Top 10 culinary specialities of southern Vietnam to discover absolutely!

From North to South Vietnam, Vietnamese cuisine offers different flavours and combinations. Discover the culinary richness of Southern Vietnam through its 10 specialities to absolutely discover!

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1. Seafood hotpot

Southern Vietnam is known for its many types of seafood, so Lau is a very popular dish. This is a pot containing broth placed in the middle of the table on a stove in which we cook strips of fish, cuttlefish, shrimp, crab but also raw vegetables (lettuce, mustard leaves, aromatic leaves, star fruit, onions, and bean sprouts).

When the broth is well reduced and has absorbed the flavours of seafood and vegetables, noodles are added. On Phu Quoc Island, you will have the opportunity to taste this famous Vietnamese hotpot, a culinary speciality of Southern Vietnam.

2. Com tam

This very popular dish, especially adored in Saigon, is made from broken grains of rice, a cheaper calibre of rice produced during grain threshing.

This broken rice is accompanied by roast pork, crispy cubes of pork fat delicately flavoured with grilled rice powder, grilled pork loin or ribs, steamed omelette or fried egg and sweet and sour vegetables, usually slices of plain cucumber. All drizzled with chive oil and prepared with sweet and sour nuoc mam sauce.

3. Chao ca loc

Chao ca loc is a porridge-like rice soup made from snakehead fish, a delicious and nutritious dish very popular with Vietnamese for breakfast.

This dish is served with mushrooms, bitter vegetables, bean sprouts, onions and shallots. Some variations add other ingredients like shrimp. You can find chao ca loc on the breakfast buffet of some upscale hotels.

4. Banh xeo

This crispy and very tasty Vietnamese pancake is made from rice flour and turmeric. Pan-fried and folded in half, it's garnished with sliced or minced pork, shrimp and bean sprouts.

Banh xeo is eaten with mustard leaves or salad leaves as well as various aromatic herbs and a sauce made from nuoc mam. Banh xeo from Southern Vietnam is distinguished by the addition of coconut milk in its paste.

5. Hu tieu

Hu tieu is the signature soup of Saigon, the capital of Southern Vietnam, as is Pho for Hanoi. This soup with Chinese and Cambodian origins, a specialty of My Tho in the Mekong Delta, is composed of a clear broth made from pork bones to which is added rice noodles, pork meat, shrimp and quail eggs. It’s a soup that can be enjoyed all day long, for breakfast, lunch or a light dinner.

6. Goi cuon

Fresh and light, spring or summer rolls (Goi = salad (generic) / cuon = roll) from Southern Vietnam, are one of the most popular Vietnamese dishes outside the country.

These delicious Vietnamese spring rolls are traditionally made with rice vermicelli, slices of pork belly, shrimps, bean sprouts, mint and sometimes accompanied by other aromatic herbs, a stalk of garlic chives, all rolled up in a thin pancake of raw rice paper.

7. Bun ca

Bun ca or fish soup is a speciality of the Mekong Delta, the Mecca of fish farming in Vietnam.

It is a rice vermicelli soup accompanied by grilled fish, tomatoes, vegetables, shrimp and a fragrant broth of steaming fish. This dish is very popular with gourmets and those looking for a nice picture, for its cacophony of colourful ingredients.

8. Elephant ear fish

This is an essential dish from the Mekong Delta region that will be served to you in a restaurant or during a cruise on the mythical Asian river. The fish is fried and then served vertically on a wooden display.

Each guest cuts a piece of fish and then arranges it in a rice cake, with a little salad, mint and finely cut vegetables and fruits. It is then rolled into a small roll that we then dip in a sauce. It's fresh, light and delicious!

9. Banh mi

The famous Vietnamese style sandwich known throughout the world originates from the South of Vietnam and more precisely from Saigon.

In a crunchy baguette made from rice flour into which we add carrots and white radish marinated in vinegar and grated, cilantro, soy sauce and meat prepared in the local style or fried eggs or omelette. Banh mi can be eaten at any time of the day and will satisfy small appetites.

10. Banh pia

Let's finish on a sweet note with this Vietnamese pastry made with durian, grated pork fat, salted egg yolk, mung bean paste, taro and coconut.

This sweet treat is said to have appeared in the 17th century in Soc Trang province with the arrival of immigrants from Southern China. Originally made at home, it is made with ingredients that are abundant in the region.

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