The most popular Vietnamese dishes to attract foreign tourists

Vietnamese cuisine shows its simplicity that many of the most popular dishes can be made and found not only in restaurant but also on the side of the road. Vietnam has a special culture – the street food one.

Pho is one of the most quintessential dish of Vietnam

"Gat gu", a strange pancake

If you ate it once time, you would never forget it as well as Quang Ninh.

Quang Ninh cuisine’s style has the characteristics of people here - fishers, and it is very special.

 “Gat Gu” pancake is similar with steamed rolled rice pancake. It is made from rice flour. When making this kind of cake, the maker have a secret to make it more delicious by adding cold rice. After being done, when we take this kind of cake, it nods repeatedly.

Enjoy cha ruoi in Hanoi

Cha ruoi is a popular meal in Hanoi when the autumn leaves turn yellow.

Cha ruoi is not available all year round. Ruoi is a type of sand worm that can only be found from the end of September to the middle of October. The short season is why Hanoians regard cha ruoi as a special but expensive gift from nature.

Food file: Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam's buzzing southern capital offers a taste of the spice of life.

Favourite flavours

Vietnamese cuisine is regional, so while you're in Ho Chi Minh City, be sure to try local southern specialties. Many dishes use similar ingredients but add different flavours. For instance, delicious banh xeo, or pancakes, come stuffed with pork, prawns and bean sprouts; hu tieu soup is also heavy on pork and prawns but the addition of crab, garlic, chives and other goodies changes the taste entirely. Fish fans will enjoy canh chua, a fish soup with tamarind, and ca kho to, which is fish caramelised in a clay pot.

Interesting facts about Vietnam food

There isadmirably a great balance between vegetable and meats, as well as a selectiveuse of spices to reach a fine taste. Vietnamese food can be considered one ofthe healthiest cuisines worldwide. 

Traditional Vietnamese cooking isappreciated for the freshness of the ingredients and for the minimum use of oilwhich makes this cuisine very healthy. Hardly do families use processed foodfor daily meals.

Five-colored Sticky Rice of Tay Ethnic Group

The five colors of the dish symbolize five basic elements including yellow of earth, green of wood, red of fire, white of metal, black of water.

Tay ethnic group mostly live in Viet Bac, north central highland and highland regions in Vietnam. Five-colored sticky rice is a traditional dish of the Tay which is usually made in festivals, ceremonies, 5^th of May, whenever the family has reputable guests, etc.

Tet dishes offer taste of past New Years

Taste of Tet:A tray of Tet dishes. — VNS Photos Hoang Ha.

Tet dishes have special significance as they reflect the Vietnamese tradition of each family member expressing their personal progress, happiness and professional prosperity through the tray of dishes.
But more importantly, children and grandchildren get a chance to sit with their parents and grandparents, no matter which part of the world they have returned from, and reminisce about old stories from their childhood and greet each other a Happy New Year.

Au Tau Gruel - from a Toxic Buld to a Specialty

There is something called Ha Giang interest containing enjoying au tau gruel, contemplating imposing mountains and chatting excitedly with the beautiful Mong girl in the market. The person who has not experienced this interest yet is considered never to visit this mountainous region before.

Ha Giang has a specialty that none of other places can have: au tau (ấu tẩu) gruel. Au tau is a type of wild bulb, looks similar to bulb of caltrop in the delta region that has hard, black, sharp cover.

Miến Lươn (Eel vermicelli)

The Miến Lươn is simple with vermicelli and crispy eel, broth and some fragrant herbs. Having the dish, we feel the eel meat is crispy and melting in the mouth. with the fragrance of herbs in the broth bowl. The hot bowl of Miến Lươn is suitable with the rainy days. However, the eel meat has the property of coldness; therefore it is very good to eat in hot days.

Grilled Snout Otter Clam

Snout Otter Clam (tu hài) is a specialty of Cat Ba Island, Hai Phong district. Actually, it’s so hard to find out the reason why it was named “tu hài”.

Its original name sounds like a Chinese name that is so difficult to be explained the meaning. People just can describe Snout Otter Clam to look similar to clam but its meat part is as thick as blood cockle, its taste is as fresh as abalone. Previously, Snout Otter Clam was a special seafood used as offerings for the kings.

Bồn bồn - A wild and tasty plant

Bồn bồn, a wild plant first popular in Ca Mau, has since conquered southern Vietnam with its distinctive sweet taste

It would be a shame if someone visited the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau and came away without trying dishes made from bồn bồn.
Bồn bồn (cattail, or bulrush) is a reed-like wild plant with long, firm leaves, olive-green, three-sided stems and drooping clusters of small spikelets. It usually grows in swamps or wetlands, and is known to be useful for land restoration and as an ingredient in food.
Some parts of Ca Mau Province are high in alum and are therefore not good for growing rice paddy, only bồn bồn. Many families do grow the wild plant as a crop.

Bồn bồn salad with shrimp and meat is a popular dish

Hanoi Chicken Vermicelli Soup

Hanoi Chicken Vermicelli Soup (Bún Thang) originally comes from North, but already found a new home in many places in South, esp. in Ho Chi Minh City where has been considered as the largest food hub.

Hanoi Chicken Vermicelli Soup (Bún Thang) originally comes from North, but already found a new home in many places in South, esp. in Ho Chi Minh City where has been considered as the largest food hub. People now consider it as the Traditional Vietnamese Food. Easy to find this dish around the city.

9 The most Popular Vegetables in Vietnam

Vietnam is well known as a paradise of delicious dishes. Unlike English, Vietnamese prefers to eat vegetable rather than eat meat. Vietnamtourism.org.vn makes a list of popular vegetable in Vietnam for tourists to consult when visiting our country.

1. Water spinach- Morning glory ( rau muống)

Water spinach is the most common vegetable in Vietnam as the tropical climate creates favorable conditions for its growth and the veggie does not require much care. Used to be known as rustic veggie of the poor, water spinach has become an intergal ingredient in

Some Vietnamese cuisines such as sauteed garlic spinach. In the south, morning glory is often chopped into thin chips and eaten raw as salad or verved with many kinds of noodles. For most Vietnamese, water spinach is considered as important as rice in their daily meals.

Tasting Snack Foods in Hanoi

Most Hanoi lovers hope to enjoy snack foods and their most iconic wintry dishes are nem chua ran (fried fermented pork), banh mi thit xien (grilled pork with toast), or banh chuoi (fried banana cake) when winter is coming. 

The best food shop is a common thing to see formally dressed gentlemen sitting in low chairs for their breakfast bowl of pho—an interesting Hanoi eating style. But we are not talking about pho or bun cha, since these great dishes have been introduced to the world many times over. This beautiful city has a lot more to offer those who want to eat like a local.

Pieces of Nem chua are peeled from their banana leaf wrappings, skewered on bamboo, and grilled over charcoal. Customers sit on plastic chairs while eating and watch the bustle of the streets. The spicy, sour, sweet, and peppery flesh tastes especially apt in winter’s freezing air. This dish is especially popular among teenagers, who are lucky enough to remain undaunted by its somewhat oily nature.

Unique cuisines of Vietnam’s Central Highlands

The Central Highlands is the majestic highland with vast mountains and forests. It is also famous for delicious cuisines with special flavors.

Ruou can (tube wine)

Ruou can is a fermented rice wine produced in in mountainous areas like the Central Highlands or the Northwestern region. It is made of cooked glutinous rice mixed with several kinds of herbs (including leaves and roots) in the local forests. 

Tasting Banh Duc (Plain rice flan)

“Bánh đúc lạc” is the most popular in the north and it is considered one of the most rustic and simple cakes in Hanoi cuisine

It is considered one of the most rustic and simple cakes in Hanoi cuisine, but the way to serve it varies thanks to Hanoian gastronomists. “Bánh đúc lạc” is the most popular in the north.

The main ingredients are non-glutinous rice flour or corn-flour and peanut.

Enjoy Lobsters When Visiting Halong Bay

Once you reach Bai Chai City and Halong Bay, you are recommended that you take a journey down gourmet lane as you take a sample of the city’s delicious seafood selections.

When you think you have marvelled enough on the beauty of Halong Bay, then you have only satisfied one of your senses. Of course the landscape, the emerald sea, the more or less 2000 limestone karst and the beautiful junk boat cruises leave nothing but beautiful visual memories. World travellers say that if you want classical music and refined culture you go to Prague, but if you want amazing wonders of nature you go to Halong Bay. This was a fact recognized worldwide as Halong Bay was officially named one of the Seven Wonders of the World in 2012. On top of that, since 1994, the bay was already listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But do you know that the perfect Halong Bay experience of your best Vietnam tours is more than what meets your eyes?

“Pau Po Cu” Corn Cake

The special “Pau Po Cu” Corn Cake is usually made in the 4th month and the 5th month of a year (according to the Lunar Calendar). The main ingredient of this cake is corn powder. When the corns still have the milk-like taste, they are cut, put in a special machine called “Bie Zu” (Bie means machine, Zu means to grind) and grinded without water. When the grinding process is done, we add water into the powder to make a stickier mixture. Next, we put the small pieces of that mixture on banana leaves before frying them on a boiling pan. The cooked cakes are then wrapped in banana leaves. The taste of the final product is beyond any description! When eating, we can feel the smell of banana and the taste of corn, as well as the softness and stickiness of each bite.

Trang Bang Rice Paper

Trang Bang is one of the lands on which people have been residing for the longest time in Tay Ninh. Nowadays, even though the old village has turned into a busy urban area, the local inhabitants are still able to preserve the traditional cuisines, one of which is the tasty Trang Bang Rice Paper dish.

Hoi An Cuisine Culture Space

 Located on a quiet alley on Cach Mang Thang Tam Road, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An or Hoai Pho Restaurant with its space and décor reminds people of the peaceful scenery of old streets and the Hoai River running through the ancient town of Hoi An.

Hoi An is well-known for its pure beauty of an ancient and pensive town with the peaceful Hoai River. For this reason, when visiting the restaurant people will feel close and familiar with its space and architecture.

The gate at Hoi An Restaurant is similar to Ngo Mon (Moon Gate) in the Imperial Capital of Hue.