Quảng noodles, cao-lầu, and Hoi An chicken rice might steal the heart of APEC visitors

7:15am, our airplane landed at Danang city. The most worth-living city in Vietnam greeted us by a pleasant day, sunny yet gentle windy.

Indeed, I’m quite familiar with Da Nang since I’ve travelled to this coastal city 10 times already. However, this trip had brought a very different feeling because just about half more month, leaders of APEC would come here and who knew which of those impressive dishes would be served.

Why not raise our dreams since even former president Obama had created a phenomenon when he sat on a plastic stool to have traditional famous food of Hanoi called bún-chả (fresh rice noodles served with grilled pork).

With that fantastic daydream which is full of colors and flavors, I started my trip to explore Da Nang – Hoi An’s cuisine, one of the pride of local people to honored APEC visitors.

While Hanoians prefer dishes served with/in plain broth and appreciate the delicacy, Saigoneses love diversity and colors; central food (Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An) is quite rich and typical with its servings (mixture or rolls) and its spiciness.

Before getting off the airplane, I was still confused, asking myself what I would write about the central food of Vietnam when good dishes here as many as in season. It might take a whole week to try all of them (or most of them). After filling up my mind with fresh coastal breath, I was much more confident to begin my trip of exploring the most familiar, rural, and daily food in central Vietnam.

Hue beef noodles (bún-bò Huế)

Hue has dozens of famous specialties, such as Nam Pho rice noodles (bánh-canh), Hue styled shrimp dumplings served with sweet fish sauce, rice/porridge tiny clams, and handful types of sweet desserts (chè). However, the most typical choice is always bún-bò Huế. As Hanoians have to have a hot bowl of phở, we all have to schedule a bún-bò day.

After a long trip, we all got tired and a super-hot and spicy bowl of bún-bò could really wake our senses up. Indeed, we were already awake when seeing the bowls. Shrimp paste was releasing its special aroma while crab balls and slices of beef shank were so tempted that I have to taste immediately. Holy Moly! It was like a wake-up sip ever.

Well, I am not that hungry to be easy in food tasting. Actually, bún-bò in Hue is a fine piece of art. The broth is flavorful and robust with lemongrass and shrimp paste while the whole bowl is a absolutely harmonic painting, white of fresh rice noodles, green from scallions, and shrimpy pink from spices. It looks good and eats well also.

Even the famous picky Anthony Bourdain, who used to take former President Obama to bún-chả in Ha Noi, had to comment, “What’s a shame if you visit Dong Ba market in Hue without having a bowl of bún-bò Huế. It’s such a fine dish with pork and beef bone. This is the most delicious type of soup in the whole wide world that I’ve tried.”

Another good thing in Hue is that you can stop by any bún-bò Huế vendor, even on the street to have a full bowl at 20,000 vnd. Do not hesitate. There are some dishes too good to be evaluated; you just have them and love them, and bún-bò Huế is one of them.

Pork rolls

It’s impossible to tell about pork rolls’ history. People just know that it’s too typical to miss if you once visited Da Nang city.

The ingredients are absolutely familiar, including boiled pork, rice paper, fermented fish sauce and of course, lots of fresh vegetables. However, a right and fine dish requires secret tips. That’s why they are served everywhere in Vietnam but I believe (and others, too) pork rolls in Da Nang are not replaceable.

Instead of pork belly, people in Da Nang have used pork butt for the dish, which is called “double-skin pork”. Ms. Hong, who is in charged of a dining facility named Mau said that the “double-skin pork” was made from pork butt, where was next to the tail. The other ingredients are also carefully chosen, such as herbs from Hoi An or lettuce from Dalat.

Just look at the dish served together with a small bowl of dipping sauce and a salver of fresh vegetables, including lettuce, spring onion, basil, green banana, and sour star fruits can make anyone mouthwatering, especially the fermented fish sauce from Tra Que.

It’s an art to enjoy the pork rolls in a right way. We need to take a sheet of rice paper and place it on a slice of sandwich (without this step, your rice paper will be more vulnerable), put vegetables by order and a slice of pork on the wrapper then roll them up and enjoy. The umami taste of good pork combines with the freshness of lettuce, the spiciness of basil, the acrid taste of green banana, and the typical hot and spicy fish sauce to create a harmony, impressive, and charming dish.

Quảng noodles

Once in a discussion about food, a person from Quang area told me, “Hanoians love phở but not everyone can cook phở. However, Quang Nam people all can cook Quảng noodles.” They just wanted to emphasize the important position and popularity of Quảng noodles in their region and in all over Danang city.

Quảng noodles can go with different types of meat, including chicken, fish, beef, pork ribs, shrimps, frogs, and even a mixture of all kinds. Once I had Quảng noodles in a 30 years old local restaurant, the owner told me that the original Quảng noodles was with chiken and then fish. The others were added up long time after just to give tourists and visitors more options.

In fact, types of meat do not affect the nature of Quảng noodles. It’s so simple and plain, just like the characteristics of central people in Vietnam. The bowl has only some ricy noodles, a couple slices of meat, a very small amount of broth, and some chopped green onion/cilantro for garnishing. However, the size of vegetables dish is almost triples the amount of noodles.

The right way to have Quang noodles is to break rice cracker into small pieces, to add some crushed fresh chili to taste with a lot vegetable then mix them well and let the noodles absorb as much broth as they can. Some people also love to bite a bird chili while chewing noodles to feel the stunning yet aromatic hot on the tongue.

A good rustic dish can look regular but the longer we eat, the better it tastes. Quang noodles are an obviously example. Scented rice noodles, umami broth, sour lime, mildly acrid young mustard, and fresh bean sprouts just well blend and create an irresistible dish. Once we taste the real Quảng noodles in Quang region, we can understand why they are so proud of their hometown food.

Hoi An chicken rice

I’ve always visited Hoi An every single time I stay in Danang, from couple hours to couple days, just to have a dish of Hoi An chicken rice. It’s like a routine with me when coming to Hoi An to have chicken rice because it’s too good to be missed. One of my close friends was quite surprised, saying, “They’re just rice and chicken. What is so charmed about?”

Well, we cannot say that! First, chicken rice in Hoi An is definitely different from common chicken rice. Most of the places prefer soft with a bit elastic rice but Hoi An just love the tender and bare grains. They soak rice grains in turmeric water and cook them in chicken broth. The chicken must be from local hens, crunchy skins and firm flesh that would be mixed with salt pepper, sliced onions, and herbs.

Real Hoi An chicken rice would never bring the satisfaction but only create more needs that just a glance at the dish is enough for mouthwatering. We can season the rice by fresh chili sauce made in Hoi An if anyone prefer a robust taste.

Looking attractive, its taste is not any less interesting. No matter how picky you are, you will be persuaded by the buttery and tender of chicken flesh on the dish of rice. Onion and răm leaves are not very inherent but they both enhance each other and fill up all your senses with boldly memorable flavors.

Cao lầu

If chicken rice, Quảng noodles, or pork rolls are brought all over Viet Nam, cao-lầu is absolutely local because only made-in-Hoian spices and ingredients can build a right dish.

Ms. Thanh, the owner of famous Thanh Thanh cao-lầu restaurant in Hoi An, said that cao-lầu required pure local water without any chemical residues. They used to make cao-lầu from water from Ba Le well but in fact, Hoi An has more fine water sources. The most important step is the pure natural lye water (at least 3 months old from Cham island). This lye water would bring the typical yellowish/brownish color and incredibly mild taste of cao-lầu noodles.

Although the noodles are quite meticulous, other ingredients are so simple. The finished bowl just contains blanched noodles, a couple slices of char-siu pork, a couple pieces of fried pork skin or fried noodles, and handful of herbal leaves from Tra Que village. Before serving, they usually pour a spoon of char-siu sauce then serve cao-lầu with a piece of lime and local pungent chili. Remember to mix them well to enjoy all the typical flavors.

The cao-lầu noodles are thick, tender, chewy, and slightly crunchy, which can satisfy any gourmets, especially if they are combined with Tra Que herbs. Fine food does not mean lots of meat or expensive ingredients and cao-lầu is a great evidence of it. With simple ingredients, it still can create a worth-trying for all visitors, both domestic and international.

Hoi An bread

Hoi An bread has conquered numerous local and international gourmets, even famous chefs of the world have named it “the best bread in the world”.

Why we have to have bread in Hoi An? Bread does not originally come from our country, and of course not from Hoi An either. Moreover, where we can’t find bread in all over Viet Nam?

Well, you have your points. But when everyone come to Hoi An and have its bread, including famous chefs, then why don’t you give it a try? At least we should know how this street food has stolen everybody’s heart.

In fact, the unique charm of Hoi An bread is from its different texture between crispy crust and soft crumb. In addition, the meat is so abundant and various, such as pork paste, ham, pate, char-siu pork, shred chicken, bacon, cheese, eggs, and tons of sauces. All you can choose and they are generously stuffed into the small bread shell until it’s inflated. Finally, fresh herbs from Tra Que village will be garnished to make the perfectly delicious bread for anyone.

Each bite goes into raptures when you have a mouthful of flavors. It has to be a reason why banh-mi seized its place in Oxford dictionary; probably Hoi An bread has its contribution in that process.

The above dishes might be too normal to some people but I believe the rustic common food is the most honest inflection of each region. When we look at the way they’re served, when we look for their recipes, and when we taste them, it’s not only to enjoy their flavors but also to understand the whole regional cultures. I believe they can make a deep impression to APEC attendances if they’re given a chance to shine.

By Golden Spoon Awards