Joanna James
Vietnamese cooking is one of the most delicious and popular cuisines that have taken hold of the gastronomic world. Delicious soups, rice-based dishes, rice paper rolls, seafood and lots of fragrant aromatics take centre stage in Viet cooking.
Dig into a delicious and crisp savoury crepe filled with shrimp, pork, and bean sprouts, garnished with plenty of aromatic herbs. To eat like the locals, divide it into portions, roll it in lettuce leaves or rice paper and dip it in the special sauce provided before popping it into your mouth.
This soup has become the poster boy for Vietnamese cooking worldwide, and it's impossible to stroll along Vietnam's main locations without running into a throng of ravenous customers devouring their delicious pho on the many makeshift stands. The soup consists of a delicately flavoured salty broth, topped with fresh rice noodles, bean sprouts, green onions, beef or chicken and herbs. Pho is an integral aspect of the local diet, as it's inexpensive, scrumptious, and available everywhere at all hours.
This is a noodle dish popular in Hoi An and uses thicker rice noodles comparable to udon noodles topped with flaky won-ton crackers, pork, and a delicious broth with plenty of herbs. The dish has a Chinese influence integrated into it, while the original Cau Lao is prepared with water from the regional Ba Le well. They believe the special mineral composition of the water adds to the overall flavour of the dish. You can take a first-class train in Vietnam when travelling to places like Hanoi; the Vietage can be a good option as well.
Fresh rice paper rolls are the perfect healthy meal or snack while in Vietnam. The rice paper wrapper gets filled with plenty of fresh vegetables, a layer of coriander, and a combination of shrimp, grilled meat, eggs, or tofu. The transparent roll is eaten traditionally with a side serving of fish sauce.
Vietnam's crunchy bite-sized spring rolls are not as popular as their fresh counterpart, but they certainly deserve a try while in Vietnam. The flaky shell is filled with cooked vegetable and meat stuffing and dipped in a zesty sauce, making it the perfect appetiser before the main course.
This delicate interpretation of the Vietnamese pancake has the usual ingredients found in Viet cooking but is smaller in size. The crunchy exterior is made using rice flour, coconut milk and tapioca powder. The stuffing usually has shrimp, spring onions, mung beans and dust of dried shrimp powder on top.
The famous Viet "egg coffee" is a drink that almost doubles as a dessert. The pale silky foam of egg white on top of the thick Vietnamese coffee can even have even non-coffee lovers drooling for another hit!
Eggplant gets chopped and cooked on a pot made of clay with fresh tomatoes, sugar, and sauce, which results in a rich umami vegetable dish. In some variations, minced meat is also added! The mixture is great with sticky rice and other side dishes.
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A travel writer who has a passion for fashion and a deep interest in admiring new and exotic attractions around the world.
