By Peyton Ezra
Vietnamese cuisine typically tastes sweet, hot, sour, and salty. You will find it in high-class restaurants as well as street-side vendors. Moreover, they add nouc mam or fermented fish sauce
to Vietnamese food. They add cane sugar, kalamansi fruit juice, chilli pepper, or tamarind in a few dishes. They use a lot of fresh herbs and are not very spicy.
Most Vietnamese restaurant serves chilli sauce separately.
Here are 5 of the famous dishes that you should try at a Vietnamese restaurant
#1 Bun Cha or Grilled Meatballs
You will find Bun Cha in many street kitchens and food stalls. This dish is cooked on a charcoal brazier with pork. Then it is served over cold rice noodles with a broth and assorted foliage. Moreover, people prefer this dish during lunchtime. A lot of people think it is similar to hamburgers or meatballs.
#2 Banh Mi or Saigon/Vietnamese Sandwich
One of the most famous Vietnamese street foods is Banh Mi. You will want to eat it when you know what is inside the sandwich. Moreover, the Saigon sandwich was first made in the 19th century during the French Colonial rule. Made with French baguette and filled with various vegetables.
Furthermore, the sandwich is filled with green vegetables and a filling that you will like. Most of the time, is it filled with either pork or pate. There are other fillings, such as chicken, tofu, beef, and liver.
#3 Goi Coun or Spring Rolls
This dish is packed with coriander, minced shrimp or pork, and green veggies. Moreover, the southern variation is made of barbecued pork strips wrapped with star fruit and green banana. Then it is mixed with peanut sauce. Also, Goi Coun is served cold.
The restaurant serves it as a starter rather than the main dish. Besides, in many Vietnamese restaurants, it is also known as Nem Cuon.
#4 Cao Lau or Noodle Bowl
This dish comes from central Vietnam. When you think of a noodle bowl, you might be thinking, rich noodles, pork-rind croutons, and bean sprouts in a soup. Well, it is more than that.
In Cao Lau, the prominent flavour they add is star anise and mint. Lastly, they will add a thin slice of pork.
Also, Cao Lun is served either with crispy rice paper or grilled rice-flour crackers. A salad, as well as green beans, maybe served with it.
#5 Com Tam or Broken Rice
It is one of the easiest Vietnamese dishes to make. As the name says, it is made of broken rice mainly they use leftover rice for it. Also, Com Tam is served with either grilled fish, fried eggs or grilled pork.
Afterwards, they will add lime juice, spring onions, and herbs.
Final thoughts
If you wish to explore more of such dishes then, there are a lot of varieties of Vietnamese food, and you will find something that suits your taste. Look for a Vietnamese restaurant in Melbourne that serves these famous dishes.
