Have you ever tried Bun Cha? If not, it is definitely one dish to put on your list. Although it is not one of my favorite foods, it has become a favorite to many foreigners around the world.
But why do most like it? The answer is its unique taste. It’s something you can’t really describe. It’s like asking someone what dirt tastes like…it tastes like dirt? I mean, how do you respond to that question? The best way I can describe it is that it has a sweet and sour flavor to it.
The sauce tastes a little sour, but with the amount of sugar added, you barely discern that tart flavor.
If you ask around, about 90 percent of the people will tell you that the sauce is what makes Bun Cha so amazing. Many people in Vietnam can tell if the Bun Cha is good or bad just by the tasting it.
I guess it is the same way with me and barbeque. I know I do not like barbecue chicken without the barbecue sauce; it just tastes bland. Many people consider the sauce a delicacy. But I feel the meat is the most delicious part, and that is what will make or break the food for me.
Bun cha contains minced pork shoulder with strips of pork belly. Now before you make any weird faces or squeamish squeals, it is actually quite excellent. Meat is usually the highlight of the dish, and I would not be eating it if there was no meat. You add it to the sourish-sweet tasting sauce — the sweet and sour mix creates an amazing sensation.
Inside the sauce, there are pickled vegetables. These vegetables include either onions or carrots, which helps with the sour taste.
Every Vietnamese meal is not complete without vegetables. So you have a ton of greens put on the side to add it the sauce. For Bun Cha, the greens include cabbage, thai basil, cilantro, fish mint, and coriander.
The best thing for you is that not every Bun Cha is the same. Everyone makes a different Bun Cha. Even though they use the same ingredients, they use different portions. So if you ever eat at one place, that bun cha will be totally different from the one you tasted next door. Pretty neat right?
This food is absolutely mouthwatering.
Now that you have decided to try it let’s look at how we eat the food.
How do you eat Bun Cha
Has someone ever given you food and you have no idea how to eat it? Well, Bun cha is something that you wouldn’t know how to eat if given.
When you first get your plate, everything is on the side, including the nicely cut noodles and the crispy vegetables. The only thing inside is the meat. Vietnamese people marinate and soak the pork in the sauce. Who puts bland noodles as a side dish, it just seems weird, but this is the way Vietnamese make bun cha.
Have you ever eaten the food the wrong way and gotten the weirdest stares? I know I have, but the cool thing about bun cha is that there is no correct way to eat it, just commonly accepted methods.
The northern way (which is where I am):
You take a small number of noodles and vegetables with your chopsticks and drop them into the sauce. If you take too much, they will tell you; you are doing it wrong, trust me that has happened to me before. Then then you stir letting the noodles and vegetables soak up the sauce. You then eat. You continue to repeat until you have eaten everything, or at least everything that you want to eat.
The Southern Way:
I have never been to the South, but I have heard they eat it in a completely different way. In the South everything, but the meat to the side. You take your cabbage or lettuce roll the noodles, pork, and anything else inside it. Then you dip it all into the broth. In the north, it is a broth, but in the South, I would consider it more of a dipping sauce. So if you do not know how to use chopsticks, this is undoubtedly the best way to do it. I have never experienced this before, but I will try and see what reactions I get from the Northerners.
Where can you find good Bun Cha:
I honestly would love to answer that question, but everyone has a different taste. You might like pizza (my favorite food other than cheese), but your friend might not. But some of the places that I have been too and would positively recommend are.
- Two Bun Cha places on 89 and 91 Phao Dai Lang right next to each other. They compete with each other to get customers, so they will throw something in for free. I would recommend going to one of those places. 91 is definitely better than 88 Phao Dai Lang.
Of course, you can always go to the Bun Cha place that Obama ate at; I am sure it has grown in publicity since he first came.
If you want to try different places, then definitely travel to areas outside the city. They will always try to match the taste of the locals. Which without a doubt will be different from what you ate in Hanoi.
The History:
If you are curious about when Bun Cha became famous or when the Vietnamese invented it, don’t waste your time. No one really knows. But if you ask around, you will always find that it originated in Hanoi and has been around for at least 60 years.
In the old days, they would only eat bun cha during lunch, but nowadays, you can get Bun Cha for all three meals. I have only eaten it for lunch and dinner, butwould not recommend eating it for breakfast as it is not a breakfast food, in my opinion.
I interviewed random people trying to find out why they serve bun cha for all three meals now. They told me two different stories — the first story being that a few years ago it was not that popular. You could only find it at lunch, but as time went on, it became more and more popular. As it became more popular, it changed to both daytime and nighttime so that they could make more money.
The other reason was because of a culture thing. Vietnamese prefer to eat food with soup, like Pho or Bun Rieu for dinner because it is hot and easier to digest at night. But as time went on, more and more tourists came to Vietnam and wanted to try Bun Cha during the day. So it soon became an all-day thing.
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