Thursday, March 22, 2012

Bun Cha Dae Kim @ Old Quarter, Hanoi

Hanoi is a heaven for cheap food and drinks, offering tourists a good variety of soups, noodles, buns, and sandwiches. I could really spend a week eating my way through the Old Quarter without having the same meal twice.


Originated from Hanoi, Bun Cha or Grilled Pork Noodle Soup is a very popular lunch dish, which consists of four main parts: 1) Rice noodles, 2) Warm fish sauce, 3) Grilled pork strips & patties and 4) Fresh vegetables & herbs. 
The restaurant only specializes in one dish - Bun Cha. 

The kitchen area

Let's try naming all the greens: Lettuce, basil, mint, perilla and coriander. These fresh, tangy, slightly bitter herbs and vegetables sung beautifully with the dish.
The well seasoned pork strips and patties were caged up in a wire and grilled over charcoal fire before being served in a warm dipping sauce. The pork was well charred, with small bites of black char falling into the soup. 
This luke warm soup (salty sweet broth) comprised of the usual suspects : Fish sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, lime juice and sliced green papayas.
The delicious spring rolls were packed with minced pork, garlic, herbs, mushrooms and glass noodles. These gorgeous golden brown rolls deserve a round of applause. 

To eat, add some rice noodles, pork patty, spring roll, sliced papaya, garlic, some greens and some soup into a bowl. The finish product should resembled a bowl of noodle salad. In my opinion, the soup is what brings everything together. We really enjoyed every component of the dish. It really has it all. 

Verdict: TOTALLY SMITTEN

Bun Cha Dae Kim
Address: 1, Hang Manh, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
Telephone: 04 3828 5022

12 comments:

  1. the vegies are so fresh and lovely! its almost like our locals having a plate of ulam to go with their meals.

    pork patties look good to go with an extra bowl of rice for me:P

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    1. Yes you are right!
      I think the pork patties would go well with a lot of things.. hehehe =)

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  2. That soup sounds really interesting! Is it a soup by itself or it goes with something else??
    Those spring rolls ... SO GOLDEN! I've only had them not deep-fried. I'm pretty sure I'd like this better! :D

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    1. They served the soup in a separate bowl. You can dip the spring rolls, pork patties and rice noodles in it. You can also drink it off the bowl =)

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  3. this looks like a really balanced meal ... enough sinful stuff to make it enjoyable, but also lotsa healthy ingredients too :D

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    1. Yes...I have no regrets eating Vietnamese food everyday. =)

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  4. the pork patties look good :) it's uncommon to find such nice soupbase around KL anymore. hope the recipe spreads over here as well

    Latest: Anything IS Food!

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    1. Its hard to find good Vietnamese food in Malaysia..

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  5. I have to agree that Hanoi offers food with plenty of veges as the side to be added inside much dishes. I did enjoy this part of it because the veges were superbly fresh and the herbs brought out amazing flavours. Since I am a vegetarian, I had to forgo all the meaty dishes but my friends loved all those we ordered. Simply amazing yet within an affordable budget.

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    Replies
    1. Nothing beats fresh ingredients with low prices.. =)

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  6. went there just now, taste okay but quite expensive for this type of food and environment. 3 sets wt 2 coke and some rolls cost 300,000VND

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