Arm yourself with this mini Vietnamese to English Food Dictionary before stepping into any Vietnamese restaurant. Save the site or download the PDF.
When it comes to food, Hue is the place to be in Vietnam. 150 years of being the imperial capital left the city with an impressive list of specialty dishes.
Vietnam loves herbs. It’s a big part of the reason why Vietnamese food is so good. This guide will help you make the most out of the Vietnamese’s favourite flavour enhancers.
Chunks of pork belly are marinated with herbs and spices then grilled over an open flame. This salty meat can be eaten with a side of rice, or as an appetizer along with some cold beers and cheerful friends.
A dough that's steamed while packed with a savoury filling -- usually pork, but sometimes a combination of chicken, onions, eggs, and vegetables are included.
Small circular blobs of steamed rice flour are used to hold ground shrimp or pork, along with some complimentary ingredients like scallions, mung bean paste, cucumber, pickled daikon and carrot, toasted bread crumbs, or small pork crackling bits. They are usually dipped or covered in sweet fish sauce with chili.
Introduced by the French, bánh bông lan is now a popular dessert or snack that can be found in most Vietnamese bakeries. There are many Vietnamese varieties that will surprise you (and probably won't sound too tasty), have a look at the profile and see which ones sound the most delicious to you.
A fried doughnut type pastry filled with sweet mung bean. It's called orange cake because of its resemblance not taste (there is no orange in it).
The noodles in this soup are made from tapioca flour, or sometimes a combination of tapioca and rice flour. The ingredients in the soup can vary, but the thick glutinous noodles are what make this soup different from any of the other Vietnamese soups.
A light clear broth with slices of fish cake and tapioca flour noodles. Bánh, which means cake, actually refers to the thick noodles, not the fish cake.
One of my favourite desserts period. Deep fried bananas are crispy, gooey, and oh so good.
Steamed rice noodle is rolled up with wood mushrooms and ground pork. Served with a sweet sauce and herbs.
A combo of pork, chicken, egg, and whatever else is floating around the fridge. This light, slightly sweet broth is soaked up with vermicelli noodles and a variety of vegetables. Traditionaly, it's eaten during Tet, but don't worry, nowadays a tasty bowl can be found all year round.
Before there was banh xeo, an emporer in Hue's Forbidden City was eating one of these delicious pork and shrimp filled pancakes. They're similar to the more popular and larger banh xeo, but in many ways they're quite different.
A batter is made from rice flour and coconut milk then fried up in a special pan. The mini pancakes are topped with shrimp, mung bean, scallions, garlic, and cilantro. They'll come on a plate along with a pile of herbs. Wrap a selection of greens and the pancakes in a leaf of lettuce then dip in the sweetened fish sauce.
Canned sardines in tomato sauce are heated up in a frying pan and spread on a fresh baguette with cilantro, pickled carrot and daikon, and cucumber. It's a very tasty sandwich that melts in your mouth. Just look for a banh mi stand with a pile of small cans with a picture of a fish on them.
Beef is steamed in a banana leaf then sliced and added to this sandwich with a plethora of delicious flavours including: pickled carrot and daikon, cilantro, cucumber, chilli peppers, mayo, and more.
Vietnamese ham is a very popular thing to add to banh mi. This sandwich focuses on it, and adds some herbs, pork fat, condiments, and veggies to balance it all out.
Doner Kebab can hardly be called Vietnamese food. It originated in Turkey, but the Vietnamese have adapted it -- pork is used instead of beef or lamb, it's served on a Vietnamese style baguette instead of flat bread, and pickled carrot and daikon provides a sourness that you don't get with traditional doner kebab.
One of the more popular types of banh mi, pork is roasted and shaved to be the highlight of this delicious sandwich. Along with the flavourful pork, you'll find typical banh mi toppings like: cucumber, pickled carrot and daikon, chilli peppers, Chinese chives, cilantro, mayo, hot sauce, and sometimes pate.
For a quick breakfast, stop at a banh mi stand and pick up one of these sandwiches. The bread is fresh and crusty, the egg is fried up on the spot, and the rest of banh mi's fillings come together perfectly.
Bánh pía, or bánh bía consists of a flaky crust filled with sweetened mung bean paste, durian, and sometimes shredded lard, salted egg yolk, or coconut.