Eating Hoi An

These days, the cooks at the Vinh Hung, a four-star resort, prepares examples of Hoi An’s qua que (traditional countryside style snacks) for tourists.

However, the best way to discover the local cuisine culture is perhaps trying food at Hoi An’s many street stalls.

When I travel to a new city, I spend the first day following my feet. In Hoi An, the sight and smells of the city’s many street gourmets tempted me into a small side street.

By chance, I happened upon a small Com Ga (chicken rice) restaurant in the quiet lane linking Phan Chau Trinh street and Tran Phu. The alley sits below a shady allee of trees and features old houses and small, tranquil gardens. Motorbikes pass with difficult in this narrow alley. In fact, it seems to be made for walking.

As luck would have it, the food here is good.

The chicken is shredded and mixed with rau ram herb and thin sliced onion, then served over rice steamed in broth. The meal features tart greens from the town’s famous Tra Que vegetable garden. Each plate comes with small bowls of broth derived from the bird’s heart and liver. 

Most of the customers opted to stay at the end of the alley, facing Phan Chau Trinh street. I preferred to sit in front of the house and watch life in the alley pass by.

The wait in the alley may be a bit longer, but time there seems to stand pleasantly still. When you call the young host, he arrives with a sincere, shy smile and a bowl of nourishing broth.

For just VND30,000 or VND40,000 you can enjoy a very nice lunch here.

In the late afternoon, when it is too early for dinner, thit nuong cuon banh trang (babecue and herbs wrapped with rice paper) provides a nice snack.

During one of my walks, barbeque smoke pulled me towards a small food stall opposite the Hoi Quan Trieu Chau (a quaint temple built by Chinese traders in 1845 which opposite Number 345 Tran Duy Hieu street).

There, a woman in a conical hat grilled sesame-marinated Five Spice pork, with a handkerchief pulled across her mouth. I ordered the pork (VND5,000) which, to my surprise, arrived with a tray of rice paper (dry and wet), herds (sliced banana, fish mint, mint and lettuce) and a thick soy dipping sauce.

From my small plastic stool, I enjoyed a lively view of old Hoi Quan Trieu Chau and the lively surroundings–a wonderful atmosphere for the dish.

No sampling of Hoi An’s street food would be complete without a mention of Cau Lau–the town’s specialty.

Thick cao lau noodles (VND20,000) aret typically served with roasted, sliced pork belly. The dish makes for a perfect lunch–one that is perhaps best enjoyed on the pavement. Opposite 2 Tran Phu street, there are some small restaurants serving Cao Lau and My Quang. The cooks work in shifts, so they maintain service from morning to midnight.

Source: Thanh Nien News