Top 10 Must-Try Specialties in Hai Duong

When it comes to Hai Duong, everyone knows about the red gourd cake of Ke Sat. Although many places in the province make these cakes, only Ke Sat is able to produce the renowned red gourd cakes, becoming a unique specialty like the green bean cake of this land.

These red gourd cakes have the red color of the gourd, the nutty flavor of peanuts, sesame, coconut, and the fragrance of fresh ginger and rice. Unlike other types of cakes, Ke Sat red gourd cakes are rolled into round rolls, famous for their deliciousness in Trang Liet commune, Binh Giang district, Hai Duong province. The ingredients for making the cake include rice, sugar, with the addition of sesame, peanuts, and coconut thinly sliced, along with the flavor of fresh ginger. Nowadays, people also add gourd to create an attractive red color and eye-catching appearance for the cake.

To make this specialty cake of Hai Duong, people here must be extremely skilled in selecting and processing ingredients. The rice used must meet the requirements of sweetness, stickiness, and high starch content. Sesame must also be selected from good varieties, with sesame tamarind being the best. Peanuts must be chosen as mature peanuts, large, and plump for easy slicing. The coconut must be chosen from mature coconuts with thick pulp for the cake to be fragrant and nutty.

To facilitate customers, cake makers slightly pass the cakes over fire to cook them. After spreading and drying, the cakes are round. However, when fully cooked, the cakes are still soft and flexible, so the makers cut the cakes in half-moon shapes and roll them into tubes to prevent them from breaking during transportation. In the past, this traditional cake had a shiny yellow color, but today, most of the current cake-making households (only a few households remain) add the red color of the gourd to make the cake more attractive, hence the new name Ke Sat red gourd cake. When eaten, the nutty and fatty taste of sesame and coconut, along with the spicy flavor of ginger, make the Ke Sat red gourd cake more special than ordinary cakes, always giving a moist sensation.

The price of red gourd cakes ranges from 35,000 to 40,000 VND for 10 pieces.

Hai Duong is a province with many specialties, among which we must mention a unique specialty that is still quite unfamiliar to us, Tu Ky leech. A rare aquatic species found only in some rivers and wetland areas. Leeches are very nutritious and rich in protein. With a price not too high, ranging from 370,000 to 450,000 VND per kilogram of fresh leeches, wholesalers buy them right in the fields. According to updated information from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Ha and Tu Ky districts are two famous districts for leech specialties in Hai Duong province. Leeches in Tu Ky are mainly exploited in 2 communes: Tu Xuyen and An Thanh.

According to statistics, Tu Xuyen commune has 20 households and An Thanh has 500 households with leech exploitation areas. The average exploitation output of these establishments reaches 80 kg/ha up to now.

The total output of this specialty exploitation in the whole district is about 1.2 tons, but recently the exploitation output has decreased sharply, reaching only 60% compared to the same period last year.

Currently, Tu Ky leeches are widely known and popular in neighboring areas. Especially in Hanoi, restaurants selling leech sausages are still very attractive to tourists.

Every Lunar New Year, on the altar for worshiping heaven and earth, ancestors or displayed on the candy tray to entertain distinguished guests, the people of Kinh Mon not only have Chung cake but also heart cake. Huề Trì village, An Phụ commune is considered the 'cradle' of Kinh Mon heart cake because almost every household in the village knows how to make this dish very deliciously.

Heart cake is made from the main ingredients: glutinous rice, sugar, peanuts, sesame seeds, and coconut jam. The ingredient preparation stage is the most laborious with the roasting and caramelizing of sugar. Glutinous rice is roasted and crushed (or ground) finely. White sugar is caramelized into syrup, the more carefully caramelized, the firmer, fragrant, and longer the cake will last. Peanuts are peeled and roasted, sesame seeds are roasted until fragrant, ginger is crushed to extract water, and coconut jam. All are put into a pot of sugar and stirred quickly and evenly until the cake is smooth, firm, and the surface is dry, then poured into a wooden mold to be pressed.

A good cake mold must be solid, all ingredients must be well mixed, soft, elastic, not lumpy, not too hard, and not too soft. Many people, at first glance, think that heart cake resembles other types of sticky cakes, or lam sweets. But when tasting, they all feel the distinctive delicious taste of the cake: the fragrant aroma, the richness from the Kinh Mon specialty glutinous rice, the peanuts, the sesame seeds, the spicy taste of ginger, and the right sweetness from sugar, coconut jam. Because it is made entirely by manual methods, without preservatives, heart cake can only last for about 10 days. The best taste is still when it is just made, enjoying the freshly made cake with warm tea.

Also because of its distinctive delicious taste, Kinh Mon heart cake is gradually becoming known to many people. Many tourists, when returning from pilgrimage or spring travel to the special national monument complex of An Phụ - Kính Chủ - Nhẫm Dương (Kinh Mon), often choose to buy heart cake as a gift for their relatives.

Manh Hoach Chicken are the 'walking chickens', naturally raised in the countryside, at the time of slaughter, weighing no more than 1kg, so the chicken meat is very firm, fragrant, and sweet, creating an irresistible flavor for Manh Hoach Chicken. Fresh Manh Hoach Chicken has been famous nationwide for 20 years, not just any kind of chicken like our ancestors used to call them: village chicken, Tam Hoang chicken, fighting chicken... but the name of a brand originating from the 'chicken king' from Hai Duong - Pham Hong Hoach.

From a small shop owned by Mr. Pham Hong Hoach until now has become a brand with a restaurant system across the country attracting many diners near and far and is a delicious dish that food connoisseurs mention as an indispensable dish of Northern Vietnamese cuisine, attracting tourists to Hai Duong for tourism.

Previously, Manh Hoach chicken was only prepared very simply using traditional methods such as boiling the legs, wings, and thighs while other parts were cooked with noodles or stir-fried. But nowadays, the dishes of Manh Hoach chicken are very diverse, meeting the demands of the most fastidious diners: whole fried chicken, boiled chicken, steamed chicken with lemon leaves, chicken hotpot, chicken porridge, chicken sticky rice, chicken cooked with noodles, chicken thighs... Each dish has its own delicious flavor but all have the common point of the fragrant sweetness of our native chicken, attracting diners from far and near.

When coming to Manh Hoach chicken restaurant, you will have to wait a bit to be able to enjoy the delicious fresh chicken cooked on the spot. However, you will not feel annoyed because the staff here serve you very gently, patiently, enthusiastically, and thoughtfully. Hai Duong is truly an attractive destination for Northern Vietnam tourism.

Gia Loc Sticky Rice Cake in Hai Duong is a fragrant delicacy of this land. If you taste it once, you will forever remember its flavor, longing to visit this place again.

The smooth and fragrant white sticky rice cake has become one of the culinary specialties of Gia Loc town. Gia Loc Sticky Rice Cake has the fragrant chewiness of glutinous rice, with the fresh green color of banana leaves, creating a unique flavor.

Making the sticky rice cake involves few steps but requires the skilled hands of the baker. Especially, to achieve the most delicious flavor, the key ingredient must be newly harvested glutinous rice to ensure its chewiness, softness, and fragrance.

When enjoying this cake, diners will feel the lightness and tenderness, savoring the rich flavor of glutinous rice infused in each bite, combined with the aroma of banana leaves. The sticky rice cake is often served with pork sausage, compressed sticky rice, and sausage, a distinctive morning gift of the locals.

Amidst a plethora of breakfast options like pho, bun, porridge, etc., many tourists still choose sticky rice cakes as a quintessential rural dish. The price of a pair of sticky rice cakes is very affordable, only about 10,000 VND/pair.

Thanh Ha Lychee is one of the renowned specialties of Hai Duong province in particular and Vietnam in general. As May and June approach, farmers are busy preparing for the new season, while households eagerly buy bunches of ripe lychees to enjoy before the season ends.

Thanh Ha Lychee has a cool sweetness, thick flesh, juicy pulp, small seeds, and sometimes seedless ripe fruit. Unlike Luc Ngan lychee – whose skin turns deep pink when ripe, Thanh Ha lychee has smoother skin and a brighter, pinkish-white color.

In Thanh Ha district alone, there are over 350 hectares of lychee certified under the Vietgap process, and 92.68 hectares of lychee granted a planting area code by the US Plant Protection Department, meeting the requirements for export to the US, Australia, and the EU.

If you have the opportunity to visit Hai Duong, don't forget about the Thanh Ha Lychee Festival, usually held in May each year, to learn more about this delicious fruit of the region.

The annual lychee festival is a diverse and rich event aimed at promoting and introducing the agricultural and tourism products of the district to a wide range of consumers and tourists both domestically and internationally. Besides lychee, Thanh Ha district (Hai Duong) is also famous for many other fruits such as pomelo, guava, etc., which are loved by many.

Spinach cake is not only a traditional specialty that has long been the pride of the people of Ninh Giang, Hai Duong, but also a unique tourism product that brings significant income, helping people escape poverty and prosper.

About 30 km from Hai Duong city, nestled beside the peaceful Luoc River, Ninh Giang town (Ninh Giang district, Hai Duong) has long been known for its famous traditional spinach cake.

According to many elders in Ninh Giang town, the craft of making spinach cake has existed for over 700 years. Initially, the cake was round like a lemon and without leaves. In the past, spinach cakes were rare and only used during Tet or ancestral death anniversary ceremonies. On regular days, neighbors would share these cakes, cutting them into small pieces for each person to enjoy the sweet flavor together. Nowadays, spinach cakes are made year-round, becoming a specialty for tourists to choose as gifts when visiting Hai Duong.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Van, Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Ninh Giang district (Hai Duong), said: According to statistics, there are nearly 100 spinach cake production facilities in the district. In the past, spinach cakes were mainly made for gifting during festivals, Tet, weddings, or death anniversaries... but now, with the fame of the village's spinach cake, customers from everywhere are increasingly buying spinach cakes. This has helped the villagers in the craft village have stable jobs and improve their lives.

Good-quality spinach cakes must first have glutinous rice, specifically the specialty variety called 'nep cai hoa vang'. The honey must be genuinely sweet, heated for easy mixing. The spinach leaves must be of the 'nep' variety for the cake to be chewy and fragrant. Clean spinach leaves are boiled, then fermented with sugar for 2 - 3 days. Once fermented, the leaves are crushed into a fine powder, mixed with glutinous rice flour. The ratio of leaf powder to glutinous rice flour determines the quality of the cake's outer layer. The cake filling is also meticulously prepared. Pork fat (from the pig's neck) is salted with sugar to remove any greasiness, achieving a crispy texture similar to pumpkin jam. Lotus seeds are processed so that each seed is soft and intact, preserving its original flavor. Glutinous rice flour and spinach leaf powder are mixed with honey to make the cake crust. The longer the dough is kneaded, the more chewy, soft, and fragrant the cake becomes. The people of Ninh Giang steam the cakes for about 2 hours until they emit a characteristic fragrant smell. The price of spinach cakes here is around 5,000 VND/piece.

When you visit Hải Dương City, head to Bắc Sơn Street, where you'll find the famous rice roll dish that has even made its way into the Wikipedia dictionary. There, you'll find the rice roll eatery known as Mrs. Thau's, synonymous with the brand of Hải Dương rice rolls.

Unlike the rice rolls of Thanh Trì, Hà Nam, or Hàng Kênh, Nam Định, which gained fame through various media or transportation means... Due to its proximity to the national highway, not many people remember the Hải Dương rice rolls. But once you've tried them, you'll never forget the thin, smooth sheets of rice paper, refreshing and translucent yet still rich and flavorful. Just a few years ago, when National Highway 5 still passed through the city center of Hải Dương, vehicles with license plates from Hải Phòng, Hà Nội always stopped by Bắc Sơn to eat “Mrs. Thau's Rice Rolls”.

Nowadays, the rice roll stalls on Bắc Sơn Street have disappeared. But the delicious memory lingers, and many visitors from afar, having tasted Hải Dương rice rolls even once, still make the effort to find them every time they return.

When it comes to specialties of Hải Dương, one cannot overlook the green bean cakes. Over the years, through all the ups and downs, green bean cakes of Hải Dương still hold a special place in everyone's hearts. They remain a gift exchanged during festive occasions, a choice for every traveler visiting the land of Kinh Môn, a companion to be enjoyed with a cup of green tea, and a nostalgic reminder for those far from home.

According to legend, during a visit by King Bảo Đại to Trấn Hải Dương, the people of this land presented him with a type of cake made from green beans. The King found it delicious and praised its delicate, sweet, and smooth flavor, especially when enjoyed with tea. As a result, upon returning to his palace, King Bảo Đại issued a decree praising green bean cakes of Hải Dương. The decree bore the image of the “Golden Dragon” – the symbol of royal authority. From then on, it became known as “Golden Dragon Green Bean Cakes”.

Similar to many other dishes in Hải Dương cuisine, green bean cakes of Hải Dương are famous not only as a distinctive dish of the Kinh Môn region but also for their delicious and simple flavor, as well as their connection to the countryside, crafted from the trees in the garden, under the skilled hands of dedicated artisans. Because of their rustic charm and familiarity, green bean cakes are always a thoughtful gift from the locals to every traveler, as a silent expression of gratitude or a way to ease the longing for home for those who must wander far.

When mentioning Hải Dương, we immediately think of specialties like green bean cakes, Tứ Kỳ silkworms, red gấc cakes from Kẻ Sặt, Thanh Hà lychees, Ninh Giang prickly water lilies cakes... and we cannot overlook river fish noodle soup.

River fish noodle soup is a familiar dish found in many places, but if you want to taste an authentic and delicious bowl of fish noodle soup, you must visit Hải Dương. Although preparing fish noodles seems simple, it requires skill and delicacy. The fish is boiled, the meat separated, and then stir-fried with fragrant lard and onions. The broth for the fish noodle soup is meticulously prepared, clear and full of the sweet flavor of fish. Some fresh ginger can be added to enhance the aroma.

Enjoying a bowl of river fish noodle soup on a cold winter day is truly delightful. The steaming hot bowl, the rich and sweet broth with a hint of light sourness, the crispy fried fish, the tender and fragrant fish meat, all mixed with delicious white noodles, create an irresistible temptation. The unique and unforgettable taste stimulates the taste buds, leaving diners longing for more.