VietnaMenu
A Food Lover's Travel Guide to the Best of Vietnamese Food
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Ultimate Guide to Translating Vietnamese Menus into English
Arm yourself with this mini Vietnamese to English Food Dictionary before stepping into any Vietnamese restaurant. Save the site or download the PDF.
Just How Cheap Can You Eat for in Vietnam?
Eating in Vietnam on a budget is as easy as going to a corner and pointing to some food. For less than a dollar you can eat a full meal. Have a look at this article to see just how much you get.
A Guide to Vietnam's Mystery Meat - Cha Gio
Cha, or gio in the north, can be found in many foods in Vietnam, including the extremely popular banh mi sandwiches. But what exactly is that strange meat?
Banh Bao
Steamed Pork Bun
A dough that's steamed while packed with a savoury filling -- usually pork, but sometimes a combination of chicken, onions, eggs, and vegetables are included.
Banh Beo
Steamed Rice Cakes
Small circular blobs of steamed rice flour are used to hold ground shrimp or pork, along with some complimentary ingredients like scallions, mung bean paste, cucumber, pickled daikon and carrot, toasted bread crumbs, or small pork crackling bits. They are usually dipped or covered in sweet fish sauce with chili.
Banh Cuon
Pork and Mushroom Stuffed Rice Rolls
Steamed rice noodle is rolled up with wood mushrooms and ground pork. Served with a sweet sauce and herbs.
Banh Goi
Vietnamese Fried Dumpling
Fried is always better (according to your taste buds). This mushroom, glass noodle, and seasoned ground pork dumpling is fried crispy and served with a sweet dipping sauce. It's a fantastic street food snack.
Banh Khoai
Happy Pancake
Before there was banh xeo, an emporer in Hue's Forbidden City was eating one of these delicious pork and shrimp filled pancakes. They're similar to the more popular and larger banh xeo, but in many ways they're quite different.
Banh Tom
Sweet Potato Shrimp Cake
Shreds of sweet potato mixed in a flour batter and topped with a shrimp then deep-fried to a crisp. It's a great bar snack. Wrap it in lettuce and you can pretend it's healthy.
Banh Xeo
Vietnamese Sizzling Pancake
A savuory crepe filled with shrimp, pork, and vegetables. The batter is made with rice flour and tumeric. Bánh Xèo is usually eaten by tearing a piece off and wrapping it in rice paper along with some herbs and lettuce. It's a cheap and delicious meal.
Bot Chien
Fried Rice Cakes
An after school favourite with the kids, these little cubes of rice cake are fried up with egg and sprinkled with scallions to make a tasty and filling snack. Dip them in soy sauce along with a helping of shredded papaya.
Bot Khoai Mon
Fried Taro Cakes
Much like it's brother, bot chien this dish is popular with the young crowd. It's a greasy, savoury, tasty mess. Instead of rice flour, taro makes up the delicious fried chunks, giving it a fried potato-taste.
Goi Cuon
Summer Rolls
These fresh spring rolls are wrapped in wet rice paper and filled with a mini salad. The protein can be shrimp, slices of pork loaf, grilled pork, tofu, etc. They are a little package of freshness, specially in Vietnam where you know everything is grown locally.
Banh Khot
Mini Shrimp Pancakes
A batter is made from rice flour and coconut milk then fried up in a special pan. The mini pancakes are topped with shrimp, mung bean, scallions, garlic, and cilantro. They'll come on a plate along with a pile of herbs. Wrap a selection of greens and the pancakes in a leaf of lettuce then dip in the sweetened fish sauce.
Hoanh Thanh
Wonton
A Chinese creation that has become popular in Vietnam, and many other areas of the world. You can find these delicious parcels of ground pork in soups, including popular Vietnamese soups like Hu Tieu.
Pate Chaud
Hot Pastry Pie
This French influenced savoury snack is packed with seasoned ground pork and vegetables. It's also called bánh pa tê sô -- which is basically the Vietnamese word for 'cake' plus the phonetic spelling of 'pate chaud'. You can find it at most Vietnamese bakeries.
Pho Cuon
Pho Rolls
An uncut sheet of rice noodle is used as a wrapper for this take on the popular soup. Pho rolls are simple, but tasty and they're growing in popularity, especially in Hanoi around Truc Bach lake where they are said to be invented.