Bún, popularly translated as ‘rice noodles’, is a staple of Vietnamese cuisine and one of the most popular noodles, used for preparing a plethora of delicious and exotic dishes, some good and some, well, exotic.

Bún chả (bún with grilled pork), bún thịt nướng (bún with grilled meat), bún đậu mắm tôm (bún with tofu and shrimp sauce), bún thang (bun with chicken, sliced fried egg and pork) and bún ốc (bún with snail) can all be consumed at dusty meal vendors around the city but which one is the best?

To answer this question it is imperative to investigate with your nose, mouth and mind. First of all, you can’t just choose any bún chả or bún thịt nướng place willy-nilly. You must do some research, either with your own palate, which can be fun, time-consuming and occasionally disappointing or you can ask a local to tell you what street or area makes the best particular bún dish you are coveting.

Most people agree on these areas in general but are quick to point out that there are many places where you can find delicious bún dishes outside their famous locations. Only once you have tried several of these bún dishes at their most pristine locations can you properly answer the question, “how do you like your bún?”

More often than not the answer is bún chả, especially if you are asking an Ex-Pat, tourist or western student in Hanoi. Why? Simply because it is preposterously delicious and ultimately and because it agrees with even the most picky of Westerner palates.

Bún chả is a paragon of noodle deconstruction; it is served on two separate plates and one bowl, all celebrating powerfully simple flavors, and is consumed by combining the three in accordance with your preferred taste. The first plate consists of the obligatory Vietnamese mound of herbs, the second plate is piled with pristine white bún noodles and the bowl is full of a steamy sweet broth, sliced carrots and susu, and grilled pork.

While the herbs and bún play integral parts in this dish, it is the grilled pork that makes this dish a dynasty. The pork is seasoned with a secret family recipe then placed into a flat metal cage, which is turned over a charcoal fire until the pork is cooked.

The grills used to cook the chả are sustained by small fans that simultaneously function as homing beacons, blowing the delicious smell of grilled cha into the streets and up the nostrils of passing motorists. When you get a good whiff of bun cha, it is hard to keep driving.

Once all three pieces of the bun cha puzzle are in front of you, it is high time to consume the traditional Hanoian dish, this is obviously the best part. Everyone eats their bún cha a little differently but the general approach is to place a chopstick full of bun noodles into the broth, gather a piece of meat and some veggies and lift the delectable morsel into your watering mouth, chew, swallow and repeat.

To alter the taste of your bites, many people add their own combination of herbs, either by placing them directly in the broth or by eating them prior to any given bite. Yum! For an added bonus, order some nem rán hải sản (fried sea food springrolls) and dip them in the broth, which doubles as nem rán dipping sauce.

Phở might be the most famous dish of Vietnam but there is nothing that screams Hanoi louder than bún chả. A trip to Hanoi without at least one sampling of bún chả is like a trip to Paris sans the Eiffel Tour but make sure to seek your bún chả fix in the afternoon because it is strictly a lunch dish (although you can occasionally find it at night).

Because it is a traditional Hanoian dish, bún chả can be found all over the city. Many places around the city boast the best bún chả and because the dish is so popular many of these places concoct rather tasty bún chả to back up their claims.

However, if you are a true foodie, interested in the best bún chả in Hanoi, head to Le Van Huu, off Hue Street by Cho Hom market, and follow your nose. I promise that you will not be disappointed.


Randolph Lovelace

Source VOV

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Bun Bo Hue Dong Ba is the perfect place for a meal before or after (or during) a concert at the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music right next door.

The restaurant has the name of Dong Ba, a famous market in Hue where delicious traditional snacks have been served for decades.

Bun Bo Hue (a beef noodle soup that is one of the most famous of Hue's classic dishes) is the restaurant's specialty.

The soup fills the air with the uplifting fragrance of boiled lemon grass, a natural herb that helps fight colds, fevers, and the flu.

But as this is not Central Vietnam, the Bun Bo Hue served at Dong Ba is not spicy at all. Here, the sliced chilies and lemons are on a condiments tray at the table for the customer to use at their own discretion.

Food from central Vietnam is always spicer than in the south.

A bowl of Bun Bo Hue (a large for VND40,000 and small for VND30,000) includes thin-sliced boiled beef, a small round piece of shrimp pie and long piece of rich and flavorful pork pie.

The ingredients are arranged in a bowl on top of white noodle in delicious brown-red soup made from cow bone and lemon grass. There are also spring onions and sliced onions dashed across the top.

But the most important ingredient is the Mam ruoc, a fermented fish sauce cooked into the broth that gives the soup its pungency.

Each bowl of Bun Bo Hue is served with a dish of herbs and thin sliced morning glory and banana flower. You can have it served freshly to enjoy the crunchy taste or you could ask the waiter to boil the herbs and to have a softer taste.

The restaurant also serves Banh Canh ca loc cha cua (Banh Canh noodles with Loc fish and field crab pie) and different kinds of Hue rice cakes including Banh Beo, Banh Nam, Banh Loc, and Banh It (VND38,000 for a large order and VND28,000 for a small).

Some special drinks such as seaweed juice and Rau Ma (Pennywort, which help to cool down the body), as well as coconut, passion fruit and pineapplejuice are also available.

Sometimes the service is slow, but the restaurant is always crowded because the Bun Bo Hue is so good.


By Tina Pham

Source Thanh Nien News

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French cuisine seems very popular in Ho Chi Minh City judging from the many restaurants that are constantly springing up.

But to enjoy authentic French food in a luxurious setting, gourmets should look no further than L'Olivier Restaurant at the Sofitel Plaza Saigon Hotel, District 1, which deservedly enjoys the reputation of being among the best in town.

L'Olivier has rustic limestone walls, a modern lighting system, and, redolent of southern France and the Mediterranean many trees, some as tall as three meters.

The restaurant is divided into four parts: the main dining area, a terrace for those who enjoy eating outdoors, a spacious and well-lit garden, and two private dining areas for business meetings and family get-togethers.

À la carte menu at L’Olivier
The restaurant has brought together many outstanding chefs from Europe, especially France, including executive chef Tjaco van Eijken, who has been working in the food industry for more than 18 years.

He began as a junior sous chef at the 2-Michelin-star “La Rive” Restaurant in the Netherlands. Then, he joined Sofitel Demeure Hotel Castille in Paris where he became chef de cuisine at its Michelin-star fine dining restaurant Il Cortile.

After that he was executive chef for the Hotel InterContinental in Hongkong and the Sofitel Brussels Le Louise. After discovering an interest in Asian cuisine, he found Vietnam to be the place to undertake his new culinary adventure.

At L'Olivier he has designed a new à la carte menu with a Mediterranean touch featuring a selection of dishes to accommodate both the fast-paced business crowd and relaxed leisure guests.

The menu consists of authentic Mediterranean cuisines such as French, Italian, Spanish, and Moroccan.

It features starters like ravioli of crab and arugula, crispy vegetables, mixed herbs; custard of Parisian mushrooms served with watercress jus; and fried frog legs with snail butter. Then there is the irresistible roasted green asparagus with aged Parmesan cheese and balsamic reduction, supposed to be a delicacy in the new menu.

For the main course, the chef offers many different dishes to please all palates - such as tajine of poultry, green olives and lemon confit with couscous garnish from Morocco and roasted fillet of veal with creamy bacon, porcini, and potato gnocchi from Italy. The slow-cooked beef cheek, Provencal jus, and waffle potatoes comes highly recommended.

Last but not least is the array of mouth-watering desserts like cheeses, fruits, and chocolates. Customers are recommended to try some signature dishes such as exotic fruit with shiso jelly, yoghurt waffle potatoes sorbet, and crispy mango; and caramelized raspberries and strawberries, white chocolate dome, and orange sorbet.

L’Olivier serves the à la carte menu for business set lunch and dinner daily. Lunch is between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. and dinner is from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

It has had more than 12 Michelin Star chefs so far, including Jean-Baptiste Natali from Hostellerie de la Montagne Restaurant in Colombey les deux Eglises (Champagne), Ulrich Heimann from Le Ciel in Berchtesgaden (Germany), and, most recently, Gilles Reinhardt from Maison Paul Bocuse in Collonges (Lyon).

By Nguyet Anh, 

Thanh Nien News

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Mai Xuan Canh restaurant is the place for southerners to try northern chicken.

The eatery on Nguyen Du street in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 offers several northern chicken specialties that come in the form of salads, stir-fries, sticky rice and porridge. The grilled chicken hearts are also popular, but most especially and famously, its the Mien Ga, a mean chicken noodle soup, that gives the place its reputation.

Mai Xuan Canh has a view of the city's famous Notre Dame Cathedral across from shady Nguyen Du, which is kept a tad cooler and prettier by the tamarind tress lining the sidewalk.

Nostalgia is not lost here, with old green steel doors leftover by the French serving as the restaurant's main gate.

There are also some tables on the outside, a perfect place to catch the afternoon breeze beneath the trees and watch the city pass by.

Street hawkers sell snacks from baskets hanging from bamboo poles and a little fruit, boiled peanuts or quail eggs do not make bad appetizers.

Besides the restaurant's featured grilled chicken dishes, chicken soups and salads are 10 kinds of different snail dishes.

The most popular dishes in the heat of the summer are Mien Ga, which runs from VND40,000 to VND70,000 depending on which part of the chicken they mix with the broth and thin clear cassava noodles.

Mien Ga always reminds me of Tet (Lunar New Year), when people get fed-up with pork dishes. A bowl of Mien Ga offers something light, fresh and healthy to keep warm during the cold spring days.

The dish has a delicious brown yellow soup with transparent grey Mien noodles. On top, the scents of brown-yellow shredded Mang Kho (young bamboo shoot) and spring onions mix with the unique fragrance of the herb Rau Mui.

As Mien is very fragile and small, the dish is served hot (if you leave it for too long the Mien will become too soft).

Around us people were having chicken legs and roasted chicken.
Mai Xuan Canh also serves grilled chicken skin (VND75,000), duck tongue (140,000-small dish and VND280,000-big dish), grilled chicken neck (VND25,000 for one neck) and chicken heart (VND50,000 for 10 hearts).

By To Van Nga

Source Thanh Nien News

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During the gloom of early rainy season, sipping bitter coffee and admiring the raindrops in a peaceful space as the classic melodies play out, the rich come to celebrate life, the poor dream of changing their destiny, with the crime and horrid pollution in the city a mere dream as you relax in comfort. This is Sen Cafe in Binh Thanh District.

The decor is traditional style mixed with modern design but it is cozy and peaceful with its wooden windows, wooden table sets, red-tiled walls, bamboo clusters, devil’s ivy lianas, old ceramic vases and retro lamps hanging around blending in with the base color of brown.

We must also mention a small lotus pond where guests can admire the beauty of the national flower. Many rocks are arranged together like installation artworks studded small stream, with the pond under the shade of some willow trees and lotus flowers.

Sen Cafe is also home to flowers such as orchids, daisy, cockscomb scattered around the venue. The soothing music is also another pleasure for guests there with piano or guitar melodies, letting guests chill out.

The cafe serves fruit juices, smoothies, tea, and coffee from the three regions, with Western and Asian dishes. Sen Cafe is at 6/1 Nguyen Huy Tuong Street.



By My Tran
Source The Saigon Times.vn

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Some expats living in Vietnam confessed that they have tried strange local dishes and gradually fell in love with the flavors. After all, sampling new dishes is a way to understand the customs and traditions of the country in which they are living. Here are the stories of five expats in Hanoi who have strong stomachs and have tried several strange dishes that the even locals fear to eat.

Self-cooked dog meat
Sean Cogills still remembers the first time he tried dog meat: it was not at a restaurant but at home prepared by himself.

Waking up after his 23rd birthday, Sean wandered around a market on Bach Dang Street and came across a dog meat stall. Curious, he asked to buy a block of meat for VND50,000 (US$2.5). He even remembered to get some vermicelli to complete the dish.

At home, Dale started to boil the meat and used the spices available . Unexpectedly, the broth turned out to have a strange green color and stinky smell!

“I brought a dish of dog meat out to eat at the balcony. I thought I would think a lot about the dog I used to play with during my childhood back in Ireland. But no, I was still busy vomiting as my home-cooked dish was so disgusting,” said Sean.

After that failed culinary trial, Sean had a second chance to try the dog dish in a restaurant and loved the flavors.

“It is like pork but chewier. Although not a daily dish, it is something to try. As people often say ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’,” Sean said.

Feeling a heartbeat in the throat
“The heart thumps, and gets stuck in my throat for a while before I wash it down with some strong wine,” recalled Luke Poulson, about eating a famous snake dish from Le Mat village.

This English DJ, who has lived in Vietnam for two years, has no better word to describe the dish than ‘bizarre’.

However, he still loves snake meat, which he finds tastier than chicken or pork, thanks to its strong flavor. Another of Luke’s favorites is pork intestines, which are similar to the pork sausages he often has back his hometown in northern England.

Luke finds Vietnamese cuisine surprisingly creative, while most of the food in England or European countries is processed and canned.

“In England, even the chicken does not look like a chicken as it has lost its head!” he said.

Blood flavored soup
“The first time I swallowed a spoon of tiet canh (raw blood soup), I felt like I was licking blood off my face after being beaten,” said Michael Vong, a Malaysian businessman.

That was his initial feeling after being taken to eat the special dish for the first time. Gradually, however, Michael started to like the flavors of the soup when served with herbs and peanuts.

He reveals he spots a good street food stall by checking the crowd. The more packed it is, the tastier the food it serves. Many Vietnamese friends also complimented Michael on his good culinary knowledge, some even said he has become more local than them.

But Michael says he was recently advised not to eat his favorite soup dish by his wife, who believed it would make him more violent.

“My wife probably just watches too much Twilight,” he said.

You are what you eat
Having lived in Vietnam for 5 years, Australian Malcolm Duckett is a fan of street food. He is averse to western food like KFC, and McDonalds and has a fear that his favorite street food stalls will have to make way for these big franchises in the near future.

Malcolm finds the most delicious Vietnamese dishes on the street rather than in restaurants. He explains that each stall only serves one dish like sticky rice, escargot or rice porridge and the seller, also the cook, has become a master of that dish.

Malcolm says he likes the Vietnamese conception of ‘You are what you eat’.

“My girlfriend is a dancer and she loves grilled chicken legs. Maybe eating rice porridge made from innards will help my stomach get better,” reasoned Malcolm.

Pork kidneys are soft and sweet
Although animal intestines are inedible in the US, Dale Watkins fell in love with the Phnom Penh noodle and kidney soup at first bite.

“The pork kidney has a very special taste, which is soft and sweet. The noodles are chewy. I love to eat to soup with spicy satay,” said Dale.

Dale used to take his foreign friends to try this dish without revealing to them what was inside. They all loved the soup even though they later found out they had tried pork innards.

After three years of living in Vietnam, Dale finds the Vietnamese proudest of their traditional dishes than any other nationals.

“Any Vietnamese meeting me for the first time ask what dishes I have tried,” said Dale.

“People here identify themselves with a special dish of their hometown. It is a remarkable part in your culture.”

Source Tuoi Tre News

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