What Vietnamese dishes should I try?- What About Vietnam S6-E09

What if I told you… the best meal you’ll have in Vietnam probably isn’t the one you planned? Today we get clear on the next question in this series -  What Vietnamese dishes should I try?

We begin our exploration through the streets of Hanoi for smoky, unforgettable bún chả…we go further afield to the Old Town of Hoi An for Cao lầu and delicate white rose dumplings… But lets not forget the explosiveness of food in Ho Chi Minh City, where every bite—from Cơm tấm to sizzling Bánh xèo—carries tastes and experiences you won't forget easily.

This episode focuses on the standout dishes most intrinsic to each major region; the ones you will most likely visit as a first time traveller.

I’ve included some of my own favourite spots to try these dishes—places I keep going back to—along with a little of my personal journey through Vietnamese food, and how it became one of the biggest learning curves to understanding Vietnam.

Because in Vietnam…especially in regional areas, you don’t just eat. You sit, you pause, you reflect, you connect—and somewhere along the way, you start to understand the country differently. You become grateful for the occasion of sharing.

If you’ve ever wondered where to start with Vietnamese food… this is your starting point.

[00:05:22] Bun Cha in Hanoi
 [00:10:32] Cao Lau – a must-try dish
 [00:16:07] Banh Xeo – the hero dish
 [00:21:41] Hue’s pancake – Banh Khoai
 [00:22:05] Vegetarian options in Hue
 [00:22:38] Coastal areas and seafood
 [00:23:33] Affordable seafood in Vietnam
 [00:24:42] Rustic food in Sapa
 [00:28:48] Vietnamese food’s diverse influences
 [00:30:58] Food tours and cooking classes - Shout out to Kiss Tours
[00:35:40] Special trip guidance in Vietnam

Fair warning—you may finish this episode already planning your first meal.

To find the restaurants mentioned in the show go to SHOW page at https://www.whataboutvietnam.com/ 

PLEASE NOTE: This episode is not intended to be a complete guide to Vietnamese cuisine across all regions. Rather, it offers a curated sampler of standout dishes that are closely tied to the places you’re most likely to visit. There are, of course, many more specialties and local variations beyond those mentioned here—each worth discovering in their own time.

Follow on your favourite pod channel, email directly to whataboutvietnam@gmail.com 
Keep abreast of news on our social pages on FB, IG,LinkedIn and TikTok

Let me design your #customised #private tour of Vietnam  - See our Travel Services

Do you need a #Dental Procedure?  Why not find out what’s possible through our Dental and #Cosmetic Medical partner Worldwide Beauty Hospital. Mention #whataboutvietnam to receive 5% discount at Worldwide Beauty Hospital 

Transcript

Kerry Newsome: Xin chào and welcome to the What About Vietnam podcast. My name is Kerry Newsome and I am your host. Now, today we're going to talk about that part of your trip that most people really look forward to, and that's the food. Because the question for today is, you know, what Vietnamese dishes should I try? And when I was preparing for this, you know, I thought, gosh, where do I start with that? Because there's just such a variety of foods intrinsic to Vietnam. And, you know, some of them you will have tried in your own country. So they're very familiar. So, you know, you've got your banh mi and you've got your pho. So I haven't tried to include those in this. I wanted to try and kind of break it down to regions, to like cities and and really focus in on those dishes that are true to those locations. So you'll forgive me, if you will, to the fact that I'm not covering everything and you're going to go, oh, what about and what about that? And and think, you know, Kerry didn't cover that. There's a reason behind it. 

So if you'll bear with me, I've really tried to target those those dishes to those areas so that you're not kind of wildly looking at menus like I was. when I first started traveling and going, oh, what about that? And what about that? Or is that the one that I should try? So, you know, if you feel like you're looking at many years in a little bit in the dark and not know where to start, I'm hoping today's episode is going to give you some direction. So, here's the thing, Vietnamese people and I think, you know, generally now the population of travelers are finding that there's more than just Vietnamese food in Vietnam. It's expanded exponentially. But as I said right in the beginning, there is regional food, what I would call identities or maybe specialities that you'll want to try for sure. 

As you know, guess what? You know, some like Cao Lao, you cannot get anywhere else other than Hoi An. So, you know, I cover it off for Hoi An and I kind of am putting an emphasis on a dish like that because you can't get it regularly anywhere else at the level of speciality that you'll find it in Hoi An. So once you've understood that, your whole trip starts to make a lot more sense. You become a bit more intentional about your menu choices and where to eat and do things. Food intrinsically connects you to a country. That's always been my travel mantra, for want of a better description. You know, I've done many episodes on the subject over the years with, you know, real foodies that have come on to talk about it. So, you know, type food into the search box on the website and you'll find that there's lots of episodes covering a broader spectrum of food that I'm going to cover today. But today I'm going to start with Hanoi. You know, for no other reason than it's most likely, you know, your entry point, you know, the same as Ho Chi Minh or Da Nang. But I'll cover all of these in the episode. So stick with me, folks. As you know, and I've covered this before many times as well, that, you know, as you move through the country, the food changes, just like the weather, really. 

So let's go north to south, starting in Hanoi. Now food in Hanoi really leans to a more savoury than sweet. You'll notice that straight away, even in the soups. But don't mistake that for light. It's not about less flavour. It's about how the flavour is built. Now, two dishes that I think really stand out for Hanoi, must tries if you wish to go along that path. The first one is Bun Cha. Now, grilled pork, rice noodles, herbs, you know, just adding those herbs into the broth is just the bee's knees. Simple on paper, but when it hits the table, it's rich, it's slightly sweet, but it's more smoky. It's got a real smoky flavour. And in the places where you'll have the best experience, look or kind of find where your nose travels for that smoky identification. It took me a few years to really find the best spot and really understand about the flavors involved, and I'm going to put a link to a place that is famous for Bun Cha in Hanoi. And, you know, I met the old lady that started the establishment many moons ago. As we walked down the alley, just those flavors just said, yes, come to me, Kerry. It was to die for. 

The second dish I'm going to talk about, which is maybe one you haven't thought about for Vietnam and certainly for Hanoi, is chakka. Now, this is turmeric fish. It's cooked with dill and spring onions. So once again, you're adding those herbs. I got to experience this in a special way in a restaurant with Ying. Now, we had a day in Vietnam. You might remember Ying. She's the lovely guide I got to interview to talk about Ha Giang and, you know, how there's other ways to explore the Ha Giang loop other than just bike riding. So she was, you know, a wealth of information. But we had a day together and this restaurant that she took me to only sold fish and this kind of cooked fish. That's all you could get there. It was packed and the food was awesome and super fresh. I'll put the name in the show notes as well. It's definitely one to go to but don't go thinking you can just order something else kind of broad to that on the menu. It's just about fish. Now back to the Bun Cha for a moment. You'll see it on menus everywhere, but they're not all the same. So some places have been doing Bun Cha as a speciality, you know, perfecting that balance, the marinade, the way the pork is grilled, all that kind of thing. 

So the question is, how do you know where to go? Honestly, I have to be really frank here, you don't. But I'm sure as a smart traveler as you are, you're going to apply those instincts which, you know, you look in a restaurant and if there's lots of locals, it's probably a good indication that the food is really good there. And it may not be in the grandest of settings. It might be in smaller places where, you know, lots of red chairs, lots of chatter, lots of noise. But that's probably your indication. And you've probably got to go into, you know, some sort of alley like I had to with the Bun Cha experience I got to have with my lovely Vietnamese friend, Hannah, or Ha. 

Now, Hoi An, this is where the story shifts again. This is where history really shows up in the food. There is two, I think, main signature dishes that, you know, if you go on a food tour, they will always be included. And that's back to when I mentioned Cau Lao. Now, is a very popular kind of breakfast, kind of lunch, dinner or meal. And it's certainly one of my favourites as I find it quite delicious, but also quite filling enough that, you know, I can definitely last till dinner. And if I've had breakfast at my hotel, I can just fit in a small bowl of  So Cau Lao also, when I mentioned the bowl size, it's not a huge meal. It tends to be quite small, but it's definitely one to have. Mee Kuang noodles is probably a side version of that, which is also a noodle dish and delicious. But Cau Lao is certainly the number one dish you'd put under Hoi An as a dish to try. Keep that in mind when you're getting about and keeping in mind also that in Hoi An, It's the only place you're going to get cow lard. So, you know whether you want to Dive into the history with the the Ba le Well, and how the the noodles are made I've actually got an episode just talking about that in the Library, I'm not sure where it sits. I can't quite remember and But if you put noodles into the search bar, you're going to come up with the story of noodles in Hoi An. 

Now next, oh, back on the Cau Lao, definitely go for like the best versions would be with the crunchy bits on the top. Like there are some versions where they've got the pork and the noodles, but they don't have the crunchy bits, which the crunchy bits are a bit like a, like a crackling would be the best way to describe them. And that just gives that dish an extra texture for want of a better description. So look for that in the Cau Lao. 

Next in Hoi An would be the white rose dumplings. Believe it or not, my history with White Rose Dumplings goes back to 2007 and I was doing a foodie tour at the time and it was my introduction really to Vietnam and from there, well, you know my history. So we went to this very, very plain, very ordinary kind of style restaurant, but it was famous for white rose dumplings. And you could actually get to work with some of the staff to help make the dumplings. So, you know, getting to mould the dough around the dumpling and all that. It's not an overly what I call sensuously delicious meal. But it's all about your dipping sauce. So when you you eat the dumpling, which is normally steamed and you dip it in the sauce, that that's the goal. That's the ticket, people. And as I said, traditional to Hoi An. So we've got Hoi An down pat, but you know, like this isn't the end of the story. 

Jumping to Saigon. So you land in Saigon and everything goes pow. Wow. There's just food everywhere. More flavors, more energy and a bit more sweetness. Two you'll see everywhere. I'm considering how to put this in the episode because I've kind of stuck to fur mostly when I've gone to Saigon for like a breakfast because the fur there is just, it's just delicious. It's got, once again, a different flavour to the fur that I would have in other places. And it's got a sweetness, I think, that pulls me in. More recently, I've come to favour a dish called, now, once again, excuse my pronunciation, but I think it's called Com Tam And this dish is is really now my new fave. It's made with broken rice, grilled pork, egg and you kind of add pickles to it. It's quite filling. It's fast. It's very local. The pork is king. And when you mix in the egg with the rice, the different texture of the rice just makes it work with the pickled vegetables. So I haven't really got a background to how or what the process is for broken rice. But somehow that rice then blends more easily with the egg. And then when you add maybe a little bit of fish sauce to it and you have the pork, which is just a, you know, like a surprising addition, which is extremely tasty. And you'll see people in Saigon look for this dish as probably more of a breakfast dish or a brunch dish. Some people will say that they don't even start it till 10 because they've got to do the barbecuing of the pork. So, you'll once again have your nose pointing you in directions that cover that and you'll get a bit of a spectrum of the places that will sell it. So, you know, it'll still be in quite well set up restaurants but, you know, the best will probably be in fairly simple, fairly localized looking places and your nose will be your best friend. 

My best experience of my next dish for Saigon is Banh Xeo. Now, this has got to be my hero dish. Ask any friend of mine, ask anyone that I travel with. I will talk to the top of the town about Banh Xeo, spelt B-A-N-H. Second word, XEO. My best experience of this was on a foodie tour just even recently with Kiss Tours. Yes, this is a free shout out for Kiss Tours. This tour took me to a very simple place, but the pancake was huge, like I'm talking arms outstretched wide and crispy and delicious. I just want to mention about Kiss Tours, which is an interesting Vespa tour with girls. The girls literally take you on the tour. They're all dressed in their beautiful Ao Dai's and they're extremely knowledgeable and just a delight to travel with amongst a chaotic, busy city. And I can't say enough about them. They were just fabulous and I think one for you to look at. Back to the Banh Xeo. 

So it's freshly made crisp with pork, shrimp and herbs. So you kind of get it as a folded pancake. You wrap it up, you kind of pull pieces away from it and then you wrap it up and you then dip it in a sauce. It's generally gluten free, so vegetarian also very doable here. And this is where the French influence really shows up, especially through things like, you know, and I'm not covering it in this show, but barn me. Saigon food really matches the city. It doesn't hold back. The city thrives on variety and levels. And I want you to make food fun. 

There are thousands of influencers telling you where to go. So don't hold back. Definitely leave room in your tummy for plenty of variety. And I mention this because the leaving room in your tummy gets a bit difficult because you'll start your day from your hotel. And most hotels will include breakfast and a plentiful breakfast. I'm not talking about just a simple piece of toast or a croissant and, you know, some light fruit, although there's some that do that. Most of them have quite an array of dishes that you can enjoy for breakfast. So then if you're out in the streets and you're going through your day and your tummy's already full, trying to find room to experience these dishes can be quite challenging. So I'm just mentioning that is you maybe want to go a little bit lighter on your breakfast if you're having a foodie day. 

Now I'm going to jump to Hue. Now this one shifts again in Hue. It's more refined, more structured. You definitely can feel the imperial history in the food. Look, once again, Hue has expanded its variety of foods, but there is a well-known fact, if I can say that word, that Hue was kind of the king or the city of note about food, that it was known for, you know, putting together very traditional dishes and there was always great praise in the traditions that they prepared interesting and very, very flavoursome food for the imperial kings of the time. So when you think of whey, definitely, probably you expand your testing of food there, as you will find a lot in variety of very traditional dishes. Today, I'm going to talk about Bun Bo and it's once again a spicy beef noodle soup. It's definitely handy for those cooler times of the year. For me personally, it's a bit too much in the heat because it is quite spicy and quite hot. It's richer than pho, it's much more got a deeper or denser attitude to the broth. So it's got a kind of a more layered feeling to it when you're digesting it and when you're tasting it. But definitely one to try. The next one is a different pancake, different to bangzhou, but it's called bangkou. Now I'm going to spell this because my pronunciation is so poor. So it's ban, B-A-N-H. And it's K-H-O-A-I. It's a thicker pancake served with peanut sauce, which is why it gets my vote, because I love peanut sauce. Again, mostly gluten free. 

Huefor vegetarians would be a definite one I would add. If I'm looking after your trip and you tell me you're gluten-free, I'm probably going to steer you to, you know, spending a little bit more time in Hue to experiment with food because there is such a great variety in the vegetarian area. You know, food here feels very intentional and it's probably due to that, you know, those Buddhist roots. Now moving further afield and, you know, I'm going to cover now more your coastal areas. So that's, you know, your Fuqua, your Da Nang, Nha Trang, Muni, Quy Nhon. You know, these areas are absolutely bountiful in seafood. very simple, basic. So when you see the tanks and you see the great kind of variety of those tanks and those big tubs of seafood, that's where you're going to see a lot of them. They literally just line the streets all next door to each other and you have the ability as a person to Think a little bit differently about seafood see for me when I think about seafood and good quality seafood and your high-end Seafood so like your lobster and your prawns and maybe speciality fishes maybe oysters and things like that and You know, you're talking in Australia quite expensive to eat that caliber of seafood or certainly to eat it in any plentiful level. So when I see the tubs and that, I think, oh gosh, it's going to cost me a lot of money. But you'll be amazed just how affordable it is and then your choices of how you want it cooked. So for these regions, you know, like I can remember, I went to a place in the Trang and it was chock-a-block full of people. And I thought, you know, here, good sign. And they had lobster on the menu. And I thought, damn it, I'm going to have it. And I could order lobster Thermidor. So you could have it fresh or you could just have it with lemon or grilled or whatever. But I chose to to have it Thermador. Oh, my God. I was just blown away. And I think it cost me something like about, I don't know, 12 Australian dollars as an example. 

So when you go to these areas, don't feel like, oh, gosh, you know, you're not going to be afford this place because it's it's seafood and you know, you're coming with that thinking. You know, really ask them about how much it is and what options there are for how you want it cooked. And once again, gluten free. Just watch the sauces. The sauces may not be vegetarian in these areas is a bit more limited, but still manageable. But this is where Vietnam shows off its value for money, in my opinion. Now I'm going to Do a strange thing, just jump north. I'm just going to go right up to Sapa and food up there becomes very rustic, very local. So you're going to get, you know, kind of more traditional stews. So one is called Thangko, T-H-A-N-G, second word C-O. It's a very traditional stew, very authentic. It's not for everyone and I've got to admit I haven't had great success in trying food in Sapa. I've had limited time in Sapa and I've probably leaned towards kind of more familiar dishes because I'm just basically starving because I've done lots of trekking. But definitely for Sapa that would be one. And then interestingly enough, there's a salmon hot pot. It's farmed, the salmon is farmed locally in the mountains. Most of this is naturally gluten-free. Once again a bit harder, but not impossible and the food in Sapa is definitely shaped more by climate and culture If you want more on Sapa I really have to go and dig a bit deeper with my contacts in the region to get you a deeper menu as I've got to admit and I want to keep it real that my experience in Sapa with food is is only is limited, to be honest. So just keep Sapa up there, but also think about being very traditional to kind of that authentic, those minority groups and kind of their basic, simple skills in cooking food many times for when it's quite cold. All right, now, here's something that people don't expect. 

When you think about Vietnam and you want to do some comparisons on food with maybe other countries that you've visited, like for me, when I compare it against, you know, places like Japan or Korea or Italy, In those countries, you're largely limited to eating their own cuisine. Like that's it. There's no other choices. When you go to Japan, it's mostly Japanese. When you go to Italy, and I've spent a lot of time in Italy, you know, by the end of it, I just can't face another pizza. I can't face another dish that's got pasta. And, you know, typically the same sources. So I go a bit burko when I'm stuck in a country where you are just limited to their own cuisine, be it that it's grand at the time. In Vietnam, of course, you get Vietnamese food. We've just discovered that through the cities I've been talking about. But it's also layered with French, Chinese and broader Asian influences. And then on top of that, modern cafes, international food and just some amazing, talented fusion chefs that are now coming into the country and taking advantage of the the bountiful level of herbs that they can add to their dishes. And you just get just an array of flavors. It's not one style. It's a mix. So I mention this to you to stay open as you're always going to find even Western food. Like at the end of the day, I've got kids and on occasions, they're just going to want chips. Is that bad of me to say? Probably is. But you know, chips still can be found in Vietnam. You know, you're not going to find them probably in Sa Pa as much, or you're not going to find them in some rural areas like, you know, I don't think I found any chips on the menu when I was in Yen Bai, but you're certainly going to find it in the major cities. So, you know, Western food can be something you think is going to be hard to get, but you're really going to be surprised at just how plentiful it is because the 

Vietnamese like Western food and they want to include it in their list of being able to prepare and deliver for Western travelers. The other thing I want to just, you know, use in my kind of summary or, you know, how I want to finish off this episode is I want you to give some thought to cooking classes and food tours. If you're thinking about doing a food tour or a cooking class, I'd say definitely yes, do it. And possibly more than one, maybe one for each location or city or region that you visit, because I have a strong belief that food connects you. It connects you to the locals. It connects you to tradition and heritage. It helps you understand the country a lot better. So, you know, I think as an experience for a traveler, it brings a learning and a joy that someone is explaining to you why the herbs matter. how the sources balance out a meal, where the ingredients come from. You don't just eat the food anymore, you actually get to understand it and that changes everything. And you know, like I've done lots of cooking tours and food tours and I continue to add them to my experiences as many times as I go back and forth to Vietnam. Because I'm learning still, even after as many times as I've been, I'm finding nuances in the food that someone will just remember to tell in their story of the food that they're dishing up to me and including in the tour. I just go, damn, I didn't know that. That was really helpful to learn. Because, you know, that culture matters. It is intrinsic to Vietnam. 

Food in Vietnam, it's not rushed. It's shared. You're invited to share a meal with a local, definitely say yes to that. And, you know, tours where you can get to experience, you know, a homestay or a homestay visit with a family where they're playing an authentic role of showing you how they would set up a meal and how they you know, want to bring you into their family experience through food. It's social. It's about being present. and everything this country has been through, food is valued. It's a reason to sit down, to be thankful and grateful. There's no real like holiness or you're not going to, you know, break out into prayers per se, but you will feel a, I think the word is reverence to food. That's why you'll see a lot of Instagrammers doing photos and You know, for probably an older Vietnamese, they're just grateful for that meal at the table, able to bring that to their family. It brings joy. It brings laughter. Sometimes it's connected to to beer or rice wine. So, you know, it's a really joyous occasion to enjoy a meal in Vietnam. And you'll feel that pretty quickly. So when you're planning your trip, don't just think about where you're going. 

Think about what you're going to eat and where that belongs and where that fits into your planning. Because in Vietnam, Food holds the stories to its history, its cultural background. Some of your best travel moments won't come from what you see, they'll come from what's placed in front of you, on a small table, on a plastic chair, somewhere you almost walked right past. So today that kind of wraps us up talking about food and dishes that I think you should try when you are in Vietnam as the specialties to those regions. Please keep following us on the show. It's really great to have you with me. I love getting your feedback. You know, drop me that email, send me that message through the message tool on the website. Sing out with a question if you have it, more than happy to answer. And of course, you know, when I'm planning trips, I get so much joy in listening to the things that you relate to, that you want help with, that I can guide you through them and make your trip just maybe that little bit more special. Until next time, enjoy your stay in Vietnam.

www.whataboutvietnam.com