Explore

Every kitchen on the shelf, where it cooks.
Cooked hereWaiting for its first cookEach shape is its balance — salt, acid, heat, savoury, fat, sweet, clockwise from the top.
ChinaIndiaIndonesiaFranceSpainThaiVietnameseMalaysianFilipinoJapaneseKoreanSri LankanLevantinePersianTurkishGeorgianMoroccanEthiopianNigerianCape MalayItalianGreekPolishNordic and Baltic ryeMexicanCreole and CajunJamaicanPeruvianBrazilianThe cocktail barHanoiHuếHội AnSaigonThe Mekong Delta
5 places in Vietnamese — touch one for what it's known for.
Vietnam · its own page

Vietnamese

Clear broths, fish sauce and a plate of fresh herbs: a cooking of contrasts — hot and cool, soft and crisp — finished by each person at the table.

Where it comes from

About a thousand years of Chinese rule, ending in the tenth century, left chopsticks, noodles, soy and the wok; the south, long in contact with Khmer and Cham kingdoms, took more coconut, sugar and spice. Fish sauce, from a very long coastline, runs under all of it.

French rule from the nineteenth century brought baguettes, coffee, butter and pâté, and each was made Vietnamese rather than kept French. The country cooks in three accents: the north plainer and peppery, Huế in the centre hot and elaborate from its old royal kitchens, the south sweeter and heavy with herbs.

Where in it

  1. HanoiThe capital of the north, where the cooking is plainer and peppery and eaten on the pavement: phở in the morning, bún chả at lunch, whole streets once known for a single dish.PhởBún chả
  2. HuếThe old imperial capital: small, finely made dishes from the royal kitchens, more chilli than anywhere else in Vietnam, and a famous sweet tooth for chè.Bún bò HuếChè
  3. Hội AnAn old river port where Japanese and Chinese merchants once settled; its best-known dish, cao lầu, is hardly made anywhere else.Cao lầu
  4. SaigonHồ Chí Minh City, the south's big, busy city, sweeter and more herb-laden than the north: bánh mì from the bakeries, broken rice from dawn, fresh rolls on every corner.Bánh mìCơm tấmGỏi cuốn
  5. The Mekong DeltaRice paddies, orchards and floating markets: coconut runs through the cooking, in braises like thịt kho and big, crisp bánh xèo, with fish from the rivers and canals.Bánh xèoThịt kho

How it cooks

Nước chấm
Fish sauce, lime, sugar, water, garlic and chilli, stirred to taste — dip, dressing and seasoning at once.
The herb plate
Lettuce, mint, basil, perilla and more on the table, torn into the bowl or wrapped round each mouthful.
Charring aromatics
Onion and ginger blackened over a flame before they go into a broth, for sweetness and a smoky depth.
Kho
Braising in fish sauce and sugar cooked to a dark caramel, until the liquid is salty, sticky and brown.

Always in the kitchen

fish saucerice noodlesrice paperjasmine riceshallotgarliclemongrassbird's eye chillilimesugarmintThai basilperillafried shallots

Cook from it

Tonight, with what's good in October

Its classics

VietnamesePhởFlat rice noodles in a clear, spiced beef broth, with thin slices of beef and a handful of herbs.No one here has made it yetVietnameseBánh mìA light, crackling-crusted baguette filled with pâté, cold cuts or grilled meat, pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, coriander and chilli.No one here has made it yetVietnameseBún chảGrilled pork patties and pork belly in a warm, sweet-sour fish sauce dressing, with cold rice noodles and herbs.No one here has made it yetVietnameseGỏi cuốnRice paper wrapped round prawns, pork, rice noodles, lettuce and herbs, eaten fresh with a dipping sauce.No one here has made it yetVietnameseThịt khoPork belly and hard-boiled eggs braised in fish sauce, dark caramel and coconut water until glossy and brown.No one here has made it yetVietnameseChèA family of sweet soups and puddings — beans, jellies, fruit or tapioca in syrup or coconut milk, hot or over ice.No one here has made it yetVietnameseNước chấmFish sauce thinned with water, sharpened with lime, sweetened with sugar, with garlic and chilli floating on top.No one here has made it yetVietnameseBún bò HuếThick, round rice noodles in a beef and pork broth sharp with lemongrass, deepened with fermented shrimp paste and reddened with chilli oil.No one here has made it yetVietnameseCao lầuFirm, yellowish noodles with slices of soy-braised pork, crisp squares of fried noodle dough and herbs, in just a spoonful of rich broth.No one here has made it yetVietnameseCơm tấmBroken rice with a grilled lemongrass pork chop, shredded pork skin, a slice of steamed egg and pork loaf, pickles and nước chấm.No one here has made it yetVietnameseBánh xèoA thin, crisp pancake of rice flour, coconut milk and turmeric, folded round pork, prawns and bean sprouts, wrapped in leaves and herbs and dipped in nước chấm.No one here has made it yet

How it got here

French rule · from France to SaigonBread and coffeeFrench rule brought baguettes, coffee, butter and pâté. Saigon's bakers made the bread lighter and filled it their own way — and bánh mì was born.Bánh mì →
1954 · from Hanoi to SaigonPhởWhen the country was divided, northerners moving south took phở with them. In Saigon it gained bean sprouts, herbs and sauces on the table.Phở →

Cooked here

No one here has cooked Vietnamese yet.