Published:  10:34 Friday - July 29, 2016

Bun cha is a speciality food in Hanoi with special delicious taste. It is certainly an indispensable food when remembering about Hanoi cuisine and bun cha is one of the top 5 foods that you should try when traveling to Hanoi.

Bun cha is basically a noodle soup with pork. You’ll be served by a plate of rice noodles, fresh herbs, and a bowl of cold broth with grilled pork. The rice noodles and fresh herbs are pretty common in Vietnamese restaurant. The broth and the pork are the ones make this dish unique.

Bun cha has two kinds of grilled chopped meat: tiny grilled pork patties (cha vien) and fatty pork slices (cha mieng).

Cha vien is made of chopped pork mixed with salt, pepper, shrimp sauce, sugar, minced dry onion, vegetable oil or fat and then kneaded into small balls. After mixing it all together, visitors can add some oil if it is dry. If the visitors wish, they can roll it in banana leaf and then grill to make it more fragrant. Lean meat is a good choice because it is more delicious and tenderer than other kinds.

Cha mieng is made of sliced lean and fat meat, seasoned in the same way as “cha vien” and grilled on a charcoal stove. According to each person’s taste, “cha mieng” or “cha vien” can be served with vermicelli. The skin of fatty pork slice is often removed to prevent burning.

After that, it will be placed on the grate and grilled on the charcoal stove. The dish should be served with light fish sauce broth perked up with small slices of pickled green papaya and carrot. A basket of fresh herbs and vegetable including small lettuces, bean spouts, curled shredded morning glory, stems, cilantro, or some combination of minty, spicy Vietnamese herbs accompany the sauce.

Making this dish is simple; nevertheless, making it delicious depends a lot on the experience and secret handed down from generation to generation, and especially the sauce. It is the reason why “bun cha” in Hanoi is far different from that in other regions. Eating “bun cha” with crab spring rolls together with drinking beer can be seen in many restaurants in Hanoi.

According to Travel guide, there is a list of the top restaurants in Hanoi: 

1. Bun cha Ta - 21 Nguyen Huu Huan Street , Old Quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam

2. Bun cha hang than - 34 Hang Than, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi 

3. Bun cha Dac Kim Hang Manh - 2nd alley, Hang Khoai, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi

4. Dong Xuan restaurant  - Dong Xuan Alley, Hang Chieu, Hoan Kiem,

5. Bun cha Sinh Tu – 8 Ta Quang Buu, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi