What Kind of Vietnamese Food Should I Try

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What Kind of Vietnamese Food Should I Try

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  1. Bánh xèoA crisp rice-flour crepe yellow with turmeric, stuffed with pork, prawns and bean sprouts.

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What kind of Vietnamese food should I try after pho and banh mi? Here are 105 answers: 17 noodle dishes, 22 rolls, cakes and sandwiches, 17 rice dishes, 18 plates of meat, fish, soup and salad, 31 sweets and drinks.

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North, centre and south

Phở, bún chả and bánh cuốn began in the north, where flavours are light and balanced. Huế, the old royal capital in the centre, gives bún bò Huế, bánh bèo and cơm hến. Southern food is sweeter, with more coconut milk and fresh herbs: cơm tấm, canh chua and bún thịt nướng.

What bánh means

Bánh covers cakes, pastries and bread, so the word turns up on a baguette sandwich (bánh mì), a sizzling crepe (bánh xèo), a steamed rice roll (bánh cuốn) and a crème caramel (bánh flan).

  • Nước chấm, the dipping sauce beside many of these dishes, is fish sauce with water, sugar and lime.

Questions and answers

What Vietnamese food is most popular?

Phở and bánh mì are the two that travelled furthest: after the Vietnam War, refugees and overseas Vietnamese made both popular around the world. Bánh mì as a filled sandwich took shape in Saigon in the 1950s.

Is Vietnamese food spicy?

Mostly not. Northern cooking uses black pepper more than chilies. The heat is in the centre: bún bò Huế is a spicy beef noodle soup. With phở, chilies and chili sauce are added to taste.

What is the difference between northern and southern pho?

Noodle width, the sweetness of the broth, and the herbs and sauces. Northern phở comes with scallions, onions and coriander. The southern bowl adds Thai basil and bean sprouts, with hoisin sauce to taste.

What is the difference between a spring roll and a summer roll?

A summer roll, gỏi cuốn, is fresh: pork, prawn, vegetables and rice vermicelli in rice paper, served at room temperature. A Vietnamese spring roll, chả giò, is ground meat in rice paper, deep-fried.

What do Vietnamese people eat for breakfast?

Often noodles or something steamed. Hủ tiếu is a breakfast noodle dish, bánh cuốn is generally eaten for breakfast everywhere in Vietnam, and bánh bao and bánh giò are sold as breakfast street food.

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All 105 dishes

Noodle soups and noodles 17

  • Bánh canh Thick noodles of tapioca flour, or rice and tapioca flour, as in bánh canh cua, a thick crab soup.
  • Bánh hỏi Bình Định. Very thin rice vermicelli woven into bundles, topped with scallions, eaten with meat.
  • Bún bò Huế Huế. Thick round rice noodles and sliced beef in a spicy lemongrass and shrimp paste broth.
  • Bún chả Hanoi. Grilled fatty pork with white rice noodles, herbs and a bowl of dipping sauce.
  • Bún chả cá South Central Coast. Rice vermicelli soup with fried fishcake.
  • Bún mắm Mekong Delta. Rice vermicelli soup with a broth made from fermented fish.
  • Bún ốc Hanoi. Rice vermicelli soup with snails.
  • Bún riêu Red River Delta. Rice vermicelli soup with a broth of tomato and crab.
  • Bún thang Hanoi. Rice vermicelli in broth with shredded chicken, thin fried egg and sliced pork roll.
  • Bún thịt nướng Southern Vietnam. Cold rice noodles topped with grilled pork, herbs and roasted peanuts.
  • Bún đậu mắm tôm Northern Vietnam. Pressed rice vermicelli with fried tofu, served with shrimp paste.
  • Cao lầu Hội An. Pork and greens on rice noodles made from rice that was soaked in lye water.
  • Hủ tiếu Southern Vietnam. Rice noodles in a pork bone broth, or dry with no broth. A breakfast dish.
  • Mì Quảng Quảng Nam. Wide rice noodles in very little broth with pork, shrimp, peanuts and rice crackers.
  • Mì xào giòn Egg noodles, deep-fried, with seafood, vegetables and a sauce on top.
  • Phở Northern Vietnam. Flat rice noodles in a clear broth with herbs and beef or chicken.
  • Phở cuốn Hanoi. The ingredients of phở wrapped in sheets of fresh rice noodle.

Rolls, cakes and sandwiches 22

  • Bánh bao A ball-shaped bun filled with pork or chicken, egg and mushrooms, brought by Chinese immigrants.
  • Bánh bèo Huế. Small steamed savoury rice cakes.
  • Bánh bột chiên Southern Vietnam. Cubes of rice flour cake fried with egg, with a tangy soy sauce on the side.
  • Bánh bột lọc Huế. Small, clear, chewy tapioca dumplings filled with shrimp and pork belly.
  • Bánh căn Small rice flour cakes cooked in a pan of round moulds, topped with shrimp, pork or egg.
  • Bánh cuốn Northern Vietnam. A thin steamed rice sheet filled with ground pork, wood ear mushroom and shallots.
  • Bánh giò A steamed pyramid of rice flour dough around ground pork, wood ear mushrooms and onions.
  • Bánh gối A deep-fried dumpling of ground meat, mushrooms, vermicelli and vegetables. Gối means pillow.
  • Bánh khọt Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu. Small fried rice flour pancakes, a speciality of the south.
  • Bánh khúc Northern Vietnam. A ball of sticky rice with fatty pork and mung bean inside.
  • Bánh mì A short, crisp baguette filled with meat, pâté, cucumber, coriander and pickled carrot and daikon.
  • Bánh nậm Huế. A flat rice flour dumpling with minced pork and mushroom, wrapped in a banana leaf.
  • Bánh tôm Hanoi. Shrimp patties, a speciality that began around West Lake.
  • Bánh tráng nướng Rice paper grilled with toppings, a street food popular in Đà Lạt and Ho Chi Minh City.
  • Bánh tráng trộn Rice paper salad: strips of rice paper mixed with seasonings. It began as a snack for students.
  • Bánh ướt The plain steamed rice sheet, served with bean sprouts, herbs, fried shallots and fish sauce.
  • Bánh xèo A crisp rice-flour crepe yellow with turmeric, stuffed with pork, prawns and bean sprouts.
  • Bánh đúc A soft cake of rice or corn flour: white in the north, green in the south.
  • Bò bía A fresh roll in a thin wheat-flour crepe: the Vietnamese popiah, brought by Teochew immigrants.
  • Chả giò Fried spring rolls, also called nem rán: ground meat, usually pork, in rice paper, deep-fried.
  • Gỏi cuốn Fresh rolls of pork, prawn, vegetables and rice vermicelli in rice paper. Not fried.
  • Pâté chaud Patê sô: a flaky puff pastry pie with a ground pork filling, French in origin.

Rice, sticky rice and porridge 17

  • Bánh chưng Northern Vietnam. A square leaf-wrapped cake of sticky rice, mung beans and pork, made for Tết.
  • Bánh giầy Northern Vietnam. A white, flat, round sticky rice cake, usually served with pork sausage.
  • Bánh tét Southern Vietnam. A log of sticky rice with mung bean and pork, boiled in a banana leaf, then sliced.
  • Cháo Rice porridge. Cháo gà is cooked with chicken, garlic and ginger.
  • Cốm Red River Delta. Young green rice, roasted and pounded flat, a food of autumn.
  • Cơm cháy Ninh Bình and Hải Phòng. The crisp golden rice from the bottom of the pot, dried in the sun.
  • Cơm chiên Fried rice with eggs, vegetables and meat.
  • Cơm gà Quảng Nam Quảng Nam. Boiled chicken on rice, with chicken broth sprinkled over it.
  • Cơm hến Huế. Rice with baby clams, peanuts, pork rinds and shrimp paste, served with the clam broth.
  • Cơm lam Northwest mountains. Sticky rice cooked inside a bamboo tube over a fire.
  • Cơm nắm Northern Vietnam. Rice shaped into a roll, made to carry on a journey.
  • Cơm tấm Saigon. Broken rice with a grilled pork chop, steamed pork loaf and shredded pork skin.
  • Xôi Sticky rice, sweet or savoury, cooked with other ingredients.
  • Xôi gà Sticky rice cooked with coconut milk, served with shredded boiled or roasted chicken.
  • Xôi gấc Sticky rice cooked with gấc fruit, which turns it bright red.
  • Xôi ngũ sắc Northwest. Sticky rice in five colours, dyed with leaves.
  • Xôi xéo Hanoi. Sticky rice served with mashed mung beans and fried onions.

Meat, fish, soups and salads 18

  • Bò 7 món Saigon. A set meal of seven courses of beef.
  • Bò kho Beef and carrots stewed with tomato, lemongrass and star anise, eaten with noodles or a baguette.
  • Bò lúc lắc Shaking beef: cubes of beef sautéed with onion and bell pepper, served on lettuce or watercress.
  • Bò nướng lá lốt Beef wrapped in lolot leaves and grilled, often topped with crushed peanuts.
  • Cá kho tộ Catfish or snakehead fish braised in a clay pot, believed to come from the Mekong Delta.
  • Cà ri gà Chicken curry, eaten with bread, rice or rice noodles. Common in the centre and south.
  • Canh chua Mekong Delta. Sour soup of fish, pineapple, tomatoes and bean sprouts in a tamarind broth.
  • Chả cá Lã Vọng Hanoi. Fish marinated with turmeric and galangal, grilled, then served in a hot pan with dill.
  • Chả lụa Pork sausage steamed in a wrapping of banana leaves. Called giò lụa in Hanoi.
  • Chạo tôm Huế. Shrimp paste grilled on a stick of sugar cane.
  • Gà nướng sả Chicken grilled with lemongrass.
  • Khổ qua nhồi thịt Bitter gourd stuffed with meat and cooked in bone broth.
  • Lẩu Hot pot. Styles include seafood, a sour soup base and salted fish.
  • Nem nướng Khánh Hòa. Grilled pork sausage, eaten with rice paper, herbs and vegetables.
  • Nộm Called gỏi in the south: a salad of vegetables such as papaya or cabbage, often with meat and peanuts.
  • Rau muống xào Water spinach stir-fried and seasoned with fish sauce or oyster sauce.
  • Súp măng cua Asparagus and crab soup.
  • Thịt kho tàu Pieces of pork braised with boiled eggs in coconut juice: an everyday dish that is also made for Tết.

Sweets and drinks 31

  • Bánh bò A sweet, chewy sponge cake of rice flour and coconut milk, like a honeycomb inside.
  • Bánh cam Southern Vietnam. Deep-fried sticky rice sesame balls filled with sweet mung bean paste.
  • Bánh chuối A sweet banana cake or bread pudding with coconut milk, baked or steamed.
  • Bánh cốm Hanoi. Green rice cake wrapped around a sweet mung bean paste.
  • Bánh da lợn Southern Vietnam. A soft steamed layer cake of tapioca starch, rice flour and coconut milk.
  • Bánh flan Crème caramel, introduced by the French. One version has black coffee poured on top.
  • Bánh kẹp lá dứa A pandan and coconut flavoured waffle, eaten plain.
  • Bánh khoai mì A cake of grated cassava, sugar and coconut milk, usually baked.
  • Bánh phu thê Husband and wife cake: tapioca flour with a mung bean filling in a pandan leaf box, for weddings.
  • Bánh pía Sóc Trăng. A Teochew-style pastry; fillings include durian, salted egg yolk and mung bean paste.
  • Bánh rán Northern Vietnam. Fried sticky rice balls whose mung bean filling rattles inside the shell.
  • Bánh tiêu Hollow fried doughnuts, sometimes coated with sesame seeds.
  • Bánh đậu xanh Hải Dương. A sweet made of mung bean, sugar and fat.
  • Cà phê sữa đá Iced coffee: dark-roast coffee dripped through a metal filter onto condensed milk, poured over ice.
  • Cà phê trứng Hanoi. Egg coffee: coffee with a cream of egg yolks beaten with sugar and condensed milk.
  • Chanh muối Salty limeade: a piece of salt-pickled lime crushed in a glass with sugar and water or soda.
  • Chè Sweet soups and puddings made with beans, tapioca, jelly, fruit and coconut cream.
  • Chè bánh lọt Green rice flour jelly strands with coconut milk, shaved ice and palm sugar.
  • Chè chuối Banana and tapioca pudding.
  • Chè trôi nước Sticky rice balls filled with mung bean paste, in a sweet syrup with ginger.
  • Chuối chiên Battered and fried banana.
  • Kẹo dừa Bến Tre. Coconut candy, made from the milk and cream of coconuts.
  • Mè xửng Huế. A chewy candy of boiled cane sugar, coated in sesame seeds, usually with peanuts.
  • Nước mía Sugarcane juice, which often has kumquat juice mixed in.
  • Rau má Juice of pennywort, served iced and often sweetened.
  • Sâm bổ lượng Saigon. A sweet, cold soup with pearl barley, dried longans, red jujubes and lotus seeds.
  • Soda sữa hột gà Egg soda: soda with egg, milk and sugar, served iced.
  • Sữa chua Yogurt made with condensed milk, eaten as a dessert.
  • Sương sáo Grass jelly: a mild, slightly bitter jelly, served chilled.
  • Tào phớ Soft tofu pudding. In the north it is served in sugar water scented with jasmine.
  • Trà sen Lotus tea: green tea scented with lotus flowers.