The woman in Hue ladled broth into a bowl with a motion she had performed ten thousand times. The broth was the color of rust, stained with annatto seeds and chili oil, and it contained slices of beef shank, pig's blood jelly, and a round of banana flower. This was bun bo Hue, the signature dish of Vietnam's former imperial capital, and it was the reason I had traveled to the central coast. Vietnam's cuisine changes dramatically from north to south, but the central region, with its royal history and complex flavors, is where the country's most sophisticated dishes are found. I spent ten days eating my way from Hue to Hoi An, and I did not repeat a dish.
Hue: The Imperial Kitchen
Hue was the seat of the Nguyen Dynasty from 1802 to 1945, and the imperial court employed hundreds of chefs who developed dishes of extraordinary complexity. Bun bo Hue is the most famous, but the city also specializes in banh khoai, a crispy rice flour pancake filled with shrimp and pork, and com hen, rice with tiny clams, peanuts, and fried pork skin. I took a cooking class at a family home in the outskirts of Hue. The instructor, a woman named Thanh who had learned to cook from her grandmother, taught me to make nem lui, grilled pork skewers wrapped in rice paper with herbs and pineapple. The secret, she said, was lemongrass. 'Without lemongrass, it is just grilled pork. With lemongrass, it is Hue.'
Da Nang: The Modern Coast
Da Nang is Vietnam's fastest-growing city, a strip of high-rise hotels and seafood restaurants that connects Hue to Hoi An. The food here is less refined than in Hue and less tourist-friendly than in Hoi An, but it has its own character. Mi quang is the local noodle dish, a turmeric-yellow bowl of noodles with shrimp, pork, herbs, and peanuts, served with almost no broth. It is eaten for breakfast, and the best versions are found at street stalls that open at five in the morning and close by nine. I ate mi quang on a plastic stool on the sidewalk, next to a woman selling lottery tickets and a man repairing motorbikes. The noodles cost two dollars. The experience was worth more.
Hoi An: Cao Lau and Lanterns
Hoi An is the culinary highlight of the central coast. The town's signature dish is cao lau, thick rice noodles served with sliced pork, herbs, and croutons made from the same rice flour as the noodles. The water for cao lau must come from the Ba Le well, an ancient well on the outskirts of town, and the noodles must be cooked with ash from Cham Island. These rules are taken seriously. A cook in Hoi An told me that using tap water would ruin the texture. I also ate banh mi at Madam Khanh's stall, a small shop that has been serving the Vietnamese sandwich for thirty years. Her secret is the pate, which she makes fresh every morning from chicken liver, garlic, and fish sauce. The sandwich costs one dollar and fifty cents. I ate three in two days.
Costs and Practicalities
The central coast of Vietnam is accessible by train from Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. The Reunification Express runs the length of the country and stops in Hue, Da Nang, and Hoi An. I took the overnight train from Hanoi to Hue for forty-five dollars in a soft sleeper. Within the cities, motorbike taxis cost one to three dollars per ride. Accommodation ranges from fifteen dollars for hostels to eighty dollars for boutique hotels in Hoi An's old town. Food is the main expense, not because it is expensive, but because you will want to eat constantly. I spent an average of twenty-five dollars per day on food, eating four meals and multiple snacks. The total cost for ten days was nine hundred dollars.
