Tourists are attracted by the coffee festival (accompanied by an exhibition of coffee producers, street workshops, fairs) and the Summer Gastronomy Festival (guests are offered to taste European and Southeast Asian dishes, in particular, Bun thang noodle soup with spices and over 20 food components, and also participate in various games, attend dance and music shows), during which everyone can get an answer to the question "what to try in Vietnam?"
Food in Vietnam
The Vietnamese diet consists of seafood, rice, tofu, game, beef, chicken, noodles, delicacies in the form of python, crocodile, rat, ostrich and turtle. All this they flavored with sauces (fish, soy), lemongrass, mint, ginger root and other herbs.
In the northern part of Vietnam, they prefer to eat seafood and noodle soup, in the central part - complex Vietnamese dishes, and in the southern part of the country - spicy dishes with spices.
Dishes in Vietnam are usually laid out on a common plate, and those who eat with chopsticks, taking out pieces of food from this plate. Europeans don't need to worry - the restaurants serve traditional food for them.
Top 10 Vietnamese dishes
Pho soup
Pho soup
Fo soup is filled with meat of various types (as an alternative, fried fish or fish balls are used), sprouted wheat and rice noodles (northerners add black chicken, wide noodles and a lot of green onions to it, and southerners add banana flowers, basil and soybean paste) … As a rule, Pho soup is a dish served for breakfast, but tourists can have lunch and dinner with it. Fresh greens, chili peppers, limes, and sometimes sprouted soy are served separately with Fo soup.
Nam
Nam is a Vietnamese roll / pancake made with rice paper and various fillings (dried mushrooms, crab meat, shrimps, minced pork, noodles). There are the following types of nems:
- nem ran (nem, fried in oil);
- nem nyong (stewed nem);
- "Raw" nem kuon (the finished filling just needs to be wrapped in rice paper);
- sour nem chua (the dish is prepared in a banana leaf with the use of pork neck and skin).
The dish is usually supplemented with sauce (sweet, fishy, soy, spicy, sour).
Banh Kuon
Banh Kuon - Vietnamese pies with a variety of fillings (you can buy them at a restaurant or roadside cafe). The filling is wrapped in a banana leaf and fried thoroughly. Pies with rice, fried shallots, ham, mushrooms, beans, stewed soy sprouts, coconut or minced meat can be either a main course or a sweet dessert.
Porridge Chao
Porridge Chao
Chao is a thick rice porridge, to which boiled chicken or other type of meat is added at the end of cooking. To cook it, boil the rice in water until the cereal is completely boiled. An addition to Chao porridge, which is served hot, is fish sauce and lemongrass.
Boone
Bun is a vermicelli made from rice flour (white threads are rolled into rolls called “con bun”). There are several dishes with this rice noodles: pork is added to bunchu (it is pre-fried), fish sauce (chili + vinegar + sugar + garlic + ground black pepper) and vegetables (fresh or with spices), beef is added to bunbo, and in the bunok - river snails (they are soaked for about 10 hours before cooking), vinegar, aromatic spices and tomatoes.
Nem Nuong
Nem Nuong are grilled pork sausages. When serving, use herbs, sauce, rice dough (the sheets are pre-fried), rice paper. These sausages are eaten like this: rice paper is taken and the dough, meat sausage and herbs (mint, shallots, basil, lettuce) are laid on it. Then the paper needs to be rolled up, and so that the dish acquires a pungent taste, dip it in the sauce, to which peanuts and carrots are added. Daikon and pickled carrots are an excellent addition to Nem Nuong.
Ka Ho
Ka Ho
The Ka Ho dish is a fish stew made using a clay pot and sauce (it is cooked for a long time, has a bitter taste and has a dark brownish-reddish color). There are two varieties: kho kho (freshwater fish - mullet, goby or silver carp is stewed until the water almost completely evaporates) and kho nuoc (a lot of water is added to the dish and sea fish - tuna, salmon, mackerel, and steamed rice or rice is a garnish noodles). Most often, Ka Ho can be seen on the menu of food outlets located in the south of Vietnam, in particular, Ho Chi Minh City.
Lau
Vietnamese Lau soup is served like a European fondue (it is poured into a pot and placed on a built-in or portable stove). The basis for the broth in Lau soup is chicken, meat, seafood. It is supplemented with herbs, mushrooms, lemongrass and tomatoes. Separately put greens and noodles on the table (each referee adds them to his own bowl to taste). It is worth considering that the portion is meant for two, so when planning to try Lau, it makes sense to go to a restaurant in the company of a friend.
Ban Mi
Ban Mi
Banh Mi is a Vietnamese sandwich perfect for a quick bite. Its basis is fried baguette (it contains wheat flour and rice), soy sauce, hot peppers, cilantro, pate, pickled vegetables, oil …
Street food vendors often offer the hungry Ban Mi, to which they add a fried egg or meat filling (fried pork loin, boiled sausage, boiled chicken, fried fish with turmeric and dill). In Mui Ne Ban Mi you can buy for 0, 75 $, and in Ho Chi Minh City - for 0, 60 $. As for the cost of a baguette without filling, it will be $ 0.15.
Bun Bo Hue Soup
Bun Bo Hue, like Fo soup, is cooked in a broth of meat with spices, which is cooked for more than one hour. In Bun Bo Hue, vermicelli (round rice) is added instead of oblong noodles, and in addition, large pieces (on the bone) are put there, and not thin slices of beef. Supplement for Bun Bo Hue soup broth - greens (large amount), lemongrass, beef bloodworm, shrimp paste and banana blossoms (shavings).
