Vietnamese Local Markets

If someone ask me where is the most interesting local place in Vietnam? I will answer without hesitation "that is local market!". That is place where you can see the most authentic Vietnamese life...locals are buying, selling, gossiping, bargaining - all enjoying with smiles. That is really a picture of a lovely life.



To "tâm hồn ăn uống" (eating and drinking souls) like Halie and I, local markets are our favorite destinations. And it is much more wonderful if lucky enough to go to local markets on 14th, 15th 0r 29th, 30th every month of lunar calendar.

3 words I can think of to describe Vietnamese local markets are colorful, lively and inspiring! (Halie, do you have any better word? ^^)


...and FRESH ingredients making DELICIOUS Food all come from these local markets ^^

...So Vietnamese local markets themselves can be tourist destinations. They are very interesting, truly authentic, really impressive, totally free...and they are almost everywhere in Vietnam - that what we call the Vietnamese market culture!

Ms. Chè - the Best Chè Seller in Huế

I know that Chè is not a nice name for Vietnamese women but I do not know her real name and I also just want to call her Ms. Chè. I think Halie has the same thought because we think she is so much special- as special as her chè ^^
(* Chè refers to Vietnamese sweet soup, normally cooked with beans in water and sweetened with sugar)

There are as many as 20 types of Chè in Hue and of course it is not hard to find a "quán chè" (a sweet soup shop) in Hue. However Halie and I do not want to go to any "quán chè" after eating chè of Ms. Chè. We have no way to find her except for being at the Healing the Wounded Heart shop (http://www.spiralfoundation.org) and hope she will pass the shop at around 8h30- 9pm.

We have waited for a long time. It seems to me that she has not sold chè for more than a month...so today when Halie called and told me that Ms.Chè was at the shop, I immediately was there after 5 minutes (three times faster than when I bike to work despite of the same distance >.<) Halie was staring at chè
One factor makes Ms. Chè special is that she changes the chè's menu almost every day or at least that is what we see every time we meet her. Today she sold "chè trôi nước", "chè bột lọc" and "chè đậu xanh dừa"

- chè trôi nước: "balls made from mung bean paste in a shell made of glutinous rice flour; served in a thick clear or brown liquid made of water, sugar, and grated ginger root" (explained by wikipedia.org)


- chè bột lọc: "small cassava and rice flour dumplings"


- chè đậu xanh dừa: made from grounded mung beans with coconut


Another factor of specialty is that Ms. Chè just cooks 2 or 3 types of chè each day and each type can be eaten separately with coconut sauce or can be mixed nicely. Eating three bowls is too much, especially at 9pm so best choice is a bowl of mixed chè or "chè thập cẩm".


It is so delicious that we all agreed to order extra two balls of "trôi nước" and enjoyed so much...

...wow thanks Ms. Chè - you are really our No.1 Chè Lady ^^

Bánh canh Nam Phổ

I really do not know how to translate Bánh canh into English, if translate word by work then Bánh canh means "soup cake" ^^ (banh means cake and canh means soup). It is actually a kind of Vietnamese noole made from a mixture of rice and tapioca flour.

You can find Bánh canh in many places in Vietnam but Bánh canh Nam Phổ can only be found in Huế. I have heard of this speciality when I was in Hanoi but like many other Hue specialities, it is not sold in other provinces. I still remember my feeling of the first time tasting a bowl of Bánh canh Nam Phổ- it is so much different compared to other Bánh canh. It is quite sweet but I can taste the sweet flavour is made from fresh shrimps. Much amount of Tapioca flour also makes Bánh canh Nam Phổ extremely special. I ate two bowls at the first time, but again Hue cuisine style means "little each time", so each bowl just content very few bánh canh - may be that is also a clever way to encourage the customers eat more.


It is not easy to find a Bánh canh Nam Phổ Restaurant even in Hue, because I have read that locals in Nam Pho village have a tradition of making Bánh canh and going around Hue and selling. They do not have any consistent spot to sell and maybe not like to be at the same place every day (Hue artistic style!). But I am lucky and I found one Nam Phổ Restaurant on No 54 Nguyen Cong Tru Str. The owner said she is very much proud to be the third generation of selling the Bánh canh.


Since I discovered this restaurant in August and then introduced to Halie, it has become one of our favourite local restaurant in Hue where we can eat many wonderful bánh, not just bánh canh but also bánh bèo, bánh nậm, bánh lọc, ram ít...And I guess it is still in our favourite list of local food spots for a long time to come!

Rice or Rice?

Would you like white rice? Or rice? or rice? As long as you like rice, you're in luck. Rice.

Veggie Heaven…or more appropriately, Nirvana

I have never been a very spiritual person, but have recently considered converting to Buddhism just so that I could eat vegetarian food every day. I suppose I could do that without converting also….but then again I do get fanatical cravings for grilled nem (sausage). So I’ll stick with occasional enjoyment of vegetarian fare. Which makes it more special anyhow.

My friend Lan introduced me to one of my favorite spots. An alleyway eatery off of Nguyen Thai Hoc, it’s a secret spot. In true Huế style, it’s open just whenever. There werw a very sad two weeks last month when the owner decided not to open, because she just didn’t feel like it and the rain was getting her down.

Except on the first and middle of the lunar month, there are essentially only two dishes: Noodles and Rice. On the first and middle of the month they also make vegetarian banh beo, nam etc (see “A shoutout to the Banhs”). The noodle soup is served with all sorts of potatoes, carrots and other veggies in a soothing broth. Rice is topped with a mountain of vegetarian YUM. The vegetarian rice plate is different that other Vietnamese rice dishes, because the toppings outweigh the rice; just my style! Its blasphemy to say this in Asia, but I’m unexcited by white rice, and prefer the yummy stuff that goes with it.

The noodle soup is pretty consistent, but for the rice dish, the toppings change a little every day. By chance, I went to the restaurant on the first of the lunar month, so the toppings were especially extravagant. They included tender green banana, a spongy fried tofu, miến (glass noodles), a dense, sweet meat-like tofu, steamed carrots and potatoes, vả (impossible to translate accurately, but a kind of fig that is often prepared thinly sliced and sautéed with sesame; it has a dense satisfying texture almost like a meat), and all sorts of herbs and spices mixed in. Vegetarian food tends to be generous with the herbs and spices to make up for the lack of fish sauce, a central ingredient of Vietnamese food. The noodles and rice can both be eaten with soy sauce, red chili, or a fermented soybean paste. An acquired taste, this is one of my favorite parts of vegetarian food. It has a thick bean paste texture and tastes very strong and stinky; very fermented, similar to a strong cheese.

The best part about Vegetarian foods is that after your meal, you feel a wonderful, refreshing, healthy full. Perhaps this is the first step on the way to nirvana…

Dear fruit, tôi yêu

Dear Fruit, I love you.
And in Hue, you decorate every street corner with colors, textures, sizes and shapes imaginable. Here as an ode to you!


You are sweet and nutritious
You come pre-packaged and your wrapping is 100% biodegradable
I'm not sad when I finish you because there is a seed inside which promises to make a new one!

You are beautiful and colorful and decorate my kitchen
Sometimes you come pre-soiced; ie citrus, or in convenient bite size portions like grapes
You keep it fresh - you do not stick around all year but are seasonal so you never get old or go out of style

You provide a taste or texture for any craving and you can be eaten salty or sweet
You come from pretty things like trees or bushes
You are always prepared for a special dining experience because you come with your own garnish

Sometimes your insides look much different than your outsides - like a surprise present all wrapped up
I can think of only one time in my life when I truly regretted eating you and that was my fault because I was in Egypt and I bought you from a man in the gutter.
Getting you involves fun things like climbing trees, going on hikes and going to the market

You go well with my second favorite thing in the world, granola
You have beautiful form and symmetry
You make flowers

A Shoutout to the Banhs

You haven’t experienced true Hue food until you’ve experienced the “bánhs…” bánh nậm, bánh lọc, bánh bèo, bánh ướt, bánh ram ít.

Based in rice flour or cassava flour, what I call the “bánhs” are bite sized savory cakes. The ingredients are simple, but each cake entirely unique. You’ll find them everywhere in Hue: within an unassuming bamboo basket teetering on an old woman’s shoulder, will be an assortment of exquisitely made morsels!

I find Hue’s savory cakes to be a perfect example of the joys of Hue cuisine: simple, fresh, small, cheap. Bought on the street, you can buy a saucer-sized plate for 5,000 VND, about 25 cents USD! Because they’re quite small, its common to gobble up a plate, and then pass it back for another. You can make a meal with multiple different kinds, each satisfying a different craving.


Bánh bèo is the most simple and comforting: a flat, round disc of soft, moist rice paper topped with dried shrimp, small fried rice crackers, and eaten with the ever-present Vietnamese fish sauce and a smoky hot chili paste.

Bánh nậm is harder to find on the streets, and is usually more common in restaurants. More filling than bánh bèo, it’s soft rice paper filled with diced shrimp, chives and seasoning, all wrapped up in a banana leaf and steam cooked. It too is served with fish sauce, but the flavors are so complete, it could hold its own without. I don't have a photo of it because it is somehow very unphotogenic.


Bánh ướt is worth having for its unique sauce; a sweet, tart spicy combination of fish sauce, lime juice, garlic and diced chili pepper. Bánh ướt is very simple, essentially the same ingredients as bánh bèo but the rice paper is thinner and wider, and rolled up with the dried shrimp inside.


Bánh lọc (photo by Lan) is probably the most difficult for a Western palette, made of cassava flour with a seasoned shrimp inside (crunchy because it’s not peeled) and a tiny bit of pork fat. Wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed, the cassava flour becomes transparent and gelatin-like, similar to tapioca. If you buy bánh lọc from the right lady…one who is truly committed to her banh’s…it will be served with a strong, undiluted fish sauce. The strong saltyness is the perfect compliment to the flavors of the bánh lọc.


Bánh ram ít is the most decadent of them all, a very squishy, sticky rice flour cake filled with a shrimp, perched atop a small round fried rice cracker and topped with dried shrimp. It looks almost like a French pastry, and is the perfect combination of squish and crunch!

My love for these little savory cakes is truly a multi-dimensional love. Not only are they delicious, they are consistently exquisetly crafted and beautifully presented. There is something wonderful about being presented a perfectly arranged bánh bèo, a mandala of round rice cakes on a circular plate, while squatting on a dirty street corner. Hue is so incredibly committed to its foods that perfection is required, no matter what context or price. Hue’s savory cakes represent true gourmet without a bit of pretention: who knew the joys you can tuck away in an old bamboo basket!

For Hue natives, it’s easy to pick out the bánh bèo lady, but for foreigners, it’s a bit more difficult to pick her out from the other bamboo basket toting women. But with a bit of guidance, it’s easy. For beginners, you may want to start at a restaurant, which will probably have a sign saying “Bánh” in large print, and then bèo, lọc….below in smaller print. Restaurants are a bit more pricy, and can be up to 25,000 VND for one portion (albeit a larger portion). If you’re looking for the street version, listen for a vendor yelling “bánh bèo”. However, to be quite honest, I often can’t make out what the sellers are saying. Another way to spot them is by the style of basket. They’re often sold from one basket (rather than two baskets hanging off either side of a bamboo pole resting on the woman’s shoulder), which is perched on the hip. The cakes are small and flat, so the basket should be too. If they are sold from the hanging baskets, look to see if there are hot coals: if so, you’re out of luck, its soup. When in doubt, take a peek inside; but remember this usually means you’re going to buy it! But ending up with a plate full of something new and entirely foreign is precisely the way is should be done.

Some basic guidelines

OK, so I may be a newbie at food in Hue, but I'm committed. I'm here in Hue for 6 months as a volunteer. Hopefully I'll have something to say for myself by the end of my stay, but for the time being, I can say that I'm doing a damn good job at eating. I'm still learning, but I've got enough under my belt that I've decided to share it.

Just so we're on the same page, some basic guidelines I try and follow when engaging in an eating adventure in Hue.

1. If your legs fit under the table, you're probably paying too much for lower quality food. Get comfortable on tiny plastic stools sized for 5 year olds.

2. You're usually better off at an eatery where nobody speaks or understands English. Menu's with English translations are only trustworthy if the English is entirely incomprehensible and includes translations such as "rice packing" or "floatng beotang".

3. It is imperative that you like rice and fish sauce. If you don't now, you will lean to.

4. Always try and figure out the price beforehand. If not, watch the locals pay, and see how much. If you're still unsure, estimate and then pay a little less. Its best to underpay and have them ask you for more... if you overpay you'll probably just not get any change back.

5. If other people at the eatery are staring at you and/or laughing at you, you've chosen a good local spot.

6. What doesn't kill you makes your gut stronger.