added to the mixture. Finally, the cakes are sprinkled with grains of glutinous steamed rice.

As time goes by it is increasingly difficult to find cudweed as fields are eaten up by development. For now, you still can find “banh khuc” in Hanoi. However, some bakers may not be using cudweed and may substitute it with cabbage or water morning glory.

Wishing to have the chance to satisfy your hunger for “banh khuc”, you can visit cake stall at 69 Nguyen Cong Tru Street, that has been churning out “banh khuc” for years - Vietnamese food 

If you are in the old quarter of Hanoi, you might hear someone cry “Ai banh khuc nong day?” (who wants hot “banh khuc”?). You can stop them and ask if the “banh khuc” is from Ngoai Hoang village in Ha Noi, a place that is famous for having the most delicious and tasty “banh khuc”. Then, you can buy one for tasting. The cake should be served hot and dipped into a mixture of roasted and crushed sesame seeds and salt...

1. Beef noodles (Phở bò) - Vietnamese Food

This could be the No 1 street food in Vietnam and most recognizable Vietnamese food outside of Vietnam. Originated from the North, but has found home in the South since long time, that's why we have "phở" in two different styles: northern and southern. According to some foodies, in Sài Gòn besides these two official northern and southern styles we still have some other "styles", but I would say it's more like taste. Good Phở should have all good three components: soup, beef and noodles! To me beef noodles should be a dish that inspires competitiveness and innovation in chefs, at that time everyone wants to claim the honor title "Beef noodles King"!   

                   Beef noodles 

2. Broken rice (Cơm tấm) - Vietnamese Food

My all time favorite, but today "cơm tấm" is quite different and to be honest, I don't like it as before. Cơm tấm An Dương Vương or Kiều Giang are far from the best, too commercial! They make so many dishes to go with broken rice and by somehow it makes the broken rice lost the traditional taste as in the old days: broken rice with pork skin (cơm tấm bì) or egg cake (chả trứng)! But even saying so, I still can enjoy good cơm tấm at different places: simpler but more original! To me, most important for broken rice is the rice itself and fish sauce, flavorful rice and a little bit sweet, a little bit salty, a little bit spicy fish sauce and by the way don't forget to top broken rice with special minced green onion stirred in the oil (mở hành)!   

                Broken rice with roasted chicken, egg cake and pork skin at Ba Ghiền 

3. Sticky rice (Xôi) - Vietnamese Food

This is a great breakfast dish that give you a boost of added energy. Similar to beef noodles, sticky rice  also has two styles: northern and southern and they are quite different. Example, corn sticky rice (xôi bắp) in a northern style is very different from a southern and to me tastier! Sticky rice has sweet and salty. My favorite for sweet is a corn sticky rice in a northern style (xôi bắp), there is many things: softly cooked corn mixed with sticky rice, topped with green mung bean, tasty fried shallots, sugar. For salty one (xôi mặn), my choice could be a sticky rice with dried shrimp, chinese sausage, green onion stirred with oil, flavored with soy sauce.

              Sweet corn sticky rice in a northern style

               Sticky rice with chicken floss  

               Sweet sticky rice in a southern style

4. Saigon baguette (Bánh mỳ Sài Gòn) - Vietnamese Food

Along with beef noodles, Saigon baguette (bánh mỳ Saigon) is the most famous dish outside of Vietnam food, something that tourist rave and hype about. But in Sài Gòn to taste the best Bánh mỳ, you should know the place! Not every place! A good, warm and crunchy bread is filled with many things!   

It could be several kinds of Vietnamese pork ham, liver paste (pâté gan), veggies (cucumber, coriander, green onion, chili...) and sour things (đồ chua) which made from pickled shreds of carrot and white radish!

              Saigon baguette is filled with "everything" Bánh mỳ đủ thứ! 

5. Rice noodles (Bún) - Vietnamese Food

There is many dishes with rice noodles. Many! I tried to count but then gave up. Because living in Sài Gòn I may know only those popular dishes here, but in North or Central? Anyway to me most popular dish with rice noodles (bún) could be bún thịt nướng (rice noodles with grilled pork), bún riêu (rice noodles with sour crab soup), bún chả giò (rice noodles with deep fried spring rolls)! I personally select two to represent rice noodles: bún thịt nướng for rice noodles served without soup category and bún riêu for rice noodles served in soup category!   

             Rice noodles with grilled pork 

It would be a big miss if I don't mention a glorious dish from Huế, super popular in Saigon! Beef noodles in Huế style, same as traditional beef noodles that I list down on the top, we can have this bún bò Huế for breakfast, lunch or late dinner! The most distinctive is its flavor - thanks to the special Huế shrimp paste (ruốc Huế) and lemon grass added to the soup during cooking! 

           Beef noodles in Hue style - strong flavor and mildly spicy! 

             A popular rice noodles with sour soup, crab paste...bún riêu! 

6. Roll cake (Bánh cuốn) 

Again and again we have two different: roll cake in a northern style, filled with pork meat (bánh cuốn nhân thịt) and roll cake in a southern style - we call bánh ướt (wet cake!).  Both are made from rice, steamed and served with sweet, spicy fish sauce, ham and blanched bean sprouts, herbs. Both are most popular but wet cake (bánh ướt) could be more popular as street food in Sài Gòn as it's easy to sell from a moving cart! These days I saw many these carts on the street!

             Roll cake in a southern style - we call "wet" cake (bánh ướt) 

             Roll cake filled with pork meat in a northern style at Thiên Hương

7. Papaya salad with pork liver (gỏi bò)

My childhood favorite snack and until now I'm happy to have it whenever I have a chance! Used to be one of the most popular snacks among the youth, esp. school teenagers. These days maybe the taste has been changed, we may not find this street stall selling this yummy papaya salad in front of many schools anymore but certain places are famous for this special salad. Made from shreds of young papaya, served in sour-sweet spicy sauce, topped with roasted peanut, Vietnamese basil, shrimp cracker and most important beef liver or lung (!?) that has been braised in secret aromatic dark sweet sauce with probably different spices!

              Green papaya salad topped with secret beef liver, peanut...

8. Big noodles (Bánh canh)

I love the big noodles or I always call it jokingly "udon" due to its jumbo size! Vietnamese food udon or bánh canh! We have a quite large variation of bánh canh, depends on the area. In South we have bánh canh with pork knuckle (bánh canh giò heo), or with crab (bánh canh cua). Very popular. Then in Central we have bánh canh with crab in a Huế style or with snakehead (bánh canh cá lóc)...We even have sweet bánh canh in coconut soup, very tasty, the speciality from Mekong Delta! Bánh canh is good for breakfast or light meal before dinner! My all-time favorite is bánh canh with crab. The soup with crab meat, crab cake or some other stuffs, we need to add only some fresh chili, squeeze some drops of lime juice, all of it makes bánh canh heavenly good!

            Vietnamese big noodles with crab (bánh canh cua)

         Big noodles with flower crab - another version from Central!

9. Yellow noodles  

Originated from China, but this noodles dish already found home in here, probably hundred years ago!

I did try yellow noodles in Beijing and in Hong Kong, I may prefer the Vietnamese food version, probably I already used to the local taste here! Good for breakfast or late night meal! Yellow noodles can go with either seafood, chicken, pork or little of everything (mỳ đủ thứ). I love the noodles texture - should be a bit hard, not too soft! And, of course, the soup itself!

              Yellow noodles with everything at Minh Ký Mì Gia! 

10. Fresh spring roll (Gỏi cuốn) 

If talking about the roll in Vietnamese food , it would take days...as we have so many things that we can roll in rice paper (bánh tráng)! The most popular among the rolls - deep fried spring rolls but as street food - by somehow fresh spring roll or we simply call "gỏi cuốn" - more popular!

Just a good rice paper, we roll with rice noodles, veggies and veggies, then cooked pork meat (thịt heo luộc) and cooked prawn! Dip sauce is sweet soy sauce mixed with chopped roasted peanut!