As mentioned above, Hue is the land of many unstoppable food, varying from the luxurious dishes for the noble to the simplest ones for the commoners. Bun Bo Hue might be the ones for the rich, as it comprises many expensive ingredients which were hard to acquire in the past such as beef, pork and so on. This part of the series will mention both groups to give you a clearer view of Hue cuisine, as well as provide you more eating choices when visiting this town. enjoy cuisine  Hue with: cruise on mekong river
Banh Loc Tran

This cake is one of the most favorite dishes. As many people know that Hue lies next to Huong River, which provides this citadel an enormous amount of underwater animals such as shrimp, fish and so on. Therefore, besides bean and its family trees, this had become the main source of protein for commoners. Later, many scientists have proven in their studies that eating those foods is better than consuming meat such as chicken, beef or lamb. So, in somehow, the poor had a healthier diet than the rich in the past.

Now, enough of the old stories, let me tell you about the dish made for the poor but desired by the rich: Banh Loc Tran.

Based on what I have just mentioned, can you guess what it is stuffed with? Of course, it is shrimp; and in some more modern variation, some pork is used as well. And because the lack of oil in the past, the commoner’s food was often cooked by just boiled water. This case has no difference. Indochina travel tours

After being cooked, this is served with chopped green spring onion and crispy shallot. Like other dishes coming from this land, this dish also has its own soup to eat with named nuoc mam pha spooned over the top. Nuoc mam pha is some kind of fish sauce and other local ingredients.

Nem Lui

Anyway, Hue is an imperial city, and the need to satisfy the appetite of the King and his wife was priority. People got rich or got killed just because of this point. So now, I will introduce another royal dish, Nem Lui.

Like other foods in this beautiful city, Nem Lui is served with variety of herbs and special sauce. Basically, the sauce is made of peanut and peanut butter, so if you are allergic to this nut, please be careful.

Nem Lui main part is a sausage made of pork, or beef, sugar, fish sauce, and garlic around a stalk of lemon grass. After that, this is grilled over charcoal, so it has a special fragrant of this burning material, which is quite attractive itself.

When eating, you can wrap the sausage and many other vegetables like slices of cucumber, young mango, pickled strings of carrots, and a pile of herbs. After that, you just need to hold the whole package carefully and then dip it into the sauce. Please remember to pull out the lemon grass skewer before enjoying it.

Basically you can eat those foods any time in a year; and to me, the best places to enjoy the best dishes of Hue cuisine are street vendors. However, it is quite risky for foreigners if it is the first time you visit the imperial city. So it might be more prudent if you can book a reliable tour, which can give you the real insights in Hue food without worrying about your stomach.

I hope that you have got some interesting information and of course, I wish you and your beloved travel mates a wonderful trip in Vietnam, especially in Hue, a beautiful city. Please remember to enjoy Hue’s food while staying there, both the “luxurious” ones as well as the “ordinary” ones. Maybe, you will be like me who fall in love in this lovely town’s cuisine.

See more:

Where to go in Ho Chi Minh City

One-day trip in Hoi An

Enjoy Clear Rice Noodle Soup (Hu Tieu) in Vietnam

I Love Vietnam