Hello everyone!!! Today I will take you to 2 famous dishes in Vietnam and any tourist coming to Vietnam should try them. As a person who is passionate about Vietnamese street food, I always have a special feeling for nem lui Nha Trang ( spring roll nha trang) and bun dau mam tom (rice noodle with tofu and shrimp paste). These are two dishes that just by mentioning their names are enough to evoke the image of a colorful tray of meat and vegetables. So today, when I accidentally saw a sidewalk restaurant with a sign saying "bun dau – nem lui with authentic flavor", I did not hesitate to stop by😫
But after eating, I felt too disappointed. If you are a tourist, accidentally choosing this restaurant to "try Vietnamese food", you will probably think these two dishes are nothing special – and that is the dangerous thing.😤
🍢 Nem lui Nha Trang
Nem lui Nha Trang is originally a delicate variation of the traditional Central Vietnamese nem dish. Pork is finely ground, mixed with shredded pork skin, minced fat, fresh shrimp, then marinated with fish sauce, pepper, garlic and onion, then pressed tightly onto bamboo sticks or lemongrass, grilled on charcoal. The soul of this dish is delicious grilled meat eaten with crispy fried rice paper, rolled with vegetables and dipped in a special dipping sauce.
Eating authentic nem lui must have raw vegetables, rice paper, green mango, cucumber, carrot and especially dipping sauce – some places use fish sauce, some mix liver and shrimp paste. A bite of delicious nem is to feel the natural sweetness of the meat, a bit of fat, the aroma of lemongrass, fresh vegetables, crispy rice paper.
Looking from the outside, this dish is standard, but when eating it is bad, the dipping sauce is not excellent, no fried onion, not fragrant, the meat is not grilled well, the meat is quite doughy and boring. The price is too expensive, 1.5 dollars but only 4 rolls can be made.
🍜 Bun dau mam tom
Bun dau mam tom is a very famous dish although the name says it only has tofu and shrimp paste but in fact there are many ingredients in this dish. Although the ingredients are the same, not every restaurant makes this dish delicious and properly.
Ingredients include bun la (not the vermicelli used in fish noodle or soup dishes, this kind of vermicelli is stuck together and cut into square pieces), fried tofu (fried until golden and crispy), boiled meat (usually pork leg), cha com (a type of pork paste mixed with green rice), fried spring rolls (made from minced pork, eggs, vermicelli, wood ear mushroom, carrot, rolled and fried), grilled pork sausage with cartilage (made from minced pork and cartilage, mixed with herbs then grilled), raw vegetables (often perilla, mint, basil, cucumber), and a bowl of shrimp paste. But to be delicious, everything must be standard: tofu must be fried crispy outside, soft and fatty inside, boiled meat must be pork belly with enough lean and fat, cut thick, sweet meat; vegetables must be fresh and green; cha com, fried spring rolls, pork sausage must be fried until golden crispy outside, and shrimp paste must be added with hot cooking oil and fried onion then beaten until foamy, fragrant.
Not everyone can eat shrimp paste, but those who can will easily get addicted – because the taste of that shrimp paste seems to contain the Northern people's character: passionate, rustic, honest.
❌ And then... all those flavors were "destroyed" at today's restaurant
I don't use the word "destroyed" for fun. The truth is that this restaurant ruined two Vietnamese specialties – not only because of careless preparation, but because they made food as if they didn't understand or respect the nature of the dish. Nem lui (grilled meat) here is pale in color, tiny, mushy and not fragrant, seems like they didn't grill it well. Lemongrass flavor is nowhere to be found, dipping sauce is not special. Too many raw vegetables but not fresh. A dish that should be full and delicious – here looks sad at first glance.
Bun dau mam tom is no better. Tofu is not crispy, wrong type of vermicelli, no special ingredients in this dish. Restaurant space is simple but the price is not cheap, 35,000 VND equal to other restaurants with beautiful seats. Drinks are also bad, I ordered 2 kumquat teas and they were too sour and a bit bitter, not sure how they could make such bad drinks. Total 90,000 VND ($3.7) for 2 drinks and 2 meals (same as other places) but worse space and food. After eating I had nothing left in my mouth or stomach, we had to spend more money to find another noodle restaurant, and I chose a fish noodle restaurant to eat. It cost us another $3 to fill our bellies.
I need warning for those who love Vietnamese food. 🇻🇳🇻🇳🇻🇳🍲🫔
If you are a foreigner wanting to explore Vietnamese food, I really hope you don't start with restaurants like this. Because just eating at a careless restaurant, you will think that dish is bad – while in fact the dish is delicious, you just met a bad cook.
As for Vietnamese people like me, this experience is a reminder that cuisine is not just food – it's culture, memory, the spirit of a land. And when the dish is made wrongly, carelessly, it's not just a bad meal – it's an insult to the entire cuisine.
So, Nem lui Nha Trang and bun dau mam tom are two dishes that I will always love and continue to find the right places to introduce to you. As for today’s restaurant – I will not return. And I hope you also choose food carefully before eating.
I will continue to hunt for worthy places to write about – because I believe Vietnamese food, if done right, will satisfy anyone, even international tourists. And my name is @a-alice follow me to know more delicious Vietnamese dishes!
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