There is a wide variety of Vietnamese food waiting for you to taste. This food trip may take you several days to discover all food throughout three regions of the country. But first, let’s start with our must-try list below:
Rice noodle soup-Phở
Pho (rice noodle soup) a typical dish of Hanoi people, has been existing for a long time. Pho is prepared not only in a sophisticated manner but also in the technique which is required to have sweet but pure bouillon, soft but not crasded noodle, soft and sweet smelling meat. Only in cold days, having a hot and sweet smelling bowl of Pho to enjoy would make you experience the complete flavor of the special dish of Hanoi.
Grilled minced fish- Chả Cá Lã Vọng
Hanoi now has several stores selling Cha ca La Vong, but none of them can be equal to the Cha Ca Road’s in terms of quality and flavor. As a popular dish, La Vong grilled fish pie is indeed a remarkable culinary invention.
Spring Roll- Nem rán
“Nem Rán” (or “Chả Giò” in the South) is one of the most popular traditional Vietnamese food, literally meaning minced pork roll. The most common English translation of “Chả giò” is spring roll, though this is just a fancy name since the food has nothing to do with spring.
The main ingredients of a roll of “chả giò” are commonly seasonal ground meat, mushrooms, and diced vegetables such as carrots and jicama, rolled up in a sheet of moist rice paper. The roll is then deeply fried until the rice paper coat turns crispy and golden brown. The ingredients, however, are not fixed. The most commonly used meat is pork, but one can also use crab, shrimp, sometimes snails (in northern Vietnam), and tofu (for vegan chả giò). If diced carrots and jicama are used, the stuffs inside the rolls are a little bit crunchy, and match well with the crispy fried rice paper.
Rolled rice pancake- Bánh cuốn
Among Vietnam’s delicate specialties, “bánh cuốn” ranks top thanks to its softness, sweet fragrance of cinnamon, dried onion and strong taste of minced meat and sources! It is a paper-thin steamed rice flour pancake, much like delicate sheets of fresh rice noodles. The pancakes are plucked off of the linen steamer base, and immediately rolled with minced pork and mushrooms, then piled on a plate, sprinkled with deep fried shallots, snipped with scissors into bite sized sections, and topped with fresh herbs such as cilantro or Vietnamese basil. A plate of bánh cuốn is a light dish traditionally eaten as breakfast in Hanoi but now can also be found as a late night snack.
Vietnamese bread- Bánh mỳ
Banh mi Vietnam (Vietnamese Traditional Bread) is really popular in Vietnam. Bread is made with wheat and rice flour. This can be seen as a combination of sandwich and baguette. Thinly sliced carrots, pickles, cucumbers, liver pâté, mayonnaise and various meats are put into bread and covered by a little soy or fish sauce.