Sá sùng
This special seafood is called sá sùng or sái sùng; it is surely another reason why you cannot refuse to come
to Quang Ninh.
The land of sá sùng is the sea
area near the coastline of Van Hai Island Province, especially Minh Chau or
Quan Lan districts. Sá sùng lives on the seashore where the tide goes up and
down every day.
When the ebbs come, people have
to look for sá sùng really quickly, often by digging the sand. A good digger
must be familiar with the job; his experience enables him to perform quick,
skillful and spectacular movements as if he is dancing on the shore.
The sá sùng found are then
fried with fresh garlic to create a tasty and buttery dish. This fried food is
also regarded as Moi Xao, a distinctive and popular food of Ha Long.
Another way to serve sá sùng is
to dry them before roasting. When the dish is done, it has a tempting yellow
color and great flavor of sea salt. When eating, we dip sá sùng in chili sauce
before putting it into our mouth.
Not everyone has the chance to
taste this special food, but anyone who has agrees that the combination of
fried sá sùng, fresh lettuces and beer is something beyond their imagination.
By NDO