Pho is one of my favorite foods. Pho is the most popular and special dish in our country, Vietnam. There are two main kinds of Pho: Pho with beef and Pho with chicken. Pho is served in a bowl with a specific cut of white rice noodles in clear beef broth, with slim cuts of beef (steak, fatty flank, lean flank, brisket). Chicken Pho is made using the same spices as beef, but the broth is made using only chicken bones and meat, as well as some internal organs of the chicken, such as the heart, the undeveloped eggs and the gizzard. I always enjoy a bowl of hot and spicy Pho for breakfast. Mornings are a special time for pho in Vietnam. I love Pho and I can eat it every morning without boring.
Vietnam is a foodie’s paradise with a variety of unique flavours and specialties. This is our favourite 10 traditional foods of Vietnam, which we fell in love with.
Pho (pronounced “Fur”) is The traditional food of Vietnam and known throughout the world. It is usually a chicken (ga) or beef (bo) broth with thin rice noodles and various herbs.
Pho originated in the early 20th century in North Vietnam and spread around the world via refugees who fled during the Vietnam War years.
A yummy variant of Pho is “Bun Bo Hue” from the Central Vietnamese city, Hue using rice vermicelli (instead of rice noodles) and served in a delicious shrimp and lemongrass based broth.
Cao Lau is the signature dish from the Central Vietnamese town of Hoi An and one of Stefan’s favourite traditional foods of Vietnam.
The recipe for Cao Lau includes a plate of thick dark rice noodles served in small amounts of richly flavoured broth, topped with pork slices, bean sprouts, greens, herbs and deep-fried croutons.
The noodles make this dish unique because they are darkened after being soaked in ash water from a specific tree found only in the nearby Cham Islands.
Mi quang is another popular Central Vietnamese noodles dish, similar to Cau Lao, but the noodles are flat white and tinted yellow by the addition of turmeric. The protein source varies from beef, chicken, beef, pork or shrimp.
It is topped with herbs, crushed peanuts and a hard-boiled egg. Mi quang was one of Sebastien’s favourite traditional foods of Vietnam and if you find this sweet lady in the Hoi An local market, her mi quangs are one of the best.
Bun cha is a grilled pork based dish served with vermicelli, fresh herbs, vegetables, fish sauce and chopped spring rolls. It originated from Hanoi and spread across Vietnam.
It is served with everything presented in separate bowls (one for the grilled pork, another for the vermicelli, another for the herbs, the chopped garlic and the pickled vegetables) and you assemble it yourself. It is not the healthiest traditional food of Vietnam but a very tasty one!
And to conclude our best traditional foods of Vietnam article, a beer selfie with our favourite brew, aptly named after the city. If you wanted to down it, you’d clink your glasses first and cry out:
“mot hai ba, YO!”
(ie 1,2,3, drink!)