A woman who closed her restaurant and moved back to the sidewalk says customers are willing to wait for fresh steamed and boiled sentinel crabs brought from Nam Dinh. Crab vendor grabs a winning spot on Hanoi sidewalk Crab vendor grabs a winning spot on Hanoi sidewalk
One of the ways in which the central town of Hue has held on to its former imperial glory is its cuisine with some royal touches. Here are five appetizing nighttime treats for all visitors to Hue, particularly the thousands expected to participate or attend the VnExpress Marathon Imperial Hue 2022 on April 10.
The event coincides with the Hung Kings Commemoration Day, a national holiday.
Trang Tien banh mi
Locals will invariably recommend the Trang Tien banh mi as the one dish you just have to try at night in Hue. Near the Truong Tien (Trang Tien) Bridge over the iconic Huong (Perfume) River at the intersection of Le Loi and Hung Vuong Street, there are many popular banh mi stalls that serve what locals call the Trang Tien banh mi, a version of the baguette sandwich that has catapulted to international fame in recent years.
A banh mi stall near Truong Tien Bridge in Hue. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Tran
Visitors can choose from a wide range of stuffing including Vietnamese pork roll, o..
Hanoi’s sidewalks lure people out on to the streets even when the weather gets cold with a wide range of culinary delights from hot porridge to crispy banana fries. Banh ran man (salty glutinous rice doughnuts) is a mixture of vermicelli, minced meat, veggies, salt, wood-ear mushrooms, pepper and prawn. The doughnuts are fried four to five times in different pans to make the crust particularly crunchy. They taste best when they are piping hot because they become a little bit hard when they cool down. One of the most famous addresses for this dish is a stall located in alley 242 off Lac Long Quan Street.
Normally, the salty version is served with sour and sweet chili sauce along with sliced papaya or radish. Unlike other kinds that use minced pork in their stuffing, the stall off Lạc Long Quan Street serves the dish with boiled sliced pork, giving it a clearer taste and flavor. A doughnut costs VND9,000 ($0.40) each.
Pork rib congee is a year-round favorite of Hanoi foodies, but on ch..
Goi cuon, or summer rolls, served at a market in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Ma Lum Hong Kong-based World Records Association (WRA) has recently acknowledged five culinary records set by Vietnam, the Vietnamese record organization VietKings announced. The country has the largest number of 'strand and broth' dishes in the world and the most kinds of mam (fermented seafood) dishes with unique flavors in the world, WRA stated last month.
Vietnam also has the world's most dishes made from flowers; boasts the most kinds of special rolls and dishes made from rice flour.
These five world records of Vietnam had been recognized by World Records Union (WorldKings), the first union of national and regional records organizations in the world, in late 2020.
This is the first time Vietnam has had five culinary records granted by two world organizations, VietKings noted.
VietKings also revealed it is finalizing a dossier to nominate six new culinary records to WorldKings and W..
After HCMC eased Covid restrictions, queues have formed every afternoon in front of a famous banh mi shop in District 1. A long line of customers and shippers wait their turn in front of the Huynh Hoa stall on Le Thi Rieng Street in District 1, which has been operating for over 30 years.
Nguyen Quang Huy, 37, the owner, said the shop has been as crowded as before the pandemic since the city eased social distancing measures.
The banh mi here is among the most expensive in the city at VND58,000 ($2.54), but still has loyal customers for its layers of meat, cold cuts and generous sprinkling of pork floss. Some also love its unique mayonnaise mix.
Before the pandemic, a banh mi here cost VND48,000.
Each loaf weighs about 400 grams, filled with four to six different kinds of meats, pork floss, pate, butter, cucumber, daikon and carrot pickle, cilantro and chili. According to the shop owner, all the fillings are homemade based on their own recipe, so they have a unique flavor that has attr..
Me Tri Village in Hanoi has preserved its traditional vocation of making beaten green rice called 'com', a distinct autumn specialty, for more than a century.
A sweet soup stall vendor in HCMC’s iconic Ben Thanh Market is happy about reopening despite business having plunged as a result of Covid-19 impacts. The Ben Thanh Market, popular among both locals and foreign visitors, reopened October 3 after three months of closure, allowing its food court to resume business providing takeaways. Trinh owns a che (sweet soup) stall called Be Che that has been operating in the market for more than 50 years. She said she felt happy and relieved to be back in business.
“I find happiness when I am at the market. For now, I don’t care about profit though my business has gone down because of the pandemic.”
Before the pandemic, her stall was always crowded, especially at lunchtime. The stall had seven employees then, but now, she has to make do with just three or four. Now, she sells 30 to 50 servings of che on average a day, just 40 percent of her pre-pandemic sales.
The stall serves both hot and cold desserts with different ingredients including rice ba..
A loaf of bread filled with pork slices and herbs in HCMC. Photo by VnExpress/Thien Chuong Vietnam will compete with 15 other rivals for the world’s leading culinary destination title at 2021 World Travel Awards. The other nominees are Australia, China, Colombia, France, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Thailand and the U.S.
The winner will be determined by votes from travelers around the world on the awards website, with the ceremony to be held Nov. 26 in Russia.
World Travel Awards, launched in 1993, acknowledges excellence in the travel and tourism industry, and are described as the “travel industry's equivalent of the Oscars.”
Last year, Vietnam was voted Asia’s leading culinary destination.
Vietnamese cuisine has become better known in the world over the past few years, with international chefs and prestigious food magazines praising several national dishes.
Some of the dishes found on street corners here have made it to all corners of the world,..
Two cups of iced black coffee (L) and iced coffee with condensed milk at a shop on Phan Dinh Phung Street in HCMC. Photo by VnExpress/Di Vy Ho Chi Minh City ranked seventh among the 10 most favored destinations for coffee aficionados in the world endorsed by global travelers, according to online travel agency Booking.com. “Ho Chi Minh City is home to upscale coffee shops and many more traditional spots where locals and tourists can sit on plastic stools that line the streets enjoying ca phe sua da, a ground dark roast Vietnamese-grown coffee often served over ice with condensed milk,” the U.S-based Booking.com stated.
The online travel agency highlighted Vietnam’s rich and varied coffee culture, with many areas coining their own delicacies including ca phe trung, or egg coffee.
Egg coffee was invented in the 1940s when there was a scarcity of milk in the city, prompting a bartender to use a replacement. The alternative, whisked egg yolk, turned the coffee into one of the most renowned..
A banh tam bi (thick noodles with coconut cream) shoulder-pole vendor in An Giang Province has survived for the past 20 years thanks to word of mouth. Banh tam bi is often regarded as a popular street food dish in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam's rice basket, because of its delicious and appealing taste. On a tour of An Giang that borders Cambodia, don't forget to visit the shoulder-pole vendor near Long Hung crossroads in Tan Chau Town, going strong for more than two decades.
Banh tam noodles are different across the Mekong Delta, depending on the type of rice available in the area and the noodle-making process. No one knows the exact origin of the dish but many people in the delta believe it originated from Bac Lieu Province.
Its main ingredients are thick noodles made of rice and tapioca flour, shredded pork skin (bi), herbs, coconut cream and sweet fish sauce.
The protein component of the dish is a mix of lean pork sliced into thin strips, shredded pig skin (bi) and thinh, a..