Central Vietnam has a whole different cuisine style. Each city we visit had their own unique dish. Here’s a journey through the food of central Vietnam.
The first city in central Vietnam we visited was Hue. Hue is a city of around 400,000, but full of good foods. Each of the dishes is unique to the city and is what gives it its charm.
Our first dish and one everyone told us to have was Bánh Bèo (above). This was a steamed rice cake topped with shrimp, pork cracklings, and mung bean paste. It was then also serves with a sweet fish sauce. It is something you need to try if you visit Hue. It was my favorite dish of many from the central region.
My next favorite of Hue was a dish called Nem Lụi or beef on lemon grass. The meat is actually a combination of minced beef and pork, which gives it a different texture. One I can’t describe, but was very good. It was served on the lemon grass stick but eaten in a rice paper wrapper with carrots and and herbs.
This unique dish came in a banana leaf. It was called Bánh Nậm. It is a steamed rice flour party with fresh shrimp and sweet fish sauce. It was smooth and I could eat it all day.
This next one is not uncommon but the combination of the topping and the flan was great. This dish was a flan cake with a passion fruit topping. I never get passion fruit when I’m at home, but tried it in Hue and loved it.
Above is a garlic vegetable dish called morning glory. I could eat a whole bowl of it and still want more. It’s this plate of greens that makes you feel like your having comfort food, but also exploring new food. I never had it before and will now get it everywhere i can get it.
This is a mango salad and it was served with a rice cracker. You eat it by putting the mango salad on the cracker. It’s not just mangos. It’s also fresh herbs and shrimp. I liked it because it was this combination of crunchy and smooth textures.
The dish above is the signature dish of Hoi An. It is called Cao Lau and is a noddle dish with crispy croutons, pork, and herbs. We try to have the signature dish in each city we visit and every time we have had the signature dish, it has been amazing. It’s either we have great luck or we choose the right cities.
This was one of the most interesting food so are while I have been here. It is a duck embryo. Yes there is an actual duck embryo in there. And yes I did try it. It was not too bad, but I don’t think it would be my first choice to have. I tried it when we went on a food tour of a restaurant before a cooking class.
Along with the duck embryo, I had pig brain, silk worm, and pig ears. Each was ok, again I wouldn’t have them as my first choice food. It was a one time experice I think and I’m glad I did it. When would i ever had another opportunity to do it?
That concludes the interesting and fun foods of central Vietnam for me. Next and last of the “Traveling on my stomach” blogs wIll be a post from north Vietnam.
