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What to Eat in Da Nang, Hoi An and Hue
What is actually in each dish, how it differs from the version sold elsewhere, and when to eat it.
This page is translated from Vietnamese. Prices and opening hours are checked against Vietnamese sources — see the Vietnamese version for the most recent update.
Food
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Banh Trang Cuon Thit Heo — the Dish to Eat in Da Nang Double-skinned pork, a dozen kinds of herb, dew-dried rice paper — but what decides everything is still the bowl of fermented anchovy sauce. -
Bun Mam Nem — the Da Nang Noodle Bowl With No Broth at All No broth, no stockpot. The whole bowl rests on one thing: a well-mixed bowl of fermented anchovy sauce. -
Bun Bo Hue — the Shrimp Paste Is What Gives the Broth Its Depth Bones for sweetness, lemongrass and chilli for aroma. That thick, lingering depth behind every spoonful — that is the shrimp paste. -
Mi Quang — the Vietnamese Noodle Bowl With Almost No Broth Do not drown it. Mi Quang needs only a little thick sauce at the bottom of the bowl — enough to coat the noodles, not enough to drink. - Goi Ca Nam O — the Raw Fish Dish of a Da Nang Fishing Village Herring straight off the boat, cured in lime, wrapped with forest leaves. A fishermen's dish, and not one for people in a hurry.
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A Central Vietnamese Family Meal — Why There Is Always a Jar of Mam Not a banquet. Just rice, a light soup, one savoury dish and a jar of fermented fish — and nobody tires of it. -
What Goes on a Central Vietnamese Tet Table Not banh chung but banh tet. Not onions pickled in vinegar but vegetables pickled in fish sauce. The central Tet table has a logic of its own. -
Cao Lau — the Dish That Cannot Be Made Anywhere Else Same recipe, same cook, but take it out of Hoi An and the noodles fail. The reason is the well water and the wood ash. -
Com Hen — the Poor Man's Dish, Served With Cold Rice Cold rice, clams the size of a chopstick tip, and chilli heat that stops most first-timers. This is the hardest dish in Hue to get on with. -
Banh Beo, Nam, Loc and Ram It — the Hue Cake Set, Eaten Together Nobody orders just one. People in Hue order the whole set, a few of each — and each one comes with its own dipping sauce. -
Banh Bot Loc — the Translucent Dumpling You Can See the Prawn Through The wrapper is clear enough to show the red prawn inside. That is also how you know it was made properly. -
Nem Lui — Pounded Pork Grilled on Lemongrass Skewers What decides this dish is not the meat but the sauce — thick, rich, faintly sweet, cooked from liver and peanuts. -
Banh Canh Ca Loc — Hand-Rolled Noodles in a Broth Made From the Fish Itself One fish is used three times in a single bowl: bones for the broth, flesh braised with turmeric, and the head set aside for whoever wants it. -
Tom Chua — Hue's Raw Prawns Fermented With Galangal, Garlic and Chilli The prawns in the jar are red because they fermented, not because they were boiled. The glutinous rice in there is what feeds the ferment. -
Banh Mi Hoi An — a Smaller Roll, Mixed Fillings and a House Sauce It goes by the same name, but the roll in Hoi An is smaller, the crust thinner, and what made its reputation is a sauce each shop keeps to itself. -
Che Hue — Dozens of Sweet Soups in a Single Shop A Hue che shop lays out several dozen jars. One of them sounds improbable: tapioca dumplings wrapped around roast pork — sweet and savoury at once. -
Banh Khoai Hue — Not a Small Banh Xeo; the Difference Is the Bowl of Sauce It looks like a shrunken banh xeo. But what makes the dish is the bowl of nuoc leo — pork liver, sesame, peanuts — not the pancake. - Com Am Phu — the Name Comes From a Late-Night Shop, Not From the Underworld The name sounds macabre. The story is much plainer: a rice shop that opened late, a dim lamp, and customers who ended up calling the dish after the shop.
- Hen Xao Xuc Banh Trang — the Easiest Way Into Hue's Clam Dishes Same clam, same island, but this is the easy one. Anyone who has not got on with com hen should start here.
- Be Thui Cau Mong — Rare Veal, Rice Paper, and a Bowl of Sauce That Decides Everything The meat, browned outside and pink inside, is what everyone mentions. But people from Quang judge a be thui place by the bowl of sauce, not by the plate of meat.
- Mit Tron — Boiled Young Jackfruit, Shredded, and the Base of Da Nang's Snail Salad Boiled and shredded, young jackfruit has a texture close to pulled chicken. That is why this fills you up more than it looks like it should.
- Oc Hut — the Snail Dish Nobody Picks With a Toothpick The name is the instruction. The tail is cut off so you can suck — one pull brings the snail and the cooking juices at once.
- Com Ga Hoi An and Tam Ky — Rice Cooked in the Chicken Stock The rice is yellow not because turmeric was stirred in. It is yellow because it was cooked in the stock the chicken came out of.
- Hoi An Wontons — a Chinese Dish That Changed to Vietnamese Taste Same name as Cantonese wontons, but the filling, the broth and the way they are eaten have all shifted. The fried version is close to unique to Hoi An.
- Che Bap Cam Nam — Made With Sticky Corn Grown on the River Silt Cam Nam is an islet in mid-river, alluvial soil, planted with sticky corn. The bowl is only good when the corn is young and freshly picked.