Buzz
People often choose prime cuts such as pork belly, rump, tenderloin, and shoulder of buffalo, pig, or cow for cooking. The meat is then pounded in a mortar with just enough salt to permeate it. Next, it's mixed with a type of yeast made from forest plants, and the meat is tightly wrapped and left to ferment for 2-3 days before being hung up in the kitchen.
Hanging meat in the kitchen is a specialty of Lai Chau, highly cherished as gifts by many.
Daily cooking here is done over wood fire, so using the heat from the fire will make the meat firm up, with some fat melting away. The lean meat and skin will turn a deep golden-red color. To enhance the aroma, locals also use wild mugwort or sugarcane residue to marinate the meat. When serving, simply take it out, heat it over the fire, and the meat will become tender and easy to eat. With its rich flavor, all you need to do to enjoy it fully is dip it in chili sauce.
Where to buy specialty hanging kitchen meat in Lai Chau
• San Thàng Market, Lai Châu
2. Specialty: Purple Sticky Rice from Lai Châu
If you're unsure what to eat in Lai Châu, purple sticky rice is a must-try, a roadside snack favored by many tourists. Thanks to the skillful hands of local ethnic women, purple sticky rice is made with unique secrets that not every place has. The purple color of the sticky rice is dyed with a forest plant called Khẩu cắm.
Purple Sticky Rice from Lai Châu
The ingredients for cooking sticky rice are large, fragrant, and sticky glutinous rice grains. Khẩu cắm, the dye, is made by breaking both branches and leaves, then thoroughly washing and boiling them for about 5 minutes, until the water turns purple.
People use wooden steamers made from Sung tree charcoal, as only charcoal fire gives the rice a delicious aroma. When the grains are evenly cooked, and each layer of sticky rice is a fresh purple color, soft but not sticky, emitting a fragrant aroma, the purple sticky rice dish is complete.
Where to buy Lai Châu specialty purple sticky rice
• Tam Đương Đất Market, Lai Châu, meets on Sunday mornings
3. Hoa Ban Bamboo Shoot Salad
Another delicious dish from Lai Châu to mention is the Hoa Ban bamboo shoot salad. To make this dish, you need to prepare either tender or bitter bamboo shoots, as these two types make the best salads. For bitter bamboo shoots, slice them thinly and soak them in saltwater for about 25 minutes, then boil them twice before draining. For tender bamboo shoots, simply boil and slice them thinly.
Hoa Ban bamboo shoot salad is often served for lunch and dinner in Lai Châu.
Select fresh, thick flowers for Hoa Ban, and choose a fresh, tasty stream fish, removing the flesh after grilling. Finally, mix a blend of lemon juice, chili, garlic, mint, and coriander. Gently mix all the ingredients together. All these flavors combined create a dish with distinctive taste: rich, hearty, fragrant from the grilled fish, crisp from the Hoa Ban flowers, and a subtle bitterness from the fresh bamboo shoots.
Where to buy Hoa Ban bamboo shoot salad in Lai Châu
• Black Thai, White Thai Market, Than Uyên District, Lai Châu
4. Piggyback Pig
The piggyback pig originates from the traditional husbandry practices of highland ethnic groups such as Dao, Mong, and Thai... This is a breed of pig that is raised freely without the need for intensive care.
To acquire a pair of piggyback pigs, one only needs to purchase a male and a female. Then release them into the nearby forest. The pair of pigs will roam together, forage for food, build nests in the forest, mate, and give birth to dozens of piglets.
Piggyback pigs weigh only about 4 – 25kg and can be processed into various delicious dishes.
These pigs feed solely on roots, tubers, and leaves of forest plants, thriving in the wilderness. Due to their diet and active lifestyle, the meat of these pigs is exceptionally flavorful, with crispy skin, lean meat, no greasiness, and a sweet, firm texture. These pigs can be prepared into a variety of exquisite dishes such as boiled, grilled, steamed, smoked, stir-fried, etc., depending on personal preference.
Where to eat specialty piggyback pig dishes in Lai Châu
- Hương Phong Guesthouse: 59 House Number - Group 18 – Tan Phong Ward – Lai Châu City - Lai Châu
5. Mud-buried Loach (Mud-buried Loach in Wind)
Mud-buried loach is quite a sophisticated dish, requiring meticulous preparation to satisfy esteemed guests. The ideal loach must be caught in Tùng Lâm stream, featuring delicious, firm, sweet, and fragrant flesh.
Mud-buried Loach, Lai Châu specialty
After being thoroughly cleaned, the loach is marinated with various spices: mac khen, finely chopped mint leaves, lemongrass, chili, ginger, peppercorns, etc., for about 15-30 minutes, then expertly wrapped in dong leaves. The dong leaves used to wrap the loach must be of high quality, intact, and of suitable size. Once beautifully wrapped in dong leaves, bury it in ash for about 30 minutes, turning it over once, about 5 or 6 times, until the fish is cooked.
When eating, one can taste the rich flavor of the fish, accompanied by the delicate aroma of grilled dong leaves, perfectly blended.
Where to eat mud-buried loach in Lai Châu
• Tam Đương Đất Market, Lai Châu, meets on Sunday mornings
6. Grilled Lam Nhọ
A delicious specialty from Lai Châu that PasGo wants to introduce to you is Grilled Lam Nhọ. This dish is unique from its name to its preparation. 'Lam' means grilled, while 'nhọ' refers to the tenderness of the meat.
The main ingredients of this dish are high-quality buffalo or beef meat, grilled over charcoal until well-done. Then, it's thinly sliced and mixed with mac khen, chili, garlic, ginger, wild eggplant, pumpkin leaves, and young pumpkin fruits...
Grilled Lam Nhọ is not only delicious but also tender and easy to eat.
All of this mixture will be stuffed into a bamboo tube, then grilled until all ingredients are cooked through.
Afterwards, remove it, skewer it to make it smooth, and grill the bamboo tube again until it's tender. Grilled Lam Nhọ has a rich, sweet taste, and tender texture. However, when taken out, it still sticks together like a cake, making it interesting to eat, folding each piece.
Where to eat specialty Grilled Lam Nhọ in Lai Châu
• Thai Ethnic Cuisine Restaurant - Bàn La: 153 Vừ A Dính, Quyết Thắng Ward, Lai Châu Town, Lai Châu.
7. Bitter Leaf Soup
The next dish to answer your question 'What delicious specialties does Lai Châu have?' is bitter leaf soup. When esteemed guests arrive, hospitable hosts will venture into the forest, along the stream, to pick the leaves needed for this soup.
Bitter Leaf Soup from Lai Châu
To cook this dish, first, thoroughly clean the pig's lungs, finely chop the pig's bile and lungs, and season with MSG, pepper, chili... marinate for about 10 minutes. Then prepare various aromatic herbs, and handfuls of dried or fresh bitter leaves. Finally, boil water until boiling, then add all the ingredients and cook until well done.
For those experiencing this dish for the first time, it may be challenging due to its bitterness, slightly astringent taste. However, those accustomed to it will appreciate its unique sweet, fragrant, and strangely pleasant flavor. Not only is this bitter leaf soup an exotic dish, but it also has the effect of relieving alcohol intoxication and treating digestive disorders.
Where to eat delicious bitter leaf soup in Lai Châu
• Thai Ethnic Cuisine Restaurant - Bàn La: 153 Vừ A Dính, Quyết Thắng Ward, Lai Châu Town, Lai Châu.
However, if you haven't had the chance to visit Lai Châu, you can still enjoy various specialties from Lai Châu at Northwest specialty restaurants on PasGo – Book & Enjoy exclusive deals.
There are still many delicious specialties from Lai Châu that we haven't listed in the collection 'What to Eat in Lai Châu?' If you know any, please contribute in the comments section so everyone can enjoy them!
And for more references on specialties from other regions of Vietnam, you can visit the PasGo Blog.
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