Top 10 Delicious Dishes in Ha Giang

Each ethnic group in the S-shaped country has a type of cake that symbolizes the culture of their community. When you come to Ha Giang, don't forget to enjoy gù sticky rice cake. Gù sticky rice cake is not new but it is very popular, looking at the small, cute, easy to eat, fragrant and delicious cake.

The cake has only 1 layer of leaves instead of 4 - 5 layers like the traditional green sticky rice cake of the Kinh people. Thanks to that, peeling the cake is quite easy and if you are skillful, you can completely not get your hands dirty. Gù sticky rice cake is quite small in size, just enough to be cute. The small cake held in the palm of the hand feels soft, full, like the earthworm used to hold water in the past. In fact, the shape of the gù sticky rice cake symbolizes a Dao woman carrying a bag on her back. The image of them bending down to harvest rice, maize in the fields has created the shape of this cake.

If you want to have a cake to eat temporarily when hungry, or you can also eat it in a family meal, gù sticky rice cake is also a choice to make the meal more 'beautiful'.

Kitchen buffalo meat smoked is a famous dish of the Tay, Thai people in the Northwest. Kitchen buffalo meat smoked or also known as smoked buffalo meat is marinated with a blend of spices from the Northwest mountains such as Mac Khen, dổi seeds, ginger, white wine, dried chili... all create a very unique and delicious flavor.

Cooking kitchen buffalo meat is not difficult but it requires a lot of effort. The meat is filtered from the lean parts such as the shoulder, thigh, back, filtered vertically into long strips. Fresh meat is marinated with many hot spices such as chili, pepper, ginger... and cannot lack the 'soul of the Northwest spices': Mac Khen seeds. The spice is small but it gives the buffalo meat a very special and unique flavor. After the meat is marinated, the Thai people hang the meat strips on the kitchen rack. The ingredients are cooked from the available things of the mountains. Through weeks of kitchen smoking, each strip of meat absorbs evenly the natural smoke and then dries again. The spices slowly soak into each piece of meat inside. The meat gradually shrinks, turning brown naturally. On the surface of the meat, there are a few pieces of dried chili, pepper.

If you come to Ha Giang and don't know what to buy as a gift, then kitchen buffalo meat is the number one priority choice.

Rolled cake is always the top dish when it comes to specialties of Ha Giang. In the early cold of winter, gathering together by a small table, inhaling the fresh flavor of the cold here, inhaling the smell of the earth, the fresh air that the crowded city never has. Finding a stop at the roadside cake shop, you really feel the warmth here, the warmth from the cake kitchen, or it is the warmth from the people's hearts.

At first glance, everyone thinks rolled cake here will be very similar to other cakes, nothing special. But you really have to taste the first piece of cake to feel the extremely different flavor. Cakes in the South are often dipped in fish sauce, or can be squeezed with a little lemon and chili, while here, it is a bowl of rich bone broth, dotted with slices of Thai basil flowers, fresh and cool coriander mingling with the fatty, rich flavor of the cake dipping sauce. Indeed, just tasting the broth alone is enough to make you fall in love with this cake. When you see it, you will feel very strange with this eating style, but then try a piece of chewy, elastic cake, your eating soul will truly be 'captivated' by this dish. There are 2 types of white rolled cake fillings for guests to choose from: crunchy aromatic raw filling gives a strange feeling or if you don't like raw filling, you can taste the second filling, which is minced shrimp and meat, salty taste mixed with the thin, soft outer shell of the cake, add a spoonful of bone broth then nothing is better.

Depending on the guest's request, you can eat 1 - 2 slices of sausage, cut the cake in half or put the whole cake into the soup bowl to soak up the sweet taste of the bone broth, the fragrant smell of the onion leaves before putting it into your mouth. In addition to the white rolled cake, there is another type of rolled cake that people often jokingly call 'yellow rolled cake' - this cake is also made from steamed rice flour, thinly spread but when it is near the steamer, the owner adds a beaten egg which makes the cake look extremely eye-catching yellow, squeeze a little lemon, add a little spicy vinegar, sprinkle on the cake are crispy golden brown dried onions, crunchy, depending on each guest's preference, if you don't like dried onions, you can omit them, but the simple flavors in the cake plate will make anyone who has tasted it never forget the delicious and strange dish of the countryside.

Visiting Ha Giang without enjoying aau tau porridge is truly a regret. Unlike all other porridge you've ever eaten, they have a very different and strange flavor, perhaps the characteristic of the locality here.

The main ingredients of the dish are glutinous rice, aau tau root, and pork leg. After washing the rice, soak the aau tau root in the rice washing water to soften and clean the dirt. Then, boil the aau tau for about 4 hours until it is soft and silky, when cooked with porridge will blend, pork leg cut into bite-sized pieces. All put in a pot to stew with salt and MSG. In addition, aau tau porridge is also served with very fragrant and easy-to-eat minced meat. At first, you may find it a bit bitter, but after eating it, Mytour believes you will be addicted to it.

Aau tau porridge has a bitter taste, but when eaten down the throat, it feels very sweet. Those who are used to that bitterness are addicted to aau tau porridge. You can enjoy this dish at porridge shops in Ha Giang town or highland districts. However, these shops are not yet on google maps so if you want to enjoy it, you can ask the locals living there, very easy to find. Depending on the shop, the price of a large bowl of porridge varies, averaging from 25,000 to 30,000 VND.

Have you ever heard travelers talk about going to Dong Van Market in Ha Giang to eat thang co and drink corn wine? I don't know when thang co became such a familiar name whenever Ha Giang is mentioned by travelers. The attraction of this dish probably lies in its unique flavor, characteristic of the Northwest mountainous region.

Thang co is traditionally made from horse or cow organs, blended with the distinctive flavors of Northwest mountainous spices such as thao qua, hat doi, lemongrass, chili, and pepper, creating a rich, spicy taste, perfect for the cold weather of the highlands. Enjoying this dish in the evening with a bit of corn wine is truly excellent, no wonder travelers who have been to Ha Giang always talk about it.

If you have been to Ha Giang but have not tried this dish, it is a big miss. This dish is not only a new experience but also contains many unique customs and practices that are unique to this place.

Many tourists, especially young people, come to Ha Giang sometimes just for the rich triangular buckwheat flower fields, many people are only obsessed with the attractive check-in photos but forget that this flower is also processed into a very unique dish, that is the triangle buckwheat cake.

After enjoying the romantic scenery, when the flower season ends, ethnic people harvest buckwheat seeds, dry them, and use them to make cakes, ferment wine, and feed livestock. The process of making a cake is not easy because buckwheat seeds are not easy to grind finely if using manual grinding methods, ethnic people only have a stone mortar for grinding corn, grinding buckwheat seeds is very difficult. If it is not ground finely, the cake will be tough and hard to eat. After kneading the dough with water to make flat round cakes, wider than the palm of the hand, they will be steamed until cooked. When eating, they will be brought out to grill on a charcoal stove to make them hot and fragrant.

Nowadays, triangle buckwheat cakes are made with a more modern process, the cakes have their own brand and are sold at tourist destinations in Ha Giang. Triangle buckwheat cakes are no longer sold much outside the market but are packaged and sold at more tourist locations, a box of cakes costs from 25,000 to 30,000 VND.

In humid mountainous regions with favorable natural conditions, moss often grows very well, and the Ha Giang plateau is also such a place. Taking advantage of the local advantages and rich culinary culture, the people here have created very unique dishes. Not only is it a favorite dish of the locals here, but it is also famous far and wide and sought after by tourists, that is grilled moss.

Grilled moss is a characteristic dish of the Tay ethnic group. Grilled moss is not only a common dish but also has the effect of promoting blood circulation, cooling the body, stabilizing blood pressure, and enhancing resistance very well. According to the experience passed down from many generations of the Tay people, when looking for moss, you should choose large mossy areas, because there is plenty of delicious moss there. Fresh moss should be brought back and thoroughly beaten to remove the slime, then it can be processed into many dishes. When picking moss, you have to stand under the stream to pick it up. The water flows from the top down, and you use your hand to push it horizontally, picking the youngest ones. Moss only lives for 7 days, which means that when it grows for 3-4 days, it must be picked immediately. If left for more than 7 days, it turns white and cannot be eaten anymore.

Note that moss is often seasonal and found in large mossy areas, so this dish is not always available. When cleaned, the moss is mixed with lemongrass, ginger, salt, and pepper, then wrapped in dong leaves and grilled over a stove. In addition to grilled moss, moss can also be cooked with broth or boiled chicken. Many families preserve moss by hanging it on the kitchen shelf, and when they have important guests, they bring it out to treat them. If you have the opportunity to enjoy a dish made from moss when you go to highland areas, you are very lucky.

In the early mornings at the markets, a specialty that cannot be missed is sour pho - the breakfast staple of the simple people here. Pho, although not a unique specialty of Ha Giang, bears a differentiating mark of Ha Giang's cuisine. Sour pho actually originated from China and spread to the northern border provinces: Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Lang Son, ... around 300 years ago during the Manchu Qing Dynasty. The Chinese name for sour pho is 'Lường pàn', meaning 'cool pho'. It is called cool pho because sour pho is often eaten or sold in the summer. Previously, this dish was used in the menu of feast dishes. Nowadays, it is more often made as a breakfast dish in the market fairs.

The most important ingredient of sour pho is the delicious fresh pho noodles carefully selected by the locals from fragrant sticky rice, finely ground and softened with sweet-sour broth. This sweet-sour broth is created from a type of vinegar mixed with sugar, along with cassava flour stirred in with a little spice - all boiled and stirred evenly by hand. Next, slices of fried pork, crispy sausage, a few pieces of golden brown roasted duck, fresh garlic and shredded papaya or sliced cucumbers are added, and the broth is poured over.

To complete the dish, on the wooden tables the owner has prepared plates of fragrant herbs, papaya, garlic, and fresh chili for garnish. Drinking a cup of spicy corn wine with the strong mountainous flavor adds to the allure for distant guests.

Monochrome sticky rice can be seen everywhere, but only in Ha Giang can you find five-color sticky rice: white, red, green, purple, and yellow. It's no coincidence that the Tay people prepare sticky rice in such colors. Each color conveys a specific meaning, representing the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. All the colors create a harmonious blend of yin and yang, the five elements, and enhance the visual appeal and aesthetics of the dish.

On the market, there are many types of sticky rice with different colors, but delicious and authentic sticky rice must mention the sticky rice of the highland ethnic minorities. Sticky rice is a popular dish in the highlands because it is suitable for the conditions and characteristics of the ethnic minorities. What's special is that sticky rice is cooked from selected glutinous rice with yellow flowers, so it is very sticky and fragrant, it does not harden even if left for a long time, and you can eat sticky rice without needing salty food like plain rice.

The beautiful natural colors of sticky rice are made from colors in the daily life of the local people. White is the original color of rice, and the remaining colors are created by soaking rice in water with leaves and tree roots. Each ethnic group has its own way of making. Red color uses gac fruit or red rice leaves. Green color uses ginger leaves, green rice leaves, or grapefruit peel, bitter bamboo peel, ba soi tree leaves, dried burnt to take ash soaked in water mixed with a little lime. Yellow color uses old turmeric roots mashed to get water. Purple color uses black rice leaves or leaves of the sau sau plant...

With five-color sticky rice, not only does it bring a beautiful and delicious dish, but it also carries a great sacredness. This famous specialty is an indispensable part of the holiday feast of the people of Ha Giang. It is also a symbol of the local culture that makes anyone who comes to Ha Giang eager to taste this dish.

10. Thắng dền

Every time we travel or visit a new place, we want to fully enjoy all the flavors called specialties of that locality to feel the unique and novelty of that land. So, have you made a list of the specialties you need to try on this trip to Ha Giang yet? Let's follow Mytour's suggestions below.

First of all, we must mention thắng dền, a delicacy of Ha Giang that is loved by many tourists. At first glance, thắng dền may seem similar to the sticky rice balls in Hanoi, but when you taste it, it will have a very different flavor.

Thắng dền is made from glutinous rice flour, inside of which there is sugar or green beans. It is eaten with a broth made of sugar and ginger water. Then, sprinkle some roasted sesame seeds and enjoy. This dish is very popular in winter, when the weather is cold and dark, eating thắng dền with ginger water is incomparable. It will warm you up very quickly. You can eat thắng dền at street vendors in the evening in districts like Đồng Văn, Quản Bạ, and Mèo Vạc. A bowl of thắng dền costs from 5 to 10 thousand dong.