Buzz
Tired of Thai, Japanese, and Korean dishes... people are now intrigued by the familiar yet unique flavors of Vietnamese cuisine, exploring the captivating taste of Saigon's culinary delights in the midst of this ancient city.
As each day passes, the most frequently exchanged words among us are probably not some empty romantic phrases but the question: 'What's for lunch today?'. Choosing what to eat in the scorching summer days of Hanoi, where the intense sun seems to challenge our appetite, becomes quite a task.
With international cuisine reaching its saturation point and the fever created by those trends gradually cooling down, the cuisine of the Southern region is gaining popularity worldwide. In Hanoi, Southern cuisine is becoming an attractive trend, captivating diners not only with its flavors and dining style but also with the culture and history behind each unique dish.
Gordon Ramsay transformed Hủ tiếu into a challenge for Masterchef Season 4
Bold and full of character, Saigon's palate plays the game just like its creators. In Southern cuisine, if you're going to play, play big; if you're going to create, create with passion. That's why Grandma throws a handful of spicy chillies into the red salt bowl, and Aunt Hai skillfully fries sweet preserves until they reach heavenly sweetness. The uniqueness of Southern cuisine lies in making every flavor an adventure – salty must be intensely salty, spicy must be fiery, bitter must be bitterly sharp, sour enough to make your face scrunch, sweet and innocent or rich and creamy, and hot enough to be 'steaming while you eat.' That's the level of daring in Southern cuisine. It's not for the faint-hearted eaters; it's for those who appreciate dining with sophistication and style.
The Vibrant Vegetables of Southern Vietnam
When it comes to Southern cuisine, my first impression is the plates of vibrant and fresh vegetables accompanying a variety of dishes. Forget the simplicity of a few lettuce leaves or a couple of fragrant herbs; Southern vegetables dazzle diners first with their visual appeal as various buds and leaves from the forest and underwater world bloom on the table. There are purple water lilies, golden wild sunflowers, lush bitter greens, and pristine white bamboo shoots. The plate of Southern vegetables is always a harmonious combination of colors and flavors: there's tartness, bitterness, sweetness, white, green, red, yellow... Without them, what supports the sweet-smelling, rich, and delicious fish hotpot, the elegant vegetable hotpot, or the refreshing spring rolls with all ten fingers? To understand the liberality of Southern cuisine, just look at the plate of vibrant vegetables that comes with it.
Saigon boasts not only bitter greens and wild sunflowers but also abundant rivers, lakes, and seas teeming with fresh and diverse seafood for Southern cuisine. Whether it's catfish, snakehead fish, or succulent crabs and shrimp, Southern seafood always offers an unmistakable taste. Despite the dominance of Northern seafood, Saigonese take pride in the flavorful Cà Mau crab, known for its firm and sweet meat. Hence, there are restaurants dedicated to bringing authentic Southern flavors to Hanoi, meticulously transporting ingredients from the South for each dish served to diners.
In Hanoi, there's also a restaurant specializing in Southern specialties, meticulously transporting each product from the South daily to serve guests
Not only in the ingredients, but the characteristic sweetness in every Southern dish is also something one can perceive even with closed eyes. While people in the Central region favor spicy, Southerners lean towards sweetness. It's the sweetness of sugar, coconut water, and rich coconut rice that make the famous and savory dishes like braised duck eggs with pork, or caramelized fish. A Northern girl marrying a Southern man wanted to please her husband by learning how to make caramelized fish. However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't achieve the rich flavor that true Southerners effortlessly create. The mystery unveiled when her husband, entering the kitchen to observe, discovered that she still held the habit of Northerners, hesitating to generously add sugar to the fish pot, so the fish chunks wouldn't turn golden, and the flavor wouldn't become deep and fragrant.
Saigonese embed their personalities and eating habits into the transformation of various dishes to suit the Saigonese palate. The Nam Vang noodle soup in Saigon still uses beef bone broth but with a sweeter, richer taste and stronger spices. The renowned Northern dish, pho, when making its way to the South, is served with bean sprouts, along with a bowl of dipping sauce for guests to savor each thick slice of freshly lifted, steaming hot pho meat. Adapting flavors to different situations, Saigonese are not afraid to experiment with cooking methods.
When it comes to grilled chicken, only the Saigonese would come up with the idea of hanging the chicken inside a bamboo tube and grilling it over charcoal to achieve a golden and crispy skin with tender and flavorful meat. Known for their exuberant and down-to-earth nature, without seeking fancy styles, many delicious dishes from Southern Vietnam can be found right by the rice fields, like the grilled snakehead fish. The fish, caught and cleaned without any preparation, is simply skewered along a stick through its body, planted into the ground surrounded by burning straw until the embers die out. At that moment, scraping off the scales, one can tear into the pure and fragrant white fish meat, dipping it into a mixture of salt and chili, accompanied by the refreshing breeze.
Grilled Snakehead Fish
Southern cuisine, with its catfish hotpot, vegetable hotpot, grilled snakehead fish, honey-glazed grilled chicken, shrimp and meat spring rolls, puffed fried glutinous rice, Nam Vang noodles, is increasingly acclaimed worldwide. Amidst the hustle and bustle of Hanoi, it is becoming a new trend for those diners who wish to explore fresh elements within the cradle of traditional Vietnamese cuisine. Eating Southern dishes means understanding the Southern spirit, and the charming traits of Saigon continue to bloom vibrantly in the heart of Hanoi through a culinary journey full of uniqueness and allure.
There is a place in this historic land where the food retains the true taste of Saigon, refined in every ingredient and preparation method. All the ingredients, from wild vegetables, morning glory, banana flowers, broken rice, banh hoi... to the flavor enhancers like black soy sauce, chili powder, green pepper, or the mixed spice pack... are transported from Saigon to Hanoi.
Do you know where that is?
Like a cosmic joke, the one who misses home the most is the wanderer. In Saigon, missing Hanoi, Vu Bang wrote 'Longing for twelve.' So, in Ke Cho missing Cho Lon, one can imagine shedding the sorrow to dispel confusion... The Delicious Saigon Dish was born from there, like a humble response, dedicated to diners from Hanoi who exist in Saigon.
People often think that Hanoi cuisine is very sophisticated, which is true but not entirely. Southern dishes also harbor their own distinctive and unique features. Join PasGo in exploring the Mon Ngon Sai Thanh restaurant to fully experience the essence of Southern cuisine along the riverine region.
For more detailed information about Mon Ngon Sai Thanh restaurant, as well as attractive deals offered by PasGo – the pioneering restaurant reservation app for you, visit the following link:
Visit this link for more information: https://pasgo.vn/nha-hang/mon-ngon-sai-thanh-59a-huynh-thuc-khang-1326
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