The 5 Best Dishes to Eat in Vietnam – Treat Your Taste Buds

If you want to get what Vietnamese cuisine was all about, a bowl of Mi Quang is the perfect place to start. This is the epitome of central Vietnamese food and you'll find it most prominent restaurants and resorts in the country. As with most iconic Vietnamese dishes, you'll get some perfectly-cooked noodles doused in a flavorful broth when you order a mi Guang. Pork shavings, peanuts, rice crackers, and chili are all sprinkled on top to give the dish character and flavour.

Pho is perhaps the most popular and well-known dish in Vietnam – it's practically the national dish of the country! A basic bowl comes with various cuts of beef, bean sprouts, onions, mint, and all kinds of spices mixed together in a flavourful broth. While this combination is quite delicious in its own right, certain variations of the dish add in more exotic ingredients like slices of pork belly and succulent beef tendons. Whichever version you decide to go for, your taste buds are in for quite the treat.

If you're looking for the perfect snack to enjoy as you lounge around and take it easy, muc chien is definitely the way to go. This is essentially the Vietnamese take on a classic calamari dish. Now, there's a tendency at certain restaurants to serve the whole squid – and that can make for quite the interesting dining experience. More often though, the squid is cut into easy-to-eat loops and served alongside a selection of sauces that range from spicy to sweet. Aside from its fabulous flavours, this dish is quite popular simply due to how easy it is to share.

The French were once the colonial rulers of Vietnam and their influences still linger here, even when it comes to the country's cuisine. For one, there's the banh mi which is essentially a baguette sandwich that's stuffed with succulent meats like roasted pork belly, fried fish, and poached chicken. Additional ingredients like chopped onions, chili, and mint are also included to give it added flavour. If you're planning to explore the streets of Vietnam, a banh mi will make for quite the tasty streetside snack – and you're sure to find plenty of street vendors ready to sell you one.

If you want something that's both healthy and tasty, goi cuon is the way to go here in Vietnam. These are essentially spring rolls that are encased in thin paper noodles. The filling usually consists of an array of vegetables and a choice of protein. These rolls are often served alongside a number of sauces in order to compensate for their mild flavour. To discover more great flavours of Vietnam, check out destinations sites such as the Quy Nhon Coastal Escape.