The spicy and exotic cuisine of Vietnam cannot be put on a par with the gastronomic foundations of neighboring countries. She borrowed a lot from the cuisines of China, India and France. Visiting small authentic cafes or restaurants in Vietnam becomes a real adventure for tourists who appreciate a variety of aromas and tastes.
Features of Vietnamese cuisine
In Vietnamese cuisine, the main one is the balance, which is most often manifested in the use in one dish of two or more contrasting textures (crispy and soft). The balance is maintained between the main tastes: bitter and sweet, sour, salty and burning, the color of ingredients, herbs and spices, and even in the harmonious use of cooling and warming ingredients in accordance with the principles of Yin-Yang.
Features of the cuisine of Vietnam are:
- freshness of food - dishes, as a rule, are prepared before serving and are not prepared for future use;
- the use of a large number of fresh herbs and vegetables;
- the popularity of dishes containing broth.
Serving a wide variety of sauces is welcome: separate from the prepared dish for adding or dipping. The most common seasonings in Vietnam:
- ginger;
- lemongrass;
- coriander (cilantro);
- mint;
- Thai basil
- thai chili;
- lime.
Widely used fish sauce, chili sauce, soy sauce, shrimp paste. Non-spicy food in Vietnam, chili sauce or chili pepper are served, as a rule, separately, as additional seasonings. Necessarily, regardless of the ordered dish, you will be served a plate with fresh herbs.
Fish sauce and shrimp paste
These products are used in almost all Vietnamese dishes. Seasonings are quite specific, they are based on fermented seafood. They are almost impossible to determine “by eye”, so often food in Vietnam becomes a problem for vegetarians or people with food allergies, but this does not mean that you must completely abandon the Vietnamese cuisine.
Due to the fact that Buddhism is widespread among the Vietnamese, in the country there is a special layer of monastic culinary, which is considered not just vegetarian, it proclaims itself pure vegan. In other words, it does not use animal products, including dairy, eggs and animal fats. In the menu of some Vietnamese cafes you can see the words: beef, chicken, shrimp and fish. But in most cases we are talking about vegetarian substitutes for these products.
You can easily determine that you got into a vegetarian cafe by the inscription: “Kom ty,” which can be translated as “vegetarian food”. Often, such establishments are located next to Buddhist temples.
First meal
What to try in Vietnam? We will tell you about many dishes, but let's start with soups, which are quite a lot in Vietnamese cuisine. You can choose them for every taste. However, it is worth recognizing that the recognized leader in this category is the world famous Vietnamese pho soup, which is a kind of hallmark of Vietnamese cuisine.
In fact, pho is flat rice noodles on the basis of which Vietnamese soup is prepared. There are other dishes with such noodles that contain the word "fo" in their name. For example, fried with beef noodles fo.
But we were a little distracted. Let's get back to the Vietnamese pho soup. It is very popular not only with locals, but also with tourists coming to the country. The basis of the soup is a strong beef broth with spices, chicken or vegetables. Fragrant spicy broth is prepared in advance, before serving, dry noodles are scalded, finely chopped pieces of tofu or meat, vegetables are added. All ingredients are poured in boiling broth.
Are you interested in what to try in Vietnam? Well, of course, fo soup, which will be served with fresh herbs (mainly basil), chili peppers, lime, soybean sprouts, as well as thick sweet and sour sauce, which should be added to the plate to taste. They eat the spoon and chopsticks.
It is interesting that this dish is prepared not only in restaurants and cafes, but also on the street on coals. Admittedly, this is not the only noodle soup in Vietnam's cuisine. Almost every region has its own varieties of soups. Among those that are popular in the whole country: Bún bò Huế - quite spicy soup, usually on beef broth with round rice noodles, Mì Quảng - soup with sausages, thin yellow noodles and peanut powder.
Salads
This is not to say that Vietnamese cuisine abounds with salads. What to try from this category of dishes? For example, from the inflorescences of bananas, sprouted soybeans, with the addition of mint, basil. Many people like a salad of fresh vegetables, a lotus stalk and rice bread. Seafood lovers will appreciate the grilled mussels salad with mint and rice paper.
Snacks
What to try in Vietnam with appetizers? We recommend rice rolls - fried, crispy, as well as steamed. Most likely, you will like egg-wheat pancakes with seafood, although the filling can be very diverse. Another interesting appetizer is grilled bread with rice, which is served with various sauces and rice puddings with peanuts.
Goy Kuon
This dish can be compared with special modeling dumplings. It came to Vietnam from China. Unlike the Chinese dish, the Vietnamese one has a different filling and is not cooked in a pan, but steamed. In Vietnamese cuisine, the shape is also different - instead of traditional "onions" they are made in the form of rolls.
The filling of Goy Kunov can be different - from vegetables to pork and seafood. From rice flour, the dough is low-calorie and very tender. For this reason, even with the “heaviest” filling, this dish will not become a burden for sensitive stomachs.
Exotic dishes
Probably, this section will be of interest only to gastronomic extremals, and nevertheless we cannot ignore it. The hallmark of local cuisine are dog dishes. Cages with live animals installed in restaurants and cafes, smoked dog carcasses cause a real shock to visiting Europeans, and for Vietnamese this is a common occurrence.
According to statistics, in just one year, almost three million dogs are eaten in Vietnam. Their meat is very fatty, reminiscent of pork in texture and taste. Fillet pieces are steamed and served together with shrimp paste and lemon or rice vinegar.
Ribs and neck are pre-marinated in soy sauce and then grilled. Dog fillet sausages - Doi Cho are also popular. As you can see, Vietnamese cuisine is very peculiar. What to try from the described dishes is up to you.
Traditionally, many consider rats to be insignificant rodents, but this does not apply to Vietnamese. For them, rat meat is a delicacy. It is very juicy, bright pink. The taste and texture is a bit like rabbit meat. Carcasses of rats are prepared according to different recipes, but more often they are baked in ovens or grilled. Serve a dish with chili pepper and sweet and sour sauce.
Vietnamese chefs offer gourmet dishes from bats. The rather unpleasant smell of the meat of these animals makes cooks pickle it for a long time in herbs and spices, and then grill it. The dish serves a lot of greens, a side dish of rice, chili peppers and garlic. Today, ostrich meat dishes are becoming very popular in many restaurants around the world. Vietnam did not stand aside.
For many tourists, ostrich meat does not make a big impression. To taste, it is a bit like beef: ordinary steaks, which can have varying degrees of hardness.
Cobra dishes
In Vietnamese cuisine, snake meat is very popular. It is considered healing, many are even convinced that the dishes prepared from it are not only very tasty, but also very healthy. Cooking a snake is an interesting ritual. First, the cobra is cut off its head, after which the blood is expressed, which is poured into a bottle of rice vodka. Then they take out a heart, which continues to beat for about half an hour, and the carcass is carried to the kitchen, where they continue processing.
While the guest of the restaurant is waiting for his order, he is offered to drink vodka with blood and eat a snake with a raw heart, which should be swallowed whole. For some time you can feel its beating inside. For a European, a very strange ritual, but the Vietnamese believe that he has a beneficial effect on a person, giving him longevity and peace.
Dessert
I must say that the Vietnamese are big sweet tooth. What to try in Vietnam at the end of dinner? Many tourists believe that the most delicious Vietnamese dessert is a baked banana. Small pieces of fruit are sprinkled with rice, and then baked on charcoal, gradually adding coconut milk. Serve with chopped peanuts. This delicacy is served not only in the cafe - it is extremely popular with the Vietnamese as a street food.
The desserts of Vietnamese cuisine are quite varied. Ban Kam is no less tasty - balls of orange, sesame and golden rice. Visit the local bakery, which offers a large selection of buns and croissants. I would especially like to mention sweets, but not chocolate, but from natural products: coconut, ginger, sesame, peanuts and bananas.
Che
This dessert is difficult to classify: pudding, drink, sweet soup. It may include jelly and beans, lotus seeds and fruits, coconut and sesame seeds, rice and tapioca, corn and taro. All ingredients are seasoned with sweet coconut cream or syrup. Most often, dessert is eaten cold from a plastic or glass cup. Sometimes che is served in plates like soup.
Beverages
The most unusual drink in Vietnam is egg coffee. It is made from sugar, yolk and condensed milk. The Vietnamese claim that the egg in this recipe is necessary to achieve a delicate texture and a mild flavor. The drink is actually obtained with a light foam on top and airy.
When it gets especially hot, both locals and visitors alike prefer other Vietnam drinks. Juicy fruit smoothies and necks have hundreds of variations. Of strong drinks, we recommend trying excellent balms, infused on medicinal herbs. In addition, in Vietnam they make good wine. The leader in this is the city of Dalat.
Cà phê
If you are a fan of coffee, then you should try a Vietnamese drink. This country is the second in the world in terms of coffee production after Brazil, although the main part of the beans is robusta. In Vietnam, they like a very dark roast, which gives the coffee a bitter aftertaste. But the taste of Vietnamese coffee to a greater extent depends not so much on the beans as on the way they are prepared.
To brew this drink, drip filters are used that are installed directly on the mug. Sometimes it is required to brew coffee in advance, especially if it is planned to serve it with ice. In this case, the glass or mug is served without a filter.
Vietnamese coffee is always served sweet. This is done to balance the excess bitterness of the drink. If you still think what to try in Vietnam, drink a cup of coffee with condensed milk - you will appreciate the waffle and chocolate notes of the drink. If you prefer unsweetened coffee, you must tell the waiter in advance. Also, keep in mind that “coffee with milk” in Vietnam means condensed milk. If you want to order regular milk, you need to say fresh milk. Vietnamese coffee is served with green tea, which is poured without restrictions.