11 recipes
A balanced, elegant Southeast Asian cuisine that celebrates lightness and freshness through clear broths, rice noodles and platters of fresh herbs.
Read its storyVietnam's national soup: a clear beef broth simmered for hours with charred onion, ginger, star anise and cinnamon, served over rice noodles with thinly sliced beef and fresh herbs.
Vietnam's famous sandwich: a crisp baguette filled with grilled lemongrass chicken, quick-pickled carrot and radish, cucumber, cilantro and mayonnaise.
Light, fresh Vietnamese rolls of shrimp, rice vermicelli, lettuce and plenty of herbs wrapped in rice paper and served with a peanut dipping sauce.
A Hanoi classic of smoky, caramelized grilled patties served in a warm sweet-sour fish sauce broth with rice noodles and plenty of fresh herbs.
An easy Vietnamese home-style dish of chicken thighs stir-fried with finely minced lemongrass, garlic and chili until caramelized, served with rice.
Strong, intense Vietnamese coffee slowly dripped through a small metal phin filter, stirred with sweetened condensed milk and poured over ice.
Crisp Vietnamese fried spring rolls filled with chicken, shrimp, glass noodles and vegetables, wrapped in rice paper.
Vietnamese grilled chicken marinated in lemongrass, garlic and fish sauce, then charred over coals or roasted until caramelised.
Crisp-edged Vietnamese crêpes made with rice flour, coconut milk and turmeric, filled with shrimp and bean sprouts.
A light Mekong Delta soup balancing sour and sweet with tamarind, pineapple and tomato, cooked with white fish and vegetables.
A Vietnamese classic of cubed beef seared in a smoking-hot pan, glossed with butter and garlic and served over fresh greens.
Vietnamese cooking took shape in the fertile rice paddies of the Red River and Mekong deltas. Rice appears not only as steamed grains but also as noodles, paper-thin rice wrappers (bánh tráng) and vermicelli. Fermented fish sauce (nước mắm) is the cuisine's signature, lending saltiness and savoury depth to almost every dish.
For long stretches of its history Vietnam was under Chinese influence, which left chopsticks, wok cooking, soy products and noodles. French colonial rule, from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, introduced the baguette, butter, pâté and a coffee culture. The Vietnamese reshaped these influences to suit their own taste: filling the French baguette with pickled vegetables, coriander and chilli, they created bánh mì. The world-famous noodle soup phở is generally believed to have appeared in the north in the early 20th century; a link between its name and the French "pot-au-feu" is often suggested, but it is not certain.
Northern Vietnam, especially Hanoi, is known for clean, clear flavours, and phở is eaten here in its purest form. The central region, home to the old imperial capital Huế, is known for refined court dishes and spicier food; the chilli-laced noodle soup bún bò Huế is its emblem. The south and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) offer a sweeter, more abundant style, with more sugar, coconut and tropical fruit.
The secret of Vietnamese food is freshness. Coriander, mint, Thai basil, other leafy herbs and lettuce arrive by the plateful alongside almost every meal. Nước chấm, a dipping sauce of fish sauce, lime, sugar, garlic and chilli, sits at the centre of the table. Clear broths simmered for hours with bones and spices, grilled meats and fresh rolls wrapped without cooking are the core techniques. Boiling and grilling are favoured over deep-frying, so the food tends to be light.
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