A Brief Introduction of The Bun ca (Bún Cá)

Bun ca (Bún Cá) is the favorite of many people. The ingredients comprise of snakehead fish, some herbs and rice vermicelli from Phu Do village. The snakehead fish is a good choice as the main ingredient, because of its firm, tough, sapid and not fishy taste. A fresh fish is scaled, cleaned with salt, filleted and sliced into smaller pieces before being seasoned with fish sauce, black pepper, chopped dill, crushed ginger and turmeric. When the spices have been fully absorbed, the fish is covered in rice starch then deep-fried until golden brown, crispy outside, but soft and tough inside. The fish’s spine and head are simmered thoroughly, crushed and taken out from the stock before pork ham bones are added and simmered so that the stock turns clear with a natural savoury taste of fish without smelling fishy.

The vegetables for the dish can be bean sprouts, mustard greens or celery depending on the seasons of the year. The rice vermicelli is blanched and put in a bowl. Some pieces of deep-fried fish, vegetables and herbs are placed over the rice vermicelli. The cook then adds some stock with pieces of tomato into the bowl, presenting the customer a steamy dish with a nice and attractive scent. Customers can add a few drops of kumquat or lime juice and some chilli paste to increase the sourness and spiciness before serving with such herbs as lettuce, Lang's watermint, coriander, Vietnamese balm and perilla.

In a corner of Trung Yen Alley and Dinh Liet Street, they also sell a very attractive and unforgettable dish, called "nem ca", which is pork and wood ear mushrooms rolled in fish. Together, the savoury taste of fish and the aroma from the meat create a wonderful taste.

A Brief Introduction of The Bun cha (Bún Chả)

Perhaps in any talk about Hanoi cuisine, bun cha often comes up as a favorite of many generations of the Vietnamese. The dish is simple but boasts a very special flavor that never gets boring.

The ingredients are very simple, common and easy to find, but making cha requires great meticulousness in every step, from choosing meat, rice vermicelli, accompanying herbs to making dipping sauce so that everything blends harmoniously. The pork used to make cha must contain both lean and fat in each piece so that after grilled, the meat does not turn dry or contains too much fat. The fresh meat is thoroughly seasoned with salt, onions, lime leaves, caramel sauce… and left for long enough to fully absorb the spices. Cha can be the slices of pork or pork patties. Pork belly is sliced into pieces, while the loin is minced and formed into patties. The meat is placed in a pair cooking grates and charcoal grilled on high heat, with the cooking grates flipped regularly so that the meat does not get burned. The grilled meat should have a golden brown color with darker shades on the sides, giving crispy feeling and savoury taste. The dipping sauce is made from fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, water, chopped chilies, garlic and sprinkled with some ground black pepper. The dish is served with a plate of rice vermicelli, the tangled, thinner type, which is soft and not crushed easily. Lettuce, Lang's watermint, coriander, Vietnamese balm and perilla… are washed, let dry and served. Furthermore, there may be vegetable pickled made from papayas or kohlrabies and carrots, carved, sliced thinly and marinated with vinegar, that adds more flavor to the dish.

Bun cha from Hanoi was recently voted by CNN as one of the world’s most delicious summer dishes.

A Brief Introduction of The Bun thang (Bún Thang)

Bun thang (Bún Thang) is a sophisticated dish that requires great meticulousness of the cook. Every step in making the dish from julienne ham, julienne thinly fried eggs, shredded chicken breast, to washing Vietnamese coriander, cilantro, springs onions, limes and chilies to use as spices need to be performed very carefully.

Bun thang is a light and delicious dish with eye-catching appearance and lovely colors coming from its ingredients: green from the herbs, white from the rice vermicelli, yellow from the egg, light pink from ham, red from shrimps, and red mixed with white of Chinese sausage, blending well with the clear sweet stock boasting the combination of aromas of dried shrimps, chicken and shiitake mushrooms… A little shrimp paste on the tip of a chopstick added to the stock will bring an even more impressive flavor. The most special spice that creates the distinct attractiveness of bun thang is ca cuong (lethocerus indicus) essence on the tip of a toothpick. When eating, customers use chopsticks to mix the ingredients. Trying a spoon of broth, they can taste the beautiful flavor of the dish. The steaming dish with delicious taste and colorful ingredients just gets better and more enjoyable as you eat it.

Some simple ingredients, after a skillful process of preparation, become the delicious bun thang.

A Brief Introduction of The Pig’s trotters vermicelli (Bún chân giò)

Pig’s trotters vermicelli is made from very simple ingredients: pig’s trotters or pork ribs, night-scented lilies, green papayas, tomatoes, dried garcinia cowa, scallions, turmeric and herbs. The stock is made by simmering pork and pig’s trotters or pork ribs, with the yellow color coming from fresh crushed and filtered turmeric juice. Tomatoes are cut into wedges and added to the stock, floating inside the broth pot. Night-scented lilies is washed, peeled, cleaned thoroughly with salt and blanched. Blanching night-scented lilies requires the sophistication of the cook: blanching for too long will leave the vegetable too soft, decolored and tough, consequently lessening the flavor of the dish; sufficiently blanched night-scented lilies will be green, soft and crispy. Green papayas are peeled, cut into large pieces and added to the stock to reduce the simmering time of pig’s trotters. A ham hock is fastened using a thread, boiled and cut into thin slices. The pig’s trotters turn yellow from turmeric, crispy and not too greasy.

Rice vermicelli in a bowl is topped with slices of ham hock, pork ribs, pigs’ trotters, and crispy night-scented lilies, a few slices of green papayas, watermint and scallions cut into very short strips. Finally, the savoury stock is added, covering the meat, the rice vermicelli and herbs, adding some pieces of tomato to add more color to the dish. In the winter when night-scented lilies are rare, Japanese parsley is a great alternative.

On the streets of Hanoi or in local markets, many places that serve great Pig’s trotters vermicelli can be found crowded with customers. You can look for Thai Phien street to try out the dish.

A Brief Introduction of The Bun moc (Bún Mọc)

Originated from Moc village, Nhan Chinh, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi. The ordinary name came directly from the ingredients used to make the dish – minced pork, pork paste, shiitake mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms, mixed and formed into balls called moc.

Its made by simmering pork thigh bones, producing a natural savoury taste. One of the main ingredients – pork ribs – is added to the stock to increase the taste. Moc is made from minced pork and pork paste mixed with chopped wood ear mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms and formed into firm moc balls that float on the stock pot when done. Night-scented lilies are prepared the same way as in bun bung.

Rice vermicelli (the thick type) is blanched, put into a bowl, covered with blanched night-scented lilies, some moc balls, a few pieces of pork ribs, along with the tasty stock accompanied by some pieces of tomato, and topped with short strips of spring onion and cilantro. The natural combination of rice vermicelli, pork ribs, moc, night-scented lilies, tomatoes, submerged in the hot, delicious stock, boasting the smell of shiitake mushrooms and pepper, creating the distinct feature of the dish. When eating bun moc, customers can add lime juice or chillies to taste.

Bun moc is a popular, delicious and light dish which is often a great choice for breakfast of Hanoi people.

A Brief Introduction of The Bun oc Ha Noi (Bún Ốc)

Bun oc (Bún Ốc) (“snail noodles”) has be come a familiar dish and a favorite of many people because of its unique taste and distinct attractive color that no other dish could present.

Hanoi people are in love with bun oc as a typical dish of their hometown’s character. The greasy and delicious freshwater snails are from West Lake, which taste the best in winter when they are grown enough and have a beautiful yellow color. For bun oc to taste good, everything from the freshwater snails, the spices, the herbs, to the accompanying rice vermicelli has to be chosen carefully. A good bowl of bun oc means that the stock tastes savoury but slightly sour – the sourness coming from giam bong (a type of glutinous rice vinegar), the rice vermicelli is soft but not crushed and the freshwater snails are nicely stir-fried and become soft and crunchy. The stock is made by simmering pork shank bones with the bubbles completely removed. The various seasonings added to the stock includes tomatoes, dried garciana cowa, giam bong, fat, pepper, salt, sugar, chilies…

Delicious rice vermicelli comes from Phu Do village, Nam Tu Liem district. It is thin and soft, and after soaked in the stock, is not crushed easily. Some sellers even use the rice vermicelli made from Hai Hau rice and glutinous rice for a better taste of the dish. The herbs used are lettuce, watermint, perilla, Vietnamese balm, coriander and thinly sliced banana stems. An even more special feature of the dish is the chili sauce in which the tiny chili seeds can be seen in the dark red viscous substance.

Having a hot bowl of bun oc, customers can taste the sapid stock, the soft rice vermicelli, the crunchy freshwater snails, the spicy chilies and, at the same time, the fresh herbs, which come together and create a wonderful flavor.

A Brief Introduction of The Bun dau mam tom (Bún đậu mắm tôm)

Bun dau mam tom (Bún đậu mắm tôm) is perhaps one of the most ordinary dishes of Hanoi, according to its taste and the way to serve. For a long time, Hanoi citizens have been familiar with the images of young women holding a shoulder pole and carrying a stove, a pan, rice vermicelli, vegetables, tofu, bowls and plates, spices and a dozen of plastic stools… creating a mobile food stall selling bun dau mam tom.

Many people can be seen surrounding a bun dau shoulder pole with a sizzling pan filled with greasy, spongy golden cubes of tofu. The seller, while talking with her customers, skillfully does her work, picking up tofu or vegetables with a pair of chopsticks, making shrimp paste sauce, slicing cucumbers, cutting rice vermicelli or arranging the bowls and plates… Tofu from Mo village are deep-fried until golden and spongy. Good shrimp paste is mixed with vinegar, sugar and fresh lime juice until bubbles appear, then boiling cooking oil and some slices of bird’s chili are added. The white, thin rice vermicelli from Phu Do is formed into fist-size rolls, placed on a layer of banana leaf. The cook gently cuts each roll into smaller pieces and places them in a corner of a plate, then cuts the tofu and places them beside, before completing the dish with such herbs as Vietnamese balm, Lang's watermint, coriander and perilla. Everything is presented on a flat bamboo basket and serve to customers.

Trying a piece of rice vermicelli with a cube of tofu and Vietnamese balm dipping in shrimp paste sauce, you can feel the cool rice vermicelli, the hot cube of tofu, crispy and soft at the same time, and the beautiful harmony coming from the taste of tofu, shrimp paste, lime juice, perilla and bird’s chilies.