When traveling in Hue City, Vietnam, besides visiting beautiful landscapes, plenty of visitors choose to do a street food tour to taste the local dishes.
Many people believe that eating local food is a great activity to experience the culture of that destination.
Therefore, do not miss this chance to enjoy Hue culinary when visiting the imperial palaces.
Hue was an ancient capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen dynasty, from 1802 to 1945.
Hue locates in Central Vietnam, where is sunny and windy with many disadvantages in terms of location and natural conditions.
Thus, the cuisine here has its typical features; many dishes show ingenuity and sophistication in the process of cooking, but use a variety of available and standard materials to create fascinating flavors.
We will recommend some well-known dishes in Hue that you have to try to understand more about this city.
1. Bun Bo Hue – Hue beef noodle soup
Bun Bo Hue – Hue beef noodle soup is not only famous in Hue but also Vietnam and the world.
Many foreign tourists know this dish because a lot of bloggers have written about this famous dish in their blogs, newspapers, and magazines.
In the morning, you can see beef noodle shops everywhere in the city. The price is only from 20,000VND to 45,000VND per bowl, depending on the various Hue restaurants and its quality.
This typical flavor of Bun Bo Hue makes it different from other food. Its taste comes from various spices and special ingredients, such as lemongrass, chili, pepper, garlic, onion, fish sauce, a piece of ham, sausage, pork blood, a few slices of beef, and most importantly, the fresh vegetables serving when tasting it.
Addresses to taste:
- Mu Rot shop near Dieu De pagoda
- Ba Xuan, 17 Ly Thuong Kiet Street
- Bun Le at Dien Bien Phu Street
- Ba Phung noodle shop on Nguyen Du street
2. Com Hen – Clam Rice
Mentioning Hue, most people think of Com Hen, meaning clam rice or mussel rice. This dish is trendy and easy to find in many places in this city.
The main ingredients of the mussel rice are mussel or clam and rice, but the additives are quite a lot like fried pork skin, fish sauce, raw vegetables, banana flower, bean sprouts, chopped taro sticks, roasted peanuts… All items mix together to create a very typical taste.
This dish can be found everywhere, including at small alleys, streets, markets, and restaurants, and it is very cheap.
Usually, the restaurants selling mussel rice also serve both mussels and porridge. If you have an opportunity, you may try these dishes as well.
Some addresses to try this dish:
- The shops are in Con Hen Island, Vi Da
- Chao – Bun –Com Hen is in 98 Nguyen Hue Street
- Han Mac Tu street
3. Banh Canh
Banh Canh is a famous dish in Central Vietnam, but not always the same. In each province, this dish is slightly changed to suit the taste of the local people.
Banh Canh in Hue brings the unique flavor of red broth from crab and shrimp when mixed with annatto nuts to have a better color.
The noodles are also very special, soft, and not crushed. People often mention Nam Pho noodle and Ba Doi noodle.
Why is it called Nam Pho noodle? Because it is a typical dish of Nam Pho people, Phu Vang district, sold at streets in the morning or late afternoon.
Ba Doi is also called the famous banh canh at Ngo Gia Tu or Dung Van An. It is original that because of the family’s restaurant, there were few waiters; customers often had to wait longer, so they call this restaurant Ba Doi (meaning Mrs. Waiting). But, now is much faster to serve when you come to taste it.
Besides crab soup, Hue also has snakehead fish soup, also worth a try. Snakehead fish is boiled, then collected its meat and marinated.
Fish bones are finely boiled with water to make broth. This is how to create a delicious, natural sweet soup.
Addresses to taste:
- Banh Canh Nam Pho, 16 Pham Hong Thai Street
- Banh Canh Ba Doi – 34 Ngo Gia Tu Steet or 1B Duong Van An Street
4. Che Hem – Sweet Soup at the alley
Sweet soup shop in Hue is situated in a small lane, so Che Hem (meaning Sweet soup in an alley) has become a famous brand.
And probably Hue is a top place in Vietnam with the most different types of sweet soups.
There are more than 36 types of Hue sweet soup, sophisticated from cooking to serving, including green bean sweet soup, lotus seed soup, purified tapioca, purple potato… You can taste different types in most of the sweet soup shops in Hue city.
The most famous shop of sweet soup in Hue is the shop located in alley 27 on Hung Vuong street. The shop was opened in 1985, and up to now, she is over 80 years old but still has the hands to select each type of ingredient to cook sweet soup.
Address to taste: Che Hem – 27 Hung Vuong Street
5. Hue dumplings
Hue dumplings are diverse. If you come to Hue, you should try to enjoy a plate of dumplings here, and you will be surprised by the skills of the chefs in Hue.
Dumplings have different types, such as banh beo, banh uot, banh nam, banh ram it, and banh loc. All of them are delicious and interesting.
Banh Beo can be considered as the top famous dumpings; it is white, thin, and steamed in small, round cups.
Banh bot loc is made from cassava flour, filled with shrimp and fat meat, wrapped in banana or dong leaves, and steamed. Banh bot is so popular so that when visiting Hue, Vietnamese tourists often bring them home as gifts.
Addresses to taste:
- Shops on Chi Lang, Dien Bien Phu, and Nguyen Hue
- Ba Do Restaurant, 71 Nguyen Binh Khiem
- Ba Cu Restaurant, 47 Nguyen Hue
- O Huong, 148 Nguyen Hue
6. Banh Khoai – Hue Pancake
There is a very famous pancake in this city, Banh Khoai – Hue Pancake. The delicious crust is made from rice flour mixed with egg yolk; on the top of pancake are shrimps, boiled egg, bean sprouts… But, nuoc leo is a special dipping sauce creating perfect flavor for this dish.
The most delicious and famous pancake shops are near Thuong Tu gate and at Dinh Tien Hoang Street. They are Lac Thien restaurant, Lac Thanh restaurant, and Hong Mai Restaurant.
Address:
- Tai Phu – 02 Dien Bien Phu Street
- Lac Thien – 6 Dinh Tien Hoang Street
- Lac Thanh – 6 Dinh Tien Hoang Street
- Hong Mai – 110 Dinh Tien Hoang Street
7. Nem Lui – Pork skewers
Many people often say, “Nem Lui has a rich culture of Hue food.” The main ingredient is fermented pork skewered and grilled on charcoal.
The delicacy of this dish is in the accompanying vegetables and sauces made from dozens of different elements.
The vegetables include aromatic herbs, starfruit, bean sprout, green bananas, green figs … The sauce has pig liver, oil, sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce…
The famous rolls spring rolls in Hue:
- Tai Phu – 02 Dien Bien Phu Street
- Lac Thien – 6 Dinh Tien Hoang Street
- Hong Mai – 110 Dinh Tien Hoang Street
- Quan Hanh – 11 Pho Duc Chinh Street
8. Hue vegetarian food
Hue, a peaceful city, has more than 100 pagodas; this is the center of Buddhist religions.
So, it is suitable to enjoy a vegetarian meal. And vegetarian food in Hue is improved to become an artistical style.
Original materials are only from vegetables, roots, mushrooms, tofu, green beans … but the vegetarian food is served to show all the heart and effort of the persons who cook it.
Eating vegetarian meals in the temple is probably the best; you can order vegetarian food at many pagodas.
But, if you are a foreign tourist, it is better to ask for the help of a travel agent who is familiar with ranging this service.
However, the meals can be prepared at Tu Dam Pagoda on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, when the guests and Buddhist people can be invited to join the meals with the monks.
Addresses of vegetarian food to taste in Hue:
- Lien Hoa Vegetarian Restaurant, 3 Le Quy Don Street, Hue City, Vietnam
- Thien Tam Vegetarian Restaurant, 110A Le Ngo Cat Street, Hue City, Vietnam
- Thanh Lieu Vegetarian Restaurant, 50 Nguyen Cong Tru Street, Hue City, Vietnam.
9. Grilled pork vermicelli and wet rice-paper spring rolls
Grilled pork vermicelli and wet rice-paper spring rolls have the same main ingredient as barbecue pork. This dish is quite famous in Central and South Vietnam, especially in Hue City.
Meat is carefully and meticulously marinated before grilling. It becomes soft, not dry, slightly sweet taste. Then, it is used to roll with wet rice-paper to become spring rolls or serve with vermicelli. The two dishes are served with fresh vegetables and local dipping sauce.
Addresses to taste:
- 50 Kim Long, Hue City
- 02 Dien Bien Phu, Hue City
- 6 Dinh Tien Hoang, Hue City
>>> A bonus of unique food in Hue city is the pressed cake that you may want to taste it.
These are the top local food in Hue City, Vietnam, that we hope that their flavor gives you the good memories of the cuisine culture.
So do not miss an opportunity to enjoy some of them when you have a stop during your holidays in Vietnam.
