Regional specialties

Cao Bang cured sausage: mountain sun, spices and a kitchen in the cold season

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Cao Bang cured sausage appeals through its deeply savoury meat, its measured amount of translucent fat and the smell of smoke or sun that belongs to the mountain climate. Behind each sausage lies a ..

28/10/2026
4,868

Bo Dau banh chung: the green square cake at the crossroads into Thai Nguyen

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Bo Dau banh chung belongs to the Phu Luong area of Thai Nguyen, where these green squares are made all year round and become a gift for anyone passing through the gateway to the tea country. Glutino ..

21/10/2026
4,888

Me xung from Hue: chewy malt, toasted sesame and the slow rhythm of tea

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Me xung evokes Hue through the chew of its malt syrup, the nuttiness of the peanuts and the coating of fragrant toasted sesame. The piece is small, but to get the pull just right — not running, not ..

15/10/2026
5,089

Hue vegetarian food: why is something so plain still so layered in flavour?

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Hue vegetarian food is not simply a meat dish with the meat taken out. Vegetables, mushrooms, beans, seeds and the way things are seasoned are arranged so the meal has its own colour, texture and rh ..

13/10/2026
4,799

Fish sauce on the table across the three regions: from how it is mixed to what it is eaten with

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Fish sauce is both a seasoning in the kitchen and a dipping bowl on the table, but the proportions, the additions and the dishes it goes with change by region, by season and by household. The dippin ..

10/10/2026
4,934

Cao Bang banh cuon: a thin rice sheet eaten with a bowl of hot broth on the frontier

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Cao Bang banh cuon surprises anyone used to dipping it in fish sauce: here it is eaten with a bowl of hot bone broth, which may hold pork roll, minced pork and herbs. The thin, soft sheet meeting th ..

09/10/2026
5,087

Bánh cuốn across the three regions: the same thin sheet, a different way of eating it

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Rice batter, steam and a skilled pair of hands make the thin sheet, but the filling, the accompaniments and the dipping sauce give banh cuon a different voice in every locality. The sheet is the par ..

06/10/2026
5,208

What is it about a Vietnamese rainy-season meal that people far from home never forget?

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - The sound of rain makes a kitchen feel smaller, and the smell of a braise or a hot soup seems to stand out more. A rainy-season meal is remembered not for a lavish menu but for the feeling of being ..

04/10/2026
5,108

Banh cay from Thai Binh: from toasted sticky rice and malt syrup to a sweet beside the teacup

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Banh cay is a well-known gift sweet from Thai Binh, memorable for a slice woven together from toasted sticky rice, sesame, peanuts, candied fruit and a binding layer of malt syrup. The piece is smal ..

03/10/2026
5,205

Why do Mekong Delta kitchens so often combine sweet, sour and hot in one dish?

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Sweet, sour and hot in a Mekong Delta kitchen are not three separate straight lines. They are adjusted so as to lift the fish, the vegetables, the fruit and the broth, reflecting what the region pro ..

01/10/2026
4,789

Central Vietnamese breakfasts: small servings that still carry enough energy

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - A central Vietnamese breakfast may be just a bowl of noodles, a bowl of banh canh or a plate of small cakes, yet the structure usually carries enough starch, protein, vegetables and broth to start a ..

28/09/2026
5,121

Banh da cua of Hai Phong: red noodles and a bowl of crab broth with the port city's character

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Banh da cua from Hai Phong is recognisable at once by its reddish-brown noodles, its field-crab broth and the green of the vegetables and wild betel leaf. A bowl may be plain or have fritters, prawn ..

25/09/2026
4,978

How do home meals differ across Vietnam's three regions in what is chosen and how it is seasoned?

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Saying that the north is delicate, the centre bold and the south sweet is only a very rough generalisation. Real meals change with the province, the season, the household and its means; the more int ..

24/09/2026
4,811

Following a Saigon breakfast: from banh mi to cloth-filter coffee

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Breakfast in Saigon happens fast but is not careless: a banh mi finished in a few minutes, a cup of cloth-filter coffee dripping from years of practised rhythm, and a low stool that is enough for a ..

21/09/2026
5,118

Tuong Ban of Hung Yen: from soybeans and toasted glutinous rice to the taste of the northern delta

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Tuong Ban is a thick amber-brown sauce, salty and sweet at once, with the fermented aroma characteristic of Ban Yen Nhan in Hung Yen. From soybeans, glutinous rice, salt and water, the makers build ..

18/09/2026
5,081

What can you eat in Hanoi for a day on a budget of about 300,000 dong?

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Three hundred thousand dong is not a fixed figure for every occasion, but it is enough to plan a day of eating in Hanoi with breakfast, lunch, a light bite and dinner — provided you pick modest plac ..

17/09/2026
5,248

Three Regions' Specialties & Country Gifts - Part 3: Southern Specialties

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Ola88's cross-Vietnam specialty discovery journey has finally reached its destination. The final region we visit is the South; Saigon and the Southwestern provinces are not only ideal tourist destin ..

15/08/2026
5,047

Characteristics of Northern Vietnamese Cuisine

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Vietnam is divided into three geographical regions: North, Central, and South. Although they share common traits in their dining styles, each region retains distinct characteristics, creating a uniq ..

07/08/2026
4,939

Southern Delicacies. Part 13: Tay Ninh

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Although Trang Bang tapioca noodle soup and pork-rolled rice paper have appeared in many places, come all the way to Tay Ninh to savor the authentic taste of the Southeast region. Trang Bang rice pa ..

07/08/2026
4,969