Phan Thiet city is famous for perfect beaches with white sand, clear blue water, great resorts, and enormous delicious foods. What to eat in Phan Thiet? Following is a list of 34 best foods in Phan Thiet.
Table of Contents
1. Pop glutinous rice cake (Bánh cốm sữa)
Made from pop glutinous rice which is called No in Vietnamese, sugar, ginger, and pineapple, Pop glutinous rice cake (Bánh cốm sữa or Bánh cốm hộc in Vietnamese) is a specialty cake of Phan Thiet province. It is a favorite snack, a familiar food offered to the ancestors at Tet festival in the province.
No is glutinous rice which expands and puffs up when heated. The glutinous rice seeds should be dew-wetted before heating. To make No, they put the seeds into a very big pan on a big oven. The pan is covered with a big lid with a hole. A tool which looks like a long broom is used to stir the seeds continuously while cooking through the hole in the lid. The seeds are cooked until they are peeled, expand and puff up. Then the husks are removed.
To make Pop glutinous rice cake, cook jaggery – traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar with water, some lime juice until thickened. Add chopped ginger and pineapple. Then stir the liquid continuously until bubbles which are small as sand appear. Leave the liquid for a few hours before mixing with pop glutinous rice. The mixture of No and the sweet liquid is formed into rectangular prism or cylinder shape. After drying, pop glutinous rice cakes are wrapped in colorful plastic paper and decorated with paper flowers. This kind of traditional cake can be stored for 1-3 months
2. Re cake (Bánh rế)
The coastal Phan Thiet city of Binh Thuan province is not only famous for dishes from seafood but also Bánh rế (or Banh re, Re cake)- a simple traditional cake which attracts most locals and travelers. Re cake is a perfect mix of greasiness of coconut oil, buttery taste of sweet potato/cassava, the sweetness of sugar and special smell of sesame. High-quality ssweet potato or cassava or Duong Ngoc sweet potato are peeled, washed, cut into julienne strips which are 4-5 cm long, mixed with vanilla. Because the strips are thin and long so that they stick together and can be formed into the shape the cook desires. Then the cook deep-fries the strips in coconut oil and skillfully forms the cake into a round shape. The cake is fried until crispy and brown-yellow. The cake looks like Rế (or Re) – a bamboo basket used as a pad for hot pots so that it is called Bánh rế (Re cake). The last step is covering the cake with caramel and toasted sesame.
3. Vo steamed sticky rice and Fried cake (Xôi vò bánh chiên)
In Phan Thiet, they have a special way to eat steamed sticky rice: fill a fried wheat flour cake with Xoi, then eat. Main ingredients to make Xoi Vo are glutinous rice and mung bean. Glutinous rice which has been soaked in water is mixed with well-kneaded cooked peeled mung beans, then the mixture is steamed into flavorful Xoi Vo. This Xoi is less sticky and less greasy than other kinds of Xoi. Chien cake is made from wheat flour, it is as small as an orange. The cake is fried in oil until crispy and yellow outside, tender and airy inside. The cake is also covered with sesame which enhances the cake’s flavor and smell. Chien cake is lightly sweet so that it really matches the greasy, sweet, buttery, and a little sticky Xoi Vo.
4. Stewed sweet potato (Khoai lang hầm)
The food has been one of the most beautiful memories of any Phan Thiet people. Sweet potatoes are peeled, sliced finely, fried until completely dry, stewed until well-done. Mash the stewed sweet potato, the mashed should not be too smooth. At last, mix the sweet potato with sugar. To serve, put a handful of Stewed sweet potato onto a piece of banana leaf, top it with some shredded coconut meat. The sticky but tender sweet potato goes well with the crunchy, greasy, light sweet coconut meat. Traditionally, they use a bamboo spoon to eat this food to enhance its flavor.
5. Bloating-ferned-shaped cake (Bánh bèo)
Bloating-fern-shaped cake is a traditional cake made from rice flour in Vietnam. There are many versions of this cake around the country. In Phan Thiet, Bloating-fern-shaped cake is thicker and smaller than the others, it has a hole in the middle.
There are 2 kinds of Banh beo in Phan Thiet: sweet and savory. The savory is served with tender steamed peeled mung bean, greasy and crispy deep-fried pork fat, crispy deep-fried bread, and a special sauce. The sauce is made from shrimp, pork, tomato, fish sauce. They pour a lot of the sauce onto a portion of the cakes to serve. When eating, diner put toppings into the hole and eat. The sweet includes pandan leaf juice so that it has a typical smell and green color. It is served with a mixture of crushed toasted peanuts, toasted sesame and salt.
6. Quai vac cake (Bánh quai vạc)
Quai vac cake looks nice with translucent crust and orange filling. The cake is very small so that a portion consists of about ten cakes which stick together. To make the filling, stir-fry minced pork belly, shrimp meat, salt, ground black pepper, sugar. To make the crust, pour boiling water into tapioca flour, knead the dough until sticky, form the dough into small thin round sheet, wrap the filling in the tapioca sheet into a semicircle section, boil it until the crust turns transparent. Put the cake into cold water, then cover it with oil. Top the portion with some chopped green onion, deep-fried shallot, deep-fried pork fat, chili pepper slices (optional). Eat a bite of Quai vac cake in Phan Thiet, you can feel the perfect blend of the chewy taste of the crust from tapioca flour, the salty taste of the filling from shrimp and pork, the sweet-sour of dipping fish sauce on your tongue.
7. Can cake (Bánh căn)
Can cake is a traditional cake which is popular in Central Vietnam (Nha Trang, Da Lat, Phan Thiet). The cake is made from rice flour, topped with quail egg, chopped green onion, squid (or shrimp). Can cake is grilled in a special terracotta mold which makes the cake very crispy without using cooking oil. In Phan Thiet, they eat Can cake with char sew, braised fish, boiled quail egg, pork skin, julienne green mango. To eat, use chopsticks to dip the cake in char sew or braised fish broth, then tuck in.
8. Vietnamese pancake (Bánh xèo)
Vietnamese cake (Banh xeo, Bánh xèo in Vietnamese) is a traditional cake which has many versions of this cake around the country. The cake is fried in a small terracotta pan with a terracotta lid. The yellow and crispy crust is made from rice flour, chopped green onion, coconut milk (optional) and turmeric powder. It is filled with pork, shrimp, squid, chopped green onion, bean sprouts. The lid is covered until the cake makes a “sizz” sound which let the cook know that the cake is ready. To make the cake, pour the mixture of rice flour into the pan, add the filling, cover the lid, wait for the “sizz” sound, open the lid, get the cake out of the pan, fry another cake on the same pan continuously. Vietnamese pancake in Phan Thiet is eaten with the dip, vegetables and herbs. Dipping sauce made from crushed peanuts, sugar, wheat flour, tomato, chili pepper. The crispy crepe, the tasty filling, fresh vegetables and flavorful dip mix so well that they can satisfy the most difficult dinner.
9. Vietnamese bread with char sew pork meatball (Bánh mì xíu mại)
Vietnamese bread has not less than 10 recipes. The plain bread crispy outside and airy inside can be filled with various combinations of meat, fish cake, vegetables, herbs, and sauces. Coming to Phan Thiet, you should not miss the Vietnamese bread which is filled with char sew pork meatball, egg, carrot and daikon pickles, jicama, coriander, green onion and a sauce made from fish sauce, sugar, chili pepper, lime juice. The perfect blend of crispy bread, tender, sweet-tasty meatballs, crunchy pickles, butter egg yolk, sweet, sour and hot sauce make Vietnamese bread with char sew pork meatball distinctively delicious. It has been attracted lots of local and travelers for its great taste and cheap price.
10. Phu Long Question cake with pork organs (Bánh hỏi lòng heo Phú Long)
Phu Long Question cake with pork organs in Phan Thiet is one of the must-eat foods on your trip to Phan Thiet. The dish consists of 5 parts: Question cake, pork organs and pork belly, dipping sauce, rice paper, vegetables, and herbs.
Question cake is very thin rice noodles woven into flat sheets which are tender, a little chewy and airy. Phu Long question cake is made from high-quality rice which is soaked overnight, washed many times, ground into rice flour and made into rice noodles, rice noodle sheets through several steps. Instead of boiling the pork organs and pork belly like Vietnamese people usually do, Phan Thiet people steam the organs with ginger and galangal until well-done. A plate of mixed organs consists of heart, liver, kidney, small intestine, sausage, pork belly which are cut into chunks or slices. To make the dip for Bánh hỏi lòng heo, mix fish sauce with water, sugar, tamarind sauce and a sauce made by grinding boiled tomato, chili pepper. The vegetables and herbs include green banana slices, green mango pieces, Thai basil, coriander, heartleaf, water mint, salad, etc. To make the rice paper sticky, they usually dew-wet the rice paper or wrap the rice paper in banana leaves. To eat, use rice paper to wrap question cake, the organs, and vegetables, then dip in the sauce and tuck in.
11. Ham Tan grilled pork and shrimp roll (Chả lụi)
Grilled pork and shrimp roll is a specialty food of Ham Tan district in Binh Thuan province. A portion of Ham Tan grilled pork and shrimp roll consists of a plate of some rolls, boiled duck/chicken egg wedges (optional), some pieces of Vietnamese fermented pork roll (optional), a plate of vegetables and herbs (sliced green mango, cucumber, salad, water mint, Thai basil, etc.), a plate of rice paper circular sectors, a small bowl of dipping sauce. To eat, wrap Cha lui, boiled egg, fermented pork roll, vegetables and herbs in rice paper, then dip in the sauce. The crispy crust, the sweet-tasty and tender pork and shrimp filling of Cha lui sweet, sour, chewy fermented pork roll, buttery egg yolk, tender egg white, fresh and aromatic herbs, sour mango and flavorful sauce blend perfectly in your mouth.
To make Cha lui, they wrap marinated minced/ground shrimp and lean pork/pork belly in rice paper into a flat roll. They do not make the roll as round as Vietnamese fried roll (Nem rán, Nem ran, Chả giò) but flat so that it takes a short time to grill and can be served quickly right after the customer order the dish. The dipping sauce – the key to this food is made from fish sauce, garlic, tomato, sugar, tamarind sauce and crushed peanuts.
12. Grilled fish cake (Chả nướng)
The grilled fish cake is simple but tasty food. Just grill pieces of fish cake until smelling and a little crispy, yellow outside. To eat, dip Grilled fish cake in ground pepper salt and it with daikon and carrot pickles. The chewy, sweet-tasty, fragrant fish cake, sweet, sour and crunchy pickles and salty hot dip mix perfectly and make diner eat more and more. This kind of food is sold popularly at street food stalls in Phan Thiet city.
13. Melo melo salad (Gỏi ốc giác)
Melo melo – a kind of snail which has the crunchy, translucent, pale flesh and the brown, greasy, buttery, tender guts. To make Melo melo salad, choose alive snails, get the meat from the shell and boil it, mix it with sliced boiled pork belly, sliced papaya, onion strips (optional), Vietnamese mint, peanuts, deep-fried shallots, fish sauce, sugar, lime juice (or vinegar), salt, etc. Sesame rice cracker (Bánh đa) or Shrimp cracker (Bánh phồng tôm), vegetables, herbs and sweet-sour fish sauce dip are served with Melo melo salad. To eat, use chopsticks to get some Melo melo salad, dip it in dipping fish sauce, put it on a piece of crispy Sesame rice cracker (or Shrimp cracker) and tuck in.
14. Dishes from butterfly lizard (Món ăn từ Dông)
In Phan Thiet, butterfly lizards (con Dông) are considered as the king on the sand and a specialty food of the city. They can grill, stir-fry, deep-fried, make salad from Dông. Grilled butterfly lizard is the easiest and the most popular recipe from butterfly lizard in Phan Thiet. Choose big and firm butterfly lizard which weighs about 300 grams. Peel the skin, marinate lizards with salt, chili and sautee for about 15 minutes, then grill on charcoal until its meat turns firmer, yellow and fragrant. This dish goes well with beer or wine.
15. Grilled rice paper with fermented shrimp paste (Bánh tráng mắm ruốc nướng)
Grilled rice paper with fermented shrimp paste is made from rice paper, fermented shrimp paste (Mắm ruốc or Mam ruoc), boiled chicken/quail egg, fermented pork roll, Vietnamese pork roll, green onion oil, chili paste, pickles, shredded cabbage, butter, etc. To make the cake, cover a piece of rice paper with a thin layer of Mam ruoc, then add other ingredients. Grill the cake on charcoal and roll it using 2 long iron chopsticks to grill the food.
The food is extremely crispy and melts in your mouth right after eating. It has 4 tastes: salty, sweet, sour and hot tastes. The oily green onion, greasy butter, hot chili paste and fermented shrimp paste play off sweet and sour fermented pork roll, buttery egg yolk, tender egg white.
16. Sticky rice paper roll (Bánh tráng cuốn dẻo)
Sticky rice paper roll is a simple but delicious outstandingly food. To make this food, just wrap fermented shrimp paste, deep-fried pork fat, boiled quail egg and others in sticky rice paper.
17. Roll with rice paper and fish cake (Chả cá cuốn bánh tráng)
Ingredients for Roll with rice paper and fish cake are steamed fish cake made from Sardinella, boiled egg, pork skin, cucumber, herbs, and rice paper. All of the ingredients are wrapped carefully and skillfully in rice paper into a cylinder. To eat, dip the roll in a special sauce made from fish sauce and peanuts. The perfect mix of chewy and sweet-tasty fish cake, sticky rice paper, juicy cucumber, aromatic herbs, buttery egg yolk, tender egg white, salty fish sauce and buttery peanuts attracts most of the people.
18. Grilled girdle cake roll dipped in fermented shrimp paste (Bánh tráng chấm mắm ruốc)
The soul of Grilled girdle cake roll dipped in fermented shrimp paste is Fermented shrimp paste (Mắm ruốc, Mam ruoc) which has typical smell and taste. Fermented shrimp paste is prepared before serving. Some lime juice is added when eating to make the paste less salty and more flavorful. Grilled girdle cake includes sesame so that it is very smelling. The cake is crispy and melts in your mouth after eating. It creates a funny sound when you eat it.
Diner just peels the egg, break a piece of Grilled girdle cake, uses the rice paper to wrap Grilled girdle cake (Bánh tráng nướng), boiled egg, vegetables and herbs (cucumber, green mango, Vietnamese mint, etc.), dip in Mam ruoc and tuck in.
19. Loi fish with onion oil (Cá lồi xối mỡ)
Loi fish with onion oil (Cá lồi xối mỡ) is one of the most excellent recipes from Loi fish. Use lemongrass leaves to remove odor and slime from the skin of the fish. Remove all of the organs of the fish, except for the liver. The fish is sliced thinly, arranged onto a plate, and steamed until tender. Pour green onion oil onto the steamed fish, sprinkle some crushed toasted peanuts onto the fish.
It is served hot with vegetables (star-fruit, green banana), herbs, rice paper, rice noodles, sweet-sour dipping fish sauce (or tamarind fish sauce dip). To eat, wrap a piece of fish, vegetables, herbs, rice noodles in rice paper, dip in the sauce and tuck in. Enjoying the dish, you can feel the greasy taste of the onion oil, crunchy taste of the cartilage, the tenderness of the fish flesh, juicy vegetables, a little chewy rice noodles, sweet and sour dipping sauce in your mouth.
20. Silverside salad (Gỏi cá suốt)
Silverside salad is very tasty, rich in nutrition and healthy. To make the salad, soak the flesh of silverside in water for 5 minutes, drain off and put the flesh into a freezer. Mix the fish flesh with lime juice until the flesh turns white. Squeeze the flesh, mix it with a dressing made from fish sauce, sugar, chili pepper, shredded green mango, onion, minced herbs. It is not too easy but not too difficult to cook the salad.
The salad is served with a sauce made from soybean sauce, chili paste, mustard, vegetables (ambarella leaves, young Brassica integrifolia leaves), herbs (coriander, shiso, Enydra fluctuan), toasted peanuts, Grilled girdle cake. To eat, put some salad, vegetables, herbs, broken Grilled girdle cake into a small bowl. Then pour the dipping sauce into the bowl and eat.
21. White sardine salad (Gỏi cá mai)
White sardine (Cá mai, Ca mai) is a famous fish in Central Vietnam for its sweet-tasty, chewy, crunchy, and smelling flesh. White sardine salad (Gỏi cá mai, Goi ca mai) is a distinctively delicious dish which could not be missed on your trip to Phan Thiet. To make the salad, choose alive white sardines which are just caught, separate the flesh from the bones. The flesh is mixed with lime juice, spices, Vietnamese mint, Thai basil. The dish is topped with crushed peanuts, toasted sesame, herbs and chili pepper.
The viscous dipping sauce which makes the dish different from other dishes. The sauce is made from tamarind, ripe banana, garlic, chili pepper, toasted sesame. When eating, diner wraps the salad, vegetables (star-fruit, green banana, cucumber, salad, etc.) in rice paper and dip in the sauce. Some people prefer to eat the salad with crispy Grilled girdle rice cake (Bánh tráng nướng).
22. Boxfish (Cá bò hòm)
Boxfish is ugly-looking and scary with a short tail, small fins, cubic shape, black spots on the skin. However, it has white, outstandingly sweet-tasty, greasy, chewy and firm flesh and only backbone, no small bones. Boxfish is used to cook a lot of delicious dishes such as Steamed Boxfish, Grilled Boxfish, Porridge with Boxfish, Soup with Boxfish. To make Grilled Boxfish – one of the most popular recipe from Ca bo hom, wash the fish, no need to remove the organs and marinate it with any spice, grill the fish on charcoal until its skin turns burnt and black, white flesh is revealed and a great smell spreads in the air. The cook should change the sides of the fish to make sure it is well-done inside.
The dish is served with vegetables (cucumber, green banana) and herbs (Vietnamese mint, Thai basil, coriander), a mixture of salt, lime juice, ground black pepper, chili pepper. Some people prefer to wrap the Boxfish flesh, vegetables, herbs in rice paper and dip in sweet-sour tamarind fish sauce dip.
23. Fried mackerel (Cá thu chiên chấm nước mắm)
Mackerel is one of the most popular and favorite fish in Vietnam as well as other countries in the world. Mackerel which is caught in Phan Thiet is well-known for tastier flesh in comparison to ones caught in other regions. Fried mackerel is a familiar dish in Phan Thiet. After frying the mackerel until crispy and yellow outside but tender and well-done inside, serve it with a sauce from high-quality Phan Thiet fish sauce, garlic, chili pepper.
24. Deep-fried snakehead wrapped in rice paper (Cá lóc chiên xù cuốn bánh tráng)
Deep-fried snakehead is a specialty food of Phan Thiet. The interesting fact about this dish is that they deep-fry whole snakehead (without removing scales, fins or organs) until the fish turns extremely crispy outside and outstandingly smelling. The flesh inside is white, tender and firm. To eat, wrap the Deep-fried snakehead in rice paper with vegetables and herbs, then dip in the sweet-sour fish sauce.
25. Squid beak (Răng mực)
Squid beak is usually removed when preparing squid. However, Vietnamese people have found out that this part of squid could be eaten and created exotic recipes from it. There are various impressive squid beak recipes: Fried squid beak with fish sauce, Stir-fried squid beak with butter and onion, Grilled squid beak (the most popular), Stir-fried squid beak with butter and garlic, Stir-fried squid beak with salted duck egg yolk. Fried squid beak with butter, Grilled and Stir-fried dishes from squid beak are usually served with herbs, chili paste or tomato paste, hoisin sauce, Muối tiêu chanh – a mixture of salt, ground black pepper, lime juice.
26. One-sun-dried squid (Mực một nắng)
One-sun-dried squid is made by drying fresh squid under the sun for only one day. The squid is dry outside but tender, chewy, thick and white inside after being drying for one day. One-sun-dried squid should be stored in freezers. Bigfin reef squid (Mực lá) is the best ingredient for making One-sun-dried squid. They must choose freshly-caught squids which have just been caught from the sea and make Muc mot nang right away.
The best but simplest way to cook Muc mot nang is grilling it. This kind of food should be grilled on charcoal over medium heat until yellow, smelling, tender, a little chewy and well-done. Grilled one-sun-dried squid is shredded and served with chili sauce or fish sauce with some slices of chili pepper. This food pairs well with beer. It can make you eat more and more.
27. Steamed cuttlefish egg (Trứng mực hấp)
Squid egg which tastes buttery, greasy and tender is an example of using parts of seafood, pork, beef, chicken to cook delicious dishes in Vietnam. They have created various excellent squid egg recipes including Steamed squid egg (Trứng mực hấp, Trung muc hap) – a specialty of Phan Thiet. Just steam squid egg with ginger which enhances the egg flavor. The egg should be steamed for about 5 minutes so that it does not turn too tender and wet. The dish should be eaten hot right after cooking. Dip the Steamed squid egg in a dipping sauce made from ground black pepper, lime juice, salt and eat with Vietnamese mint, chili pepper, carrot and daikon pickles. The greasy and tender squid egg, the crunchy pickles, the salty, sour, hot dip and the aromatic Vietnamese mint blend well together.
28. Slipper lobster (Tôm vỗ)
Slipper lobster (Tôm vỗ, Tôm mũ ni) is a broad lobster which has a total length up to 23 centimeters. It has a reddish brown shell, the tail fan can be a browner or a yellower hue. Slipper lobster has white, tender, sweet-tasty, smelling and rich-nutrient meat. There are various slipper lobster recipes: Steamed slipper lobster, Boiled slipper lobster, Grilled slipper lobster, Fried slipper lobster with butter and Steamed slipper lobster with snow fungus, Toasted slipper lobster with salt and chili, Toasted slipper lobster with garlic, Steamed slipper lobster with beer, Grilled slipper lobster with salt and chili, Grilled slipper lobster with salt and lemongrass, Grilled slipper lobster with cheese, Hot pot with slipper lobster, Slipper lobster in lime juice sauce.
29. Frog crab (Cua huỳnh đế)
Frog crab has a unique and strange shape. It looks like both shrimp and crab. Its head and pincers are similar to a shrimp’s ones. Its carapace looks like a crab’s one. It is a shrimp with an elongated midsection and a crab’s carapace. The carapace is wider at the front, reddish brown in color, with ten white spots.
There is a wide range of flavorful frog crab recipes: Steamed frog crab, Steamed frog crab with lemongrass, Steamed frog crab with salt, ground black pepper, and chili pepper, Boiled frog crab, Toasted frog crab with salt, Toasted frog crab with tamarind, Porridge frog crab, etc.
30. Tha hot pot (Lau tha)
Lau tha hot pot includes the broth, dipping sauce, rice noodles, rice paper, grilled girdle sesame rice cake, vegetables (salad, cucumber, morning glory, star-fruit, banana blossom), herbs, fish, boiled pork belly strips, fried egg strips.
The viscous broth is made from tomato, shrimp julienne, and pork julienne. The smooth, viscous, greasy, buttery, rich dipping sauce is made from tamarind, garlic, toasted peanuts, ripe chili pepper, apple banana, Phan Thiet fish sauce which is made from anchovy.
Silverside (Cá suốt), white sardine (cá mai), whitings (cá đục) are used as the main ingredients for Lau tha hot pot. They must choose freshly-caught fishes, mix the fish with lime juice, use a sharp knife to remove all of the bones and cut the flesh into thin slices which are drained off, marinated with minced garlic, chili pepper, and ginger juice. Boil pork belly, fry eggs, and cut both of them into thin julienne strips.
They usually use flat bamboo baskets, banana leaves and outer bracks of banana blossom to arrange parts of the hot pot. The broth is served in a medium terracotta pot which is put on charcoal. The dish looks colorful and attractive. Put vegetables, herbs, pork belly, egg, fish, grilled girdle sesame rice cake into a bowl, then pour the broth into the bowl, and eat with dipping sauce. Or diner can use rice paper to wrap vegetables, herbs, pork belly, egg, fish, grilled girdle sesame rice cake, dip in the sauce and tuck in.
31. Hot pot with four-eyed sleeper (Lẩu cá bớp)
One of the must-eat dishes in Phan Thiet is Hot pot with four-eyed sleeper (Lẩu cá bớp, Lau ca bop). Four-eyed sleeper flesh is white, sweet-tasty so that it is a great ingredient for hot pot. To cook this dish, prepare the fishes and cut them into chunks. Heat the oil in a pan, fry garlic until smelling, crispy and yellow, add the fish chunks and stir-fry them for a while.
Stir-fry garlic, tomato, tamarind sauce until well-done, add pork broth and cook until boiling, season the broth with spices. Dinner cooks fishes and vegetables himself at the table when eating the hot pot. To eat, add four-eyed sleeper to the broth which is kept simmering on an oven, cook until the fishes well-done. Add vegetables (wild mint, okra, pineapple, tomato, shredded morning glory, shredded banana blossom, bean sprouts, etc.) to the pork. The diner should not cook the vegetables for too long so that they are still juicy, crunchy and keep vitamins. Hot pot with four-eyed sleeper is eaten with steamed rice or rice noodle. Fish sauce is also served so that diner can dip fishes, vegetables while eating or add to the broth to make it saltier.
32. Quang noodle soup with duck (Mì Quảng vịt)
Quang noodle soup is known as a specialty food of Quang Nam province. Phan Thiet people have changed the original Quang noodle soup and created a version of Quang noodle soup which meets local taste and reflects the culture of the city. Quang noodle soup with duck consists of the broth, toppings (duck, herbs, peanuts, chili pepper), Quang noodles. The broth is cooked from pork bones and pork legs. The broth tastes sweet, salty, greasy, and hot. Duck (leg, breast, wing, etc.) are marinated, stewed with coconut water until tender.
To serve, the seller poaches Quang noodles in boiling water, put into a bowl, top with duck leg and/or duck breast, duck wing at customer’s wish, toasted peanuts (whole), and chili sauce (optional). The bowl of Quang noodle soup with duck is served with assorted vegetables and herbs.
33. Soup cake with fish cake (Bánh canh chả cá)
Soup cake is a traditional Vietnamese rice noodle soup which is distinguished from the others by the thick rice noodles. There are not less than 10 soup cakes recipes in Vietnam. Coming to the coastal Phan Thiet city, do not miss tasting the famous Soup cake with fish cake (Bánh canh chả cá, Banh canh cha ca) – a specialty food of the city.
A portion of Phan Thiet soup cake with fish cake consists of the broth, toppings (fish cake, coriander, etc), Banh canh noodles, fish sauce with chili pepper and lime juice. The broth is clear and rich, it is cooked from pork bones, mushroom, carrot (optional), daikon (optional), quail egg (optional) and especially fresh seawater fishes such as blue mackerel, four-eyed sleeper, greater amberjack, etc.
Toppings include fish cakes, chopped coriander, black pepper, chopped green onion. Sweet-tasty and chewy Fish cake is made from seawater fishes (blue mackerel, bar-tailed flathead, long pectoral-fin minnow, Saurida umeyoshii) which are ground or pounded until smooth, marinated with spices, then steamed or fried.
To serve, they top the toppings onto the noodles, then pour the broth onto them. The broth should cover the noodles and toppings. Lime wedges, ground black pepper, fish sauce, chili pepper are available so that diner can add sourness, hotness, and saltiness to soup cake. Some people prefer to dip plain bread in the flavorful broth and eat.
34. Phan Thiet chicken rice (Cơm gà Phan Thiết)
Among delicious dishes from seawater fishes and seafood, Chicken rice is a brilliant gem in the rich cuisine of Phan Thiet city. The key ingredient for this dish is garden chicken which has firm, chewy, greasy, sweet-tasty meat and crunchy skin.
To make this dish, cook water with salt and ginger until boiling, add the chicken and cook until boiling, change the side of the chicken, keep the heat medium and cook until well-done. The chicken should not be overcooked. Otherwise, it will not be sweet-tasty and chewy as the cook desires. Put the boiled chicken into cold water, cut into pieces. Fry chicken fat to get rendered chicken fat which is used to cover the boiled chicken pieces to enhance their taste and make them more attractive. To cook steamed rice, choose sticky and smelling rice. Wash and drain off the rice. Stir-fry the rice with garlic, rendered chicken fat to make sure the steamed rice smelling, soft and dry. Steam the rice with ginger juice, salt, and the chicken broth.
The dipping sauce is an important part of the dish. Not similar to most of the dipping fish sauces served with other Vietnamese dishes, they do not add water to the sauce. Mix fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, minced garlic, minced chili pepper, mashed ginger. The sauce tastes sweet, salty, hot, and sour. Vietnamese mint, cucumber, pickled large-petiole mustard, other pickles, a small bowl of chicken broth topped with chopped coriander are served with steamed rice and chicken.
